Goal Setting

Posted By: Curtis Brackenbury

Why set goals?
a. Establish a course of direction
b. Provide visual for improvement
c. Establish a benchmark for the evaluation of individual
d. Provide an avenue for celebration, recognition & reward
e. Establish action plan for practice and performance

Goals can be defined as long term and short term. The long-term goals serve as a basis of linkage between directional statements and short-term objectives and provide high expectations for which the individual can continually strive to reach. Short-term goals are the stepping-stones to support and reach long-term goals, they provide targets to meeting the improvement and growth of the individual and are a statement of what each athlete wants to achieve in the next 12 months

Kinds of goals:
Long Term
a. Statement what the individual wants to look like in 3-5 years
b. Serve as a basis of linkage between directional statement and short-term objectives

Start your goal setting process by starting a journal (you need to write your goals down and share them with your coaches and support team (family, friends and teammates, service providers).
Write down your ultimate goal for this season – what is the date, time, place that you want to achieve your ultimate performance this season. What does that performance look like – what are you going to invest your time and energy in working to achieve – be as descriptive as possible. Then you need to prioritize and sequence through the time period between now and then the following:
• In areas of competing you want to improve
• Establishing the technical / tactical, strength, speed, power, stamina goals
• All goals must bridge and link together – must connect you to your ultimate goal
• All goals must be challenging, achievable and measurable
• Record your work out goals and achievements each day (in your journal)
• Choose a day and time each week to review your goals with your coach /or some own who is involved in monitoring your development - assess what do you want to change and/or eliminate; keep and build on.

Down the line, we will look at developing a monitoring process – how to track your workouts and make sure you are getting everything you can out of each workout.