Chase The Kangaroo

“I find it hard to distinguish one out of all the mental skills, as there were various that were pertinent at different times. And I guess that in itself is one of the more important ones – knowing what to do and when. Having said that, I’d have to single out the ability to visualize. To be able to preempt the future by building high-definition videos in your mind’s eye of exactly what it is you are trying to achieve. I had the unfortunate incident of injury in the later stages of a buildup to an Olympic Games which gave me the tremendous opportunity to test this principle of preparation to the maximum. I basically did all of my late prep for the ’96 Games using this kind of visualization. That is, instead of training, I saw it in my mind’s eye. Lots more detail to this, but the result was one of my best-ever performances and a silver medal that I will cherish more than any gold.” ~Steve Backley