Chapter 125
"Hey Jaz, I was wondering if you could help me out," said Xander as he approached her.
"For you? Anything. What do you need?" Jaz responded.
"Well I know our sports are different, but I was thinking that you've been a successful athlete at the highest level and you know how to win. I qualified for States and if I can win States, I get to compete in the Australian Junior National Rodeo Championship. You're a national champion. How do I become one?"
"Oh I see, this is an athlete to athlete talk. I'm happy to help. The first advice I can give you is focus on only one or two small things you want to improve each day. Having the goal of winning a national championship is a great goal, but it's far away, and it's big. Focusing on one or two small tasks each session will allow you to have greater focus on those individual tasks. That focus will allow you to really fine tune specific skills. So for example for me, I would decide that my training session for a particular day would be devoted to improving the communication between Annie and I. I would focus on that specific skill on the specific day. When I was happy with the progress I made on one skill, I would try another, for me that might be my approach to the higher jumps. I would break down exactly how I approached it, I would identify problem areas and then I would analyze where I could improve. I also use a lot of video on my training runs. I do that now with the riders I coach. We film most practice sessions, and then go back and watch it in slow motion so we can see areas for improvement. I also recommend videoing all of your competitions so you can go back and watch them again," said Jaz.