This month's issue of Winning Ways presents you with a key element in sports performance, "Follow Through." To the author, "Follow Through" is not only a technical term, it aptly describes the entire process of athletic endeavor. Enjoy this New Year's gift from us and allow it to help your own sportive efforts!

Happy New Year Friends!

I'm sure that those pesky Resolutions are volleying around in our heads as we all try to figure out how to calm our strains and increase our gains.

This time of the year, there are probably more self-reflections in your mind than an entire Fun House, full of crazy, maze-y mirror images. Most likely, many of those reflections suffer from similar distortions of scale:

Eat less! Eat more often! Work out more! Work less! Concentrate harder! Broaden Perspective! Care more! Stress less! Fight Back! Surrender!

This whole Holiday process can more frustrating than untangling a jumbled string of Christmas lights and often results in finding only useless strings of burned out bulbs.

However, if you'll allow me to play out my cheesy Christmas analogy further, I just might possess a solution to this Auld Lange Syne crisis. It's the spare bulb that will allow your unique string to light into beautiful life!

"Follow Through."

It's a small and innocuous idea, just like those little bulbs in those teensy, plastic bags that are stapled next to the plug and hazard warning. It'll do the trick, though.

"Follow Through."

It's been heard (and ignored) often enough. The idea is so basic that the amount of its presence decides the degree of success to every physical action and emotional decision.

This idea has had many names put to it: Determination, Commitment, Guts, Perseverance, Staying Power, Killer Instinct, Mental Toughness.

It has been worn as a powerful mask by many sporting luminaries: Tiger Woods, Pete Rose, Jimmy Connors, Kerri Shrug, Billy Jean King, Michelle Kwan.

This concept, however, is not the sole property of unique Champions. Favorites have been toppled by underdogs, who were empowered by the influence of this thinking. Think Arthur Ashe over Jimmy Connors. Think Trinidad over De La Hoya. Or any time the Raiders play…

It rewrites one's conception of impossible obstacles and processes them into possible challenges. It robs competitors of their imposing auras, stills volatile over-reactions and calms fragile egos.

It purifies the notion of competition by centering ones intention on the simple execution of technique and strategy. Sport becomes less of a comparative and relative competition and more a display or an exhibition of physical skill and mental reserve. It removes the pressure of gambling on or playing for truly unforeseeable outcomes and grounds us in the malleable present.

Follow Through.

What strange power does this mantra hold?

Strangely enough, in the visceral world of sport, "following through" draws on one's Faith. In this particular case, I'm not trying to provoke a discussion of Higher Power and Sports. We are not going to discuss "Prayer on the Field." Nor are we discussing the various Ambassadors of Faith like Michael Chang, A.C. Green and Reggie White. It is interesting to note, however, the corollary between religious faith and the Faith of which I'm about to address.

In this article, Faith is defined by an unquestioning belief in one's goals or actions. It is earned simply, earned through conscientious preparation and practice. Preparation and practice are the building blocks of real, lasting, transcendent experiences or Faith in one's technique and stratagems.

Note that I mention a "transcendent experience." By "transcendent" I don't mean "Transcendental." I intend to say that preparation and practice extend beyond pre and post competition. In the larger scope, every competition and every experience is preparation and practice for the next encounter. As a result, every encounter builds up your security and self-confidence that yields an even greater bounty of Faith.

Follow Through

What costs does "Follow Through" incur?

What will you have to surrender?

You must surrender your ego. You can no longer connect your entire concept of self-worth towards a perceived success or failure during a mere hour or two's efforts. You are much more than merely the Victor or the Vanquished. Ego distorts one's accurate self-perception through veils of agonistic or ecstatic tears. Ego can thusly disrupt our process.

Instead, I propose that we subvert our Egos with another thought: "Realize and accept that competition necessitates a relationship between you and other participants." That relationship can be various degrees of mutually nurturing and/or competitively adversarial. The choice of this mix is left to you and your partner.

However, may I remind you that athletes have ceased to be gladiators in the Roman sense? Death does not wait for the loser, so there is no logic in being so dire about any outcome. We can move away from our primate-driven, fear responses and we need not resort to the historical drama as they are relics of our barbaric past.

The prize of Glory is an equally unsubstantiated proposition. Its mercurial conditions can change capriciously with the next meeting. If you are committed to staying your path, you will eventually meet your opponent again and they will have another chance at you.

Winning is also not as precious as it once was. Of course, my opinion excludes the fates and conditions of most professional athletes. In this realm, the stadiums of old have been painstakingly preserved or remarkably replicated. (Fame and Money have thankfully assumed Death's place, however.)

However, even as a former professional athlete, myself, pondering the outcome of events (i.e. winning, losing, thinking about the prize money, points or the trophy) was usually detrimental to my efforts. This obsession drew me out of my present goal and prevented my Following Through.

I suggest that all participants focus on the completion of the entire process-a process that requires a technical and strategic exchange of the participant's abilities. Enjoy this exchange, it's not only the audience's or the spectator's privilege. It is your right as well.

Surrender your Ego and you will liberate yourself from many socially and self conceived boundaries. You'll be free to "follow through" and experience more of the paths you've chosen.

Follow Through

What pledges and oaths are required?

First, you must allege to clarify your intentions as this sets the parameters your goals. Whether your goals are to attack your opponent's weaker wing or minimize your own errors, you need to focus and consolidate those intentions into a harmonious and reachable goal. This mental preparation must be done before any action is given physical effort. After this is accomplished, you can judiciously and appropriately let your intentions direct your choice of technique.

Of course, you must also pledge yourself to an efficient and sound technique. The technique must be produced efficiently as it will most likely be repeated numerous times. I can't stress enough that all precautions must be taken against inefficient, as well as inappropriate technique. This is the leading cause of injury and mental exhaustion in sport.

To help you avoid these pitfalls, it will be necessary to employ methods to monitor your progress. Which also means that, to Follow Through, your technique must be taught well by a knowledgeable and able instructor, a Master. Please understand that this condition is not necessarily satisfied by any particular person or source, This condition could be satisfied by many number of resources, including books, video tapes and even yourself.

However, you choose to learn, know that the technique you employ must also be learned soundly. Your Technique must be taken to your Heart. The teachings must permeate the fibers and tissues of muscle memory. This is so that you can place good faith in it, so practice, practice and practice.

In competition, it is desirable to approach these matters with Faith rather than impose rationality. Although you hopefully, already, surrendered your Ego, you must constantly avoid over-rationalizing, which would effectively take you out of the moment and throw off the timing of your execution. Over-rationalization increases tension, the biggest harbinger of Fear. Having faith combats and contradicts Fear. Faith allows for a more liberal "Flow" to your technical and strategic execution.

This brings me to my final point. "Follow Through" brings about "Flow" Remember that "Flow" is the hallmark of mastery. "Flow" is what Neophytes endeavor to achieve and Experts are constantly in the process of realizing. Masters follow the mandates of technique and strategy. They fulfill them one by one in the appropriate order. Do not allow your tensions, whether caused by hesitation, adversity or fear, to deter you from your goal and you will be further along the road to Mastery.

So to my friends in this upcoming year, I bid you all to "Follow Through" and "Follow Well."