Why Snowboarding is a Metaphor for Life
Kate Mackay is the author of Take It All On Board; a self-development book where she uses her journey learning to snowboard as the vehicle to help the reader step out of their comfort zone whilst maintaining their confidence. She is also the author of mummysnowboarder, the only UK blog to focus on snowboarding for women and families. She has ridden a camel in the Sahara, an elephant in Rajasthan and a horse in the Rockies before she ever rode snowboard.
Kate is an NHS management consultant within extensive experience of service improvement working with both clinicians and managers at national and local level. Passionate about development, both in terms of systems and for people, she applies her expertise in programme management and stakeholder engagement to bring about lasting change.
She is a visiting honorary senior lecturer at the University of Bradford teaching applied methodologies at Masters level. Kate is also a certified professional and performance coach employing her skills within her management consultancy role, but also with private clients helping them to do more than they thought possible.
Kate Mackay Book — Take It All On Board: 8 Steps To Mastering The Slope & Life With Confidence
Life, sport or our careers are not straight forward. There is no linear path that you can carve out as regularly we are faced with challenges and setbacks. Mental Toughness is all about how we deal with these times, whether we choose to move on forward positively, simply survive or drown and potentially quit.
Today, author Kate Mackay shares with me some fascinating insights into learning how to snowboard in her thirties as a new mum, the difficulties that cropped up along the way and how she faced them head on.
Key Learning Points:
- On learning to snowboard Kate found it extremely challenging and often found herself frustrated and angry at herself.
- She also found glimmers of how much fun it could be.
- It was about mentally and physically learning a new skill, in an environment that she wasn’t used to and could change fast.
- In snowboarding, you will fall over. If you don’t want to fall over, then don’t strap on a snowboard, that’s all part of the learning process!
- In terms of the four C’s of Mental Toughness, she felt she was in control of her life and was committed, but she was just surviving. She wasn’t thriving with her snowboarding, she was struggling with her confidence, her ability to accept the risks involved and struggling to learn.
- It’s useful to have a coach, somebody who can look at things objectively, someone who gets away from the emotion and can remind you what you achieved a year ago or more recently that you often forget about.
- It is important to recognise your fears, acknowledging them but also listen to that devil on your shoulder, saying go on, do it.
Connect with Kate Mackay
Book written by Kate Mackay
Connect with David Charlton
Download THE FOCUSED ATHLETE CHECKLIST
Join David @ The Sports Psychology Hub
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN
Podcasts to Help You
Podcast Ep02: Steve Judge – How to Deal with Adversity
Podcast Ep35: Dr John Perry – Thrive, don’t just Survive 2021
Podcast Ep37: Penny Mallory – World Class Thinking, World Class Behaviour
Blogs to Help You
Click the button below to join The Sports Psychology Hub a Facebook group that David hosts to help ambitious athletes, serious sport coaches, sporting parents, sports psychologists and mental game coaches to support each other.
IF YOU ENJOYED TODAY'S SHOW PLEASE SHARE
SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN ON YOUR FAVOURITE AUDIO PLATFORM
Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and we read every single one of them!
Best Wishes
David Charlton
Global Sports Psychologist who is located near Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK and willing to travel Internationally. David also uses online video conferencing software (Zoom, Facetime, WhatsApp) on a regular basis and has clients who he has supported in USA, Canada, South America, UAE, Australian and New Zealand.
Managing Director – Inspiring Sporting Excellence and Founder of The Sports Psychology Hub. With over 10 years experience supporting athletes, coaches, parents and teams to achieve their goals, quickly.
T: +44 7734 697769
