Developing Young Leaders: Believing in Yourself
August 20, 2024
Developing Young Leaders: Believing in Yourself
Developing Confidence to Acheive
Our vision at Prototype is to not only help people live longer, better and more full filling lives, but to help people reach their full potential. As we continue to innovate on our approach to coaching, it's motivating to us to help not only our adult members but also our youth members/athletes become the best versions of themselves
When most people hear performance training, they think of physical training getting faster, stronger more agile, but the mental side of training is often overlooked or not considered to be an important part of youth developing youth athelets.
We see an ever growing need to help our youth members. The world is moving faster than ever, more information and false information at the tip of our fingers, studies showing kids have less meaningful relationships and social connections now more than ever, more kids suffering from mental health challenges (anxiety, depression, etc), physical activity has become less of a priority in schools, kids staring at a screen longer and more than ever before.
This is a hard problem and why we have started to implement weekly lessons on the mental side with our youth athletes. The main focus will remain building stronger athletes but through the physical training, we will be incorporating lessons to build better/stronger kids/people. This will be the first email I will be sending you to update you on what we have been working on in our youth programs.
This week's topic is Expectations vs Reality, many times we have had certain expectations going into a challenge or problem. This week we asked the kids for some examples when their expectations didn't meet reality.
Some of the examples the kids have brought up were
- "Going into games and thinking your team is way better no way we can lose."
- "Or the opposite thinking there is no chance we win this game the other team is so good."
- "Thinking you know the material going into a test, so do not study as hard and then to realize you didn't know as much as you thought and get a bad grade"
These are all good examples of when your expectations don't actually meet the reality of the challenge. What we discussed is first building better awareness if a challenge is “Hard mode” or “Normal mode”
Easy Mode:
- Could do it in my sleep
Normal Mode:
- Something I do regularly in my everyday life
Hard Mode:
- I need to prepare (use my training) and think creatively
We really like this framework, you can think selecting a difficulty mode in a video game, something the kids relate to. It helps you accept and acknowledge the challenge or problem you face. If you approach a Hard mode problem thinking you are playing in Normal mode a lot can go wrong. This is where have better awareness on where your expectation meet reality can payoff.
If we approach a Hard mode challenge thinking it will be normal we won’t be prepared and can be caught off guard and this can shut us down or cause us to be less creative in our approach, thinking we can just do what we have done in the past and it will work out just fine. The opposite can be the case if we approach everything like its Hard mode when in reality its Normal mode it can cause us to waste a lot of energy when all we need to do is take some action and get into it.
We will continue to update you on the lessons we are sharing with our youth athletes weekly. In the meantime Im curious on your thoughts?
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Mark has been an amazing member, friend, and a huge part of our community for over 10 years. With his family now training at Prototype as well, he continues to share his journey and inspire others. Thank you for being you, Mark—you truly deserve to be our October POM! 1.) Share your experience at Prototype My experience at Prototype is now, and always has been over the last decade plus, incredibly positive! What’s made it even more special over the recent years is my family now being part of the community, and being positively impacted by the environment that Prototype creates. 2.) What is your favorite part about being at Prototype? The community, the relationships, and the positive impact Prototype has had on me and my family over the years. Some of my best friends are now at Prototype. Relationships that have been developed over years of doing tough workouts together, competitions and events inside & outside the gym, golf trips and get togethers. The youth programs and remote coaching programs have also allowed my family to be members of the community which is incredibly important to my wife and I. 3.) What are your hobbies and activities? Pretty much anything outside. But lots of golf, hiking, and sports with my kids. 4.) How has Prototype helped you or solved a problem for you? This would be a long list! One example would be dealing with setbacks. I’ve learned fitness is a long journey, not just a one size fits all fix. There's lots of turns and detours on that journey. Being here for so long my body and my abilities have adapted over time. With all the different things Prototype has to offer, and coaches that are so committed to the members, I’ve continued to be able to find a path forward regardless of the set back of change in my abilities. Another example would be resiliency. Stay on path isn’t easy, especially when that path seems like it never ends. Through Prototype, and side programs I’m part through Prototype, I’ve been building the resiliency muscles which has had a huge impact on my personal health & life as well as my professional life. 5.) What are you continuing fitness goals to this point? -Continue to do hard things. Put something in the calendar each year that kinda scares me and I have to work toward. I want this to be a physical and mental challenge. -Rebuild the strength in my legs, and work towards squatting again. This may require a setback, but something I really want. -Build more muscle! 6.) Favorite Quote You want to go fast, go alone. You want to go far, go together!
Ella has shown incredible progress during her time at PTS and we are so lucky to have her as part of our community! Here, she shares her journey with Prototype. Thank you for being you — you truly deserve to be our September POM! 1.) Share your experience at Prototype I first found out about Prototype through my high school soccer team and was super interested in it. I subsequently joined with a few of my teammates and have continued to train with them. 2.) What is your favorite part about being at Prototype? I love having a community that is always there to help me out, answer any questions I have, and offer support. 3.) What are your hobbies and activities? I play soccer for Westborough High School and Bayside FC, I also train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and am a black belt in Krav Maga. 4.) How has Prototype helped you or solved a problem for you? Through Prototype I have learned so much about the relationship between training and recovery, which has helped me to perform my best consistently! 5.) What are you continuing fitness goals to this point? Through Prototype I am pairing soccer with conditioning training and recovery to try and improve physical fitness and performance in the game. 6.) Favorite Quote “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” Wayne Gretzky - Michael Scott (the Office)
Climb to New Heights
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