Introduction

Dear Sailor,

Congratulations on your recent selection to RYA Team GBR.

As an RYA Team GBR squad member you have proven yourself to be one of the hardest

working sailors in the country. Representing your country in sport requires more than just

hard work alone and we therefore look forward to working with you to achieve your goals.

The RYA Squad system is dedicated to the long term athlete development of world-class

athletes, which is all about giving young sportsmen and women the knowledge and

resources to gradually progress along an athletic pathway that you are currently on.

The RYA has put together a support team of professionals who are dedicated to assisting

you in the transition from ‘sailor’ to ‘world-class athlete’. We believe strongly in the team

approach, so with your dedication and commitment we can achieve great things. We are just

one part of the equation, it takes everyone working in unison – the athlete, parents, coaches

and support staff – to achieve optimal health for you as an athlete.

This manual is designed as a resource for you to continually update, add content, refer to

and make notes in. The support team, including coaches, will refer to certain parts of this

manual, and content from the RYA Interactive online system, when delivering sessions to

you and when directing you on sessions to do at home.

RYA Interactive is an exciting new tool and we are constantly working hard to put useful

resources online to support your squad coaching sessions. You can print resources from

RYA Interactive and keep in your squad folder as you wish.

Happy reading! Keep checking out RYA Interactive, good luck with your training and have

fun!

RYA Team GBR Support Team

RYA Junior Squad Programme

Building on the 5C’s

Confidence, Control, Commitment, Concentration &

Communication

The Purpose

The 5C’s of Sailor Toughness

The Foundations of a Tough and Resilient Mind Set

To enhance performance by conditioning sailor minds to be resilient and deliver the

right skills, at the right time, no matter what the situation!

Training Toughness

A consistently professional, no excuse,

train to win approach to on/off water

training.

Racing Toughness

Adopting a mind set that enables you to

consistently perform when it really

matters, no matter what the

circumstances, under stress

1. Self awareness

The more I know about

myself, the more I will

improve.

2. Learning

Every experience is an

opportunity for me to learn.

3. Habit

Putting the right building

blocks firmly in place.

Workshop Aims

Overview:

The process of conditioning your mind to be resilient and deliver the right skills at the right

time starts with several key building blocks. It is important that you’re aware of these

building blocks and put them in place, starting today, as they will support all of the skills

(physical and mental) that you will learn in the future.

This workshop will re-introduce you to the key building blocks and explain the importance of

learning the right habits from day one!

Key Workshop Symbols:

= A link to another one of the 5C’s

= An activity to take out onto the water

= Feedback information & ideas to the group

= A Top Tip (for on the water and off the water)

= Group Activity

= Creating self-awareness through self questioning

= Next Steps (progression)

To re-cap on the importance of Self Awareness

To develop further skills around the Plan-Do-Review cycle

To re-cap on the 5C’s of Sailing & Windsurfing and take away new skills to apply.

FB

The Role of Self Awareness

“If we create self awareness, Learning happens”

Overview

Self awareness is the skill of understanding yourself. The more aware you are of your

thoughts, actions and behaviours the more positively you can manage them. This level of

self control will help you to adopt the types of thoughts, actions, and behaviours that

consistently lead to your best performances on and off the water.

To become more self aware, your approach to sailing needs to have a natural (HABIT)

emphasis on learning. Remember, in every experience (on and off the water) there is an

opportunity to learn.

Self questioning is one way to increase your levels of self awareness. To begin, answer

the following questions in order to heighten your awareness towards recent sailing

outcomes.

1. What have been some of your biggest improvements in sailing over the last 6 months?

2. What have you learnt about yourself during this time? (i.e. what do you know about you now, that you didn’t know before?)

3. What have you identified that you currently need to work on?

4. How will you know you have made improvements on this (how will you behave

differently?)

5. What is helping you to become more self aware? (e.g. reflecting with team-

mate/coach, writing down key learning points, watching footage of myself).

Note:

Your self awareness should naturally be improving if you are routinely following the Plan-

Do-Review cycle. The review stage of the learning cycle is key to becoming more aware of

your thoughts and actions before, during and after sailing.

Chapter 1

Understanding the Plan-Do-Review

Cycle

Understanding the ‘Plan-Do-Review’ Cycle

“The ability to learn faster than your competitors is sometimes your only consistent

competitive advantage.” (Pippa Wilson – Olympic Gold Medallist)

Overview

The P-D-R cycle is central to continual learning and development and as with all other

skills in sailing, this cycle needs to be continually put into practice. Remember the aim at

this stage of your development is to be turning the key building blocks into the right

HABITS (i.e. they need to be strong enough to build on!),

Therefore, the first stage of you P-D-R development is to make sure the learning process

is consistently in place. Put simply, are you actually ‘planning’, ‘doing’, and ‘reviewing’!!

Using the P-D-R Cycle

Quick Self Awareness activity

In order to highlight your current P-D-R consistency, tick ONE box for each of the learning

cycle stages:

ALWAYS SOMETIMES NEVER

1. Are you sailing with a plan?

2. Are you switching from your

plan into simply ‘doing’?

3. Are you reviewing what has

happened?

Self Reflection

Briefly discuss with the person next to you your answers. If you have any red or amber ticks,

think about how these might become green and add them to the box below!

Next Step

Having the P-D-R in place is the first thing. The next step is to start recognising your

strengths, preferences, and areas to work on within the P-D-R process. This will allow you to

track your progress towards developing one of the key building blocks of Sailor toughness.

Stepping into P-D-R Roles!

Overview

We can all show individual preferences towards different stages of the P-D-R cycle. For

example, some people may prefer to go out there and get involved (the ‘doing’) as opposed to

sitting down to do the pre-sailing thinking (the ‘planning’).

Each stage of the P-D-R cycle requires you to adopt certain skills, behaviours and mind sets.

For example, the mind set you may adopt when ‘planning’ (e.g. debating, changing your mind,

questioning, detailing, internal), will be different to the mind set you adopt when ‘doing’ (e.g.

automatic, rapid decision making, external). Again this is why we can sometimes show a

natural preference towards certain P-D-R stages.

In this exercise, the P-D-R stages have been brought to life as professions!

Designer /Architect

The Planner’

Actor / Performer

‘The Doer’

Reporter / Teacher

‘The Reviewer’

In small groups, take each profession at a time and complete the table of questions

below.

Designer / Architect

‘Planner’

Actor / Performer

‘Doer’

Reporter / Teacher

‘Reviewer’

1. What is the main

purpose or goal of this

profession?

2. How would you

describe this profession

to someone else?

3. What characteristics

does this person need to

have? (I.e. What will

make them good at their

job?)

4. What would you list

as their key strengths?

5. What do you think

would be the most

exciting or enjoyable

part of their job?

6. If you were to step

into each role, in which

order would you rate

your preference? Order

them 1- 3 (1= most

prefer)

Feedback

When you have completed the table of questions, feedback your answers to the rest of the

larger group. In doing so you may think about the following:

Have you come up with similar characteristics and descriptions?

Link back into P-D-R process:

This exercise aims to highlight how each stage of the P-D-R cycle can require different

‘key’ characteristics or behaviours. The important thing to remember is that you can learn

and develop all of these characteristics/behaviours and therefore continually improve your

ability to plan, do and review in sailing (both on & off the water!).

Remember you may show a preference to one or two of the stages or in fact be equally good

at all three. The main goal, however, is to recognise your strengths and see where you can

make improvements. Again, this relates back to having good SELF AWARENESS.

The next 2 pages will take you through some ideas that will help you to improve each stage

of the P-D-R cycle.

Add any comments…

FB

Improving your P-D-R cycle

„CARE - SAIL - STEP‟

Overview

Each P-D-R stage naturally has sub-stages (e.g. a plan can be created, changed, learnt, and

visualised before it gets put into action). As you continue to progress it is also important to

start thinking about how you might assess or measure your P-D-R skills.

The CARE - SAIL - STEP process breaks down each P-D-R stage into a simple, practical,

measurable, and valuable sub-stage.

1. PLAN

‘RYA sailors take more CARE in planning for training and competition than any other team in

the World’

Create = Take time and thought to put the plan together.

Amend = Revisit the plan and make any necessary changes (due to environment).

Remind = Run through the plan until it’s clear in your head.

Engage = Believe and commit to the plan – step into role!

Create

Amend

Remind

Engage

2. DO

‘My job on the water is to SAIL, the planning is now done’

Sailor Toughness = Remember the 5C’s, are they all visible?

Aware = Stay in the present and be the first to act (concentration)

Involved = Commit to the drill/race from start to finish.

Logical = Keep thoughts factual and go with what you know

3. REVIEW

‘Every time I review, I take another STEP towards my sailing potential’

Structure = Have a ‘set time’ put aside to go through your review.

Timing = Make sure that the time chosen is ideal for concentration.

Explore = Go into enough detail to understand & explain outcomes.

Progress = Identify clear learning points and future goals.

Sailor Toughness

Aware

Involved

Logical

Structure

Timing

Explore

Progress

Thinking about the Temperature of your Review!

Overview

Just as the planning stage can be broken down into different time periods, the review

process can also differ depending on the time it takes place.

Essentially the timing of your review will influence the nature of the review. For example, if

you review immediately after the race or event, you are likely to discuss aspects of

performance when more emotionally charged.

At the moment the most important thing is that you complete a review of some form to

document what actually happened. However, the following table aims to raise your

awareness towards the different types of review you can have, as well as the typical nature

of each type (positive and possibly hindering!).

It is important that you can complete a review at each temperature and that you have

practiced this (e.g. you still need to complete a review in between races regardless of the

temperature).

Types of Review (Based on timing)

Review

Type

When

Nature

HOT

Immediately after

Emotionally charged

Captures instant thoughts & emotions

Highlights important pressure based behaviours

Blurred perspective of outcomes

Difficult to identify or discuss the real facts

Thoughts may be irrational & conversation may be negatively effected

WARM

1 - 5 hours later

(same day)

Less emotionally charged

More calm & logical

Clearer perspective of outcomes

Possible to discuss the facts

Enough emotional charge to still capture significant thoughts and feelings

Still possibility for emotional disagreement

Still possibility for irrational thinking

COLD

A week later (or

slightly longer)

Logically charged

Easy to discuss the facts & put outcomes into perspective

Possible to really explore & understand the performance (event) – detailed discussions

Easy to draw out the learning points

Disagreements are likely to be discussed calmly

Some relevant details and content may be missed due to lack of emotion

Note: In order to remember the important facts and outcomes, try not to leave it

too long before you review a performance or regatta. A review is not effective if

it’s frozen!!

Remember, regardless of how you are feeling (i.e. if you are emotional) you still need

to review at all the different temperatures and this involves asking the following:

What was the plan/priorities? (LOGIC)

What worked and what didn’t? (FACTS)

What needs to change? (LEARNING?)

Daily On-Water Focus

Date Goal(s)… How… Score

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Daily On-Water Focus

Date Goal(s)… How… Score

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Chapter 2

Developing the 5C’s of Sailor Toughness – Gaining Control

The 5C’s of Sailor Toughness

Overview

Sailing toughness is made up of 5 mental skills: Confidence, Concentration,

Commitment, Communication, and Control (the 5C’s). See below to remind yourself of

the definitions.

As you will remember each of the mental skills link together (e.g. the more committed

you have been towards your preparation, the more confident you should be going into

a regatta). Hopefully you will have already started to become more aware of how the

5C’s do in fact link.

CONFIDENCE:

Adopting a ruthless mindset based on logical thoughts and actions no matter what

Concentration:

To focus on the right things, at the right time no matter what

Control:

To think and act with logic driven by facts and truth no matter what

Commitment:

To dedicate time, effort and professionalism in the pursuit of your goals no matter

what

Communication:

The capacity to give and receive information with logic, at the right time no matter

what.

Developing the Mental skill of Control

Overview

The next few pages introduce you to the fundamentals of the 5C- Control, and provide you

with some basic skills to start using in your sailing (both on & off the water).

As you will have noticed reading through the ‘Types of Review’ table (pg16) and the SAIL

sub-stage of ‘doing’ (p14) there are 2 different thinking styles referred to: Logic and

Emotion. These thinking styles reflect two very different sailor mind sets.

Group Activity 2

In your smaller groups, fill in the two spaces around the brain below with any words or

expressions you can think of to describe: Logic and Emotion.

LOGIC EMOTION

Feedback your descriptions to the rest of the larger group. When doing so also consider

some of the following points:

What are the main differences between your two lists of descriptions?

Based on your lists, if you could only pick ONE mind set / thinking style (Logic or

Emotion) to adopt when going out to sail, which would you go for? Why?

Logic over Emotion – Self Awareness

The emotional area of the brain allows you to experience life’s important emotions (e.g.

feeling happy, angry, annoyed, worried, fearful, excited..). However, when you are doing

something that requires a clear focus on a task (i.e. racing in a regatta), emotion can get in

the way. This is when it’s more ideal to be using the logical area of your brain.

As always, self awareness is the first place to start. If you are more aware of your

emotional and logical thoughts and actions, you can start to adopt the types of

thoughts and actions that will allow you to be in control on and off the water

(consistently). We are not trying to get rid of emotion, just channel it in a positive way

(i.e. via logic).

Group Activity 3

To begin, individually answer the following self awareness questions. When you have

completed your own answers, discuss your answers with others in your smaller group.

How do I know when I’m being emotional? (How do I behave? What would be my typical

thoughts?).

e.g. I am spending time beating myself up for missing the last shift.

FB

How do I know when I’m being logical? (How do I behave? What would be my typical

thoughts?).

If I’m in ‘emotion mode’, what can help me get back into ‘logic mode’? (What has worked in

the past?)(e.g. speaking to someone, having a time out…)

What are the triggers that can cause me to become emotional?

The following page takes you through some simple ways to give yourself a logical head start!

e.g. I am picking up the right cues in the race that help me make decisions in the now.

Top tips for Taking Control out on to the water

1. Have a plan: If you have a clear plan, which includes the aim or goal of your

training/race, you will increase the likelihood of starting off (and staying)

in a logical mind set. A plan provides you with guidance and structure

(logic); without one your brain can quickly switch into emotion mode.

“Sailing without a goal is like racing without marks”

(Sarah Webb – Double Olympic Gold Medallist)

2. Recognise the early signs of Emotion: Emotions can sometimes become overwhelming making your emotional

responses (thoughts & behaviours) difficult to then change. If you are

aware of the early warning signs of your ‘emotion mode’, you can quickly

put a strategy in place to shift yourself back into logic mode (you will come

back to these strategies in further modules). We call this the cross roads

of choice.

3. Remember the Cross-roads of choice: When you face a situation (on or off the water) that will test how you

will respond (i.e. a cross-road), remember you always have a

CHOICE! You can choose to take the road that leads to EMOTION

(e.g. resulting in decreased speed & performance), or the road that

leads to LOGIC (e.g. facts, clear thinking & decisive decision making).

4. Clear Communication: Understanding is central to many peoples logical mindset. Similar to having a

goal, understanding provides you with a platform to work from (something

which is logical). Communication is the key to maintaining understanding (on

and off the water). Find ways to keep communication clear and therefore

reduce unnecessary emotional responses.

5. Put on your Logical cap!! As you will remember self questioning is an ideal way to raise self

awareness. This also applies to improving your Control. When you are

thinking about possible consequences or reflecting on something that has

already happened ask yourself what mode you are in (i.e. are you wearing

your emotional cap or your logical cap!!?). To help, always ask yourself the

following questions:

Summary

The P-D-R cycle is central to continual learning and development and as with all other skills in sailing, this cycle needs to be continually put into practice

I can learn and develop the key characteristics & behaviours to continually improve my ability to plan, do and review in sailing (both on & off the water!).

‘RYA sailors take more CARE in planning for training and competition than any other team in the World’

‘My job on the water is to SAIL, the planning is now done’

‘Every time I review, I take another STEP towards my sailing potential’

If I am more aware of my emotional and logical thoughts and actions, I can start to adopt the types of thoughts and actions that will allow me to be in

control on and off the water

I am not trying to get rid of emotion, I just need to learn how to channel it in a positive way (i.e. via logic).

1) Do I want these thoughts? 2) Are they helping my sailing?

…..If the answer is NO, then do something about it!

The Purpose

To enhance performance by conditioning sailor minds to be resilient and deliver the

right skills, at the right time, no matter what the situation!