Gliding Psychology
“The scores are tied, it's time for the big one”, I was up for it. Some of my followers would of course recognise where this opening line came from, and if not, then you’d recognise it's certainly from somewhere else! This article is about how I went from having the right psychology or mindset for an entire nationals, where I was leading right up to the last day with a slender lead against two great pilots, to the wrong one in a matter of moments.
I like to think of myself with a strong mind, one that is focused, has definite goals, and a burning desire to achieve them. In fact, I’d say that these are four key ingredients is what makes a winner. It’s what I have desired my whole life, to master the art of competition gliding, to become a winner, a world champion. Each season poses different learnings, so let's go back two seasons prior to the one I’m in now. Previously, I owned a glider that allowed me to win almost every day I took off, it was something special and everything about it just jelled with my style. I thought that I finally figured out this game, just turn up and win, easy.
Can't Win Every Day
Well, I’m human after all, there is certainly no doubt about it. I sold that glider, upgraded to a different class, and unfortunately haven’t won since. But that’s ok, I’ve just been on another one of my learning phases so that one day again soon, it’ll all just fall into place & I will win the big one, the world championships. One of the lessons I learnt after selling my Ventus 2a, was that in fact, you can’t win every day forever, it’s just not possible. The same can be said for gliding competitions as a whole too, it’s just not possible.
Pushing Too Hard
The lesson above came from a day when I was clearly going to win at the 20m nationals last year. I had built up a huge lead in the trying conditions, only to not slow down in a critical area out of fear that I’ll mark the climbs for others and they’ll catch me back up. I pressed on to climb away, like I always do, run home, and blitz the day by some margin. Only thing is, I didn’t. I outlanded, throwing the nationals away by being too proud. The lesson, while I picked the optimum start time, did everything correctly, I got unlucky with an unsoarable area, that the later-comers, just flew straight through and landed at home. I should’ve just slowed up, marked a few soft climbs for others, and accepted that I’ll come home with 900pts plus now instead.
Fly Consistently
This got me thinking, it’s not possible to win every day, nor every comp either. What could I do about it? Firstly, I realised the lesson and made a conscious effort to fly consistently, be happy when I was leading, and accept when someone has caught me up over 80% of the task, then just fly home with them to save a disaster by pushing too hard at the end and loosing even more points. It felt really good, I was having a lot of fun at the same time too because I didn’t feel the pressure.
The last day. Taylor departs early. Scutter and I are circling around at base, the last two to start. Scutter makes a false start that I wasn’t aware about, I wait 3 minutes and then head off to chase. My preparation for the day, and my mindset is still the same as the start of the comp, just fly a consistent flight, you are strong at these days, no need to push hard, and keep doing what you have done for the whole comp.
Stay Focused
Scutter zips past in the opposite direction just 5 kilometres after I started. I know he’s going back for a re-start. Instantly, my mindset goes back into old Adam ways, push like crazy, win every day, he’s not going to catch me! It’s a classic Australian day, one that I can read really well. I get away with just about anything on days like this. The start was good, but then on the second leg, I descended into a different airmass that I hadn’t experienced before, and wasted 30min climbing away from 1000’agl, the rest is history. I went from 1st to 3rd in a matter of seconds, and it was all because my psychology changed. Lesson learnt. While every nationals is important, in the end, it’s all just practice for the big one, the world championships. My toolbox is again bigger and I’m very grateful to have had this experience, even though it did hurt!
Banner Photo by Roberto Ruiz
Adam Woolley was born into the gliding world, being the 3rd generation in his family. Going solo at 15, his thirst for efficiency in soaring flight & quest for a world championship title to his name has never wavered. One big passion is sharing his experiences & joy with other glider pilots all around the world. Adam is an airline pilot in Japan on the B767 & spends his off time chasing summer around the globe. He has now won 7 national Championships & represented Australia at 5 WGC's & 1 EGC.
