Many of our students just competed in tournaments that last two weekends. Whether or not they placed or earned the medals they wanted to earn we are proud of them for their attitude, perseverance, hard work, focus, sportsmanship, and courage to compete. The motto of ATA tournaments is “to compete is to win.”
Although, we all like to win first place, winning 1st place is not the main goal of tournaments. Tournaments are a great way to get out of your comfort zone, which is one of the best ways to develop confidence. We have five goals we want our students to aim for every time they compete:
- Have fun
- Make friends
- Learn
- Do your best
- Take lots of pictures.
Whether or not they earn a medal, we hope they feel proud of themselves and have a great time. It is normal for students to be disappointed if they don’t feel like they didn’t do as well as they hoped to, so this is also a great way to develop emotional regulation skills when things don’t go as planned. We encourage our students to accept their feelings, breathe, and use positive self talk to deal with these negative emotions.