REGARDEZ LA VIDÉO

Video guide for coaches.

The current situation has certainly presented challenges for coaches in assessing training loads and in monitoring athletes more generally.

In this short video, the experts at INS Québec provide tips to help coaches monitor athletes remotely.

Experts at INS Québec

Sylvain Gaudet, PhD, Exercise Physiologist
Alix Renaud-Roy, Strength and Conditioning Coach
Amélie Soulard, PsyD, Psychologist and Mental Coach

CAPSULE 6 – LEARNING FROM OUR LOCKDOWN EXPERIENCE — Part 2

By Amélie Soulard, PsyD, Psychologist and mental performance consultant at INS Québec
and Véronique Richard, Ph.D., Mental performance consultant at INS Québec

As lockdown measures begin to be lifted across the country and athletes gradually start returning to training, we now have the opportunity to learn from this extraordinary experience in order to move forward and achieve our goals more effectively.

In the first part of this article, we discussed the importance of taking a moment to reflect before moving forward, and the things that you can do in order to continue developing your tolerance toward uncertainty. In this second part, we’ll be looking at how a creative outlook can play its part post-lockdown.

Looking at things more creatively

The media has repeatedly claimed that the “crisis” has provided us with an opportunity to “reinvent” ourselves. But how can lockdown go hand in hand with creativity? The pandemic has given us the freedom to experiment, to try, to dare, to invent, to improvise, and above all to dream!

At first, lockdown meant a significant number of restrictions. Whether physical, social or behavioural, restrictions can be an invaluable catalyst for creativity because they force us to look at new ways of thinking and doing things. They encourage us to look at our surroundings differently and to make connections that didn’t previously exist.

You may never have thought that your mattress could be used as a landing mat or that square hay bales from the family farm could provide the perfect foundation for an outdoor pool. Without the usual training options, athletes have explored the opportunities offered by their environment and found a whole host of previously unseen possibilities.

On a different note, we were all starting from scratch on how to organize training during a pandemic. This has meant that we’ve been more open to new ideas. No one could claim to know the best way of doing things based on previous experience. This has encouraged us to listen and be open to everyone’s points of view. We also accepted mistakes more readily as we were in “solutions-finding” mode.

In short, the pandemic “culture” was one of accepting, listening to and experimenting with ideas, thereby contributing to the rise of creative thinking and action.

The question now is: How are we going to transfer these principles to our day-to-day training environment? Here are two questions that can guide your planning:

• How can I implement the concept of restriction into some of my workouts in order to bring out different and sought-after actions and thought processes? For example, training in silence (restriction) could lead to new ways of communicating.
• How can I create activities that encourage me to look at new ideas in an environment with little judgement and a lot of self-reliance? Why not introduce 30 minutes of creativity once a week by inviting athletes to reinvent how they use the equipment around them?

As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. Despite the difficulties and trouble that lockdown has caused, it has nevertheless had a positive impact. Whether it’s taking a step back to reflect on how to look toward the future, improving our tolerance toward uncertainty or learning how to take a creative approach, you now have a new toolkit that can be used for other opportunities in the pursuit of your career.

CAPSULE 6 – LEARNING FROM OUR LOCKDOWN EXPERIENCE — Part 1

By Amélie Soulard, PsyD, Psychologist and mental performance consultant at INS Québec
and Véronique Richard, Ph.D., Mental performance consultant at INS Québec

When sports competitions were cancelled and all sports facilities, like gyms and training centres, were closed as of mid-March 2020, athletes—like most Canadians—had to stay at home, in lockdown. As we now know, the many weeks that followed took us on a roller-coaster ride of emotions and changes. The motivation of athletes was seriously put to the test, but inspiration and creativity have come from all angles!

As lockdown measures begin to be lifted across the country and athletes gradually start returning to training, we now have the opportunity to learn from this extraordinary experience in order to move forward and achieve our goals more effectively. The first part of this article focuses on patience and tolerance, while the second part looks at creativity and its contribution post-lockdown.

Taking a moment to think before moving forward

In order to emerge stronger from this experience, it is essential that we take time to reflect and ask questions of ourselves. Trying to move on too quickly would be an unproductive way to break free. Here are some questions to help identify the individual and community resources that make up our safety net and ensure we can be resilient:

• Who is special to me and who did I instinctively turn to during the pandemic or when things became more challenging?
• What things and activities made me feel good?
• How did I respond at the height of the pandemic? Was I able to look on the bright side, have fun and be creative during this gloomy period? How did I do it?

Dealing with uncertainty

Although athletes are returning to their sports, the virus is still around, as is the uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the importance of adapting quickly to change and how to navigate through uncertainty and ambiguity. Athletes, who had previously been used to a structured daily routine based on a cycle of intensive training sessions, had to develop a significant degree of self-reliance and a phenomenal amount of tolerance toward uncertainty. The agility and mental flexibility that have been displayed during lockdown could prove to be very useful tools in the pursuit of our sporting goals during periods of uncertainty.

Here are a few things you can do to continue developing your tolerance toward uncertainty:

• Focus on what you can control and let go of what is out of your hands.
• Take a check on you and your senses by asking yourself: “What’s happening here and now?” and “what facts can I use as a reference point?” »;
• Make a list of what uncertainties are stopping you from getting things done. Put these things in order of difficulty—from the easiest to the most difficult—and find ways to deal with them bit by bit.

– – – – – – – – – –

In the second part of this article, we will look at how to think creatively following, and perhaps as a result of, our time in lockdown.