ABSTRACT
The approach helps athletes see that every competition doesn’t have to be an ‘outcome successes but a stage on their journey to be a better athlete. Whether they feel the competition has gone well or disastrously, if they can take a lesson away from that competition then it was worth their time in doing it. A problem-focused approach can be developed through post-competition analysis. One of the really valuable things an athlete can learn from their post-competition analysis is how to manage expectations better, especially the expectations coming from others. For big one-off endurance challenges, local derby matches or championship competitions where the date has been in the athlete’s diary for months and they have focused intently on it, the days after the event, whether it went brilliantly well or was an unmitigated disaster, are important. A great way to help beat off the post-competition blues is to celebrate the successes the athlete did have.
