Saul Petersen is a highly decorated individual and team coach and psychologist. Petersen has high school national titles, and has coached players at all levels up to Division I commits. His biggest area of strength and time spent is on developing excellence – in habits, in practice, in attitude. The point for Saul is that, because so few make it to the top, his responsibility is to develop skills and habits of mind that will transfer to all aspects of life and work. Developing an internal locus of control and reference is essential to this.

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This represents PFS principle one of future solutions – “you are the reference point for your capabilities and potential, nobody else – in these ways we produce lasting change”.

Athletes need to be a little selfish. The 1%s and 2%s improvements to performance require deep inward focus and time. This doesn’t necessarily breed contentment and joy, however, due to the loneliness associated with this. PFS therefore builds into the annual training plan the habits of giving back – mentoring young players, volunteering in shelters, cleaning up beaches and parks. These exercises ground the athlete in the world around them, breeding humility and fostering relationships and contentment through the difficult training season.

What do you want to be remembered for? As soon as you can, even at a young age, you should be thinking about what you stand for. In a world that is quick to paint you a certain way, put you in a box, you need to proactively own that narrative. Once you understand what is important to you individually or as a team, you can build actions into your annual plan, training, interviews, websites, and social media. These then act as a controlling factor of the narrative surrounding you as an athlete and this is vital to your satisfaction as an athlete.