Before athletics
Athletics does not start at the line. It starts in the hallway at home, where kit has to be packed and a bottle filled while the stomach is already busy with what is coming. The visual support below helps the body keep up when the mind has run ahead.
♀Girl getting ready for athletics
A girl in a tracksuit sits on a bench next to a sports bag, a stopwatch, and a whistle. An arrow points to the left.
About this visual support
Match-day mornings have their own worn rhythm. Breakfast has to settle, shoes need finding, the race number must not be forgotten, and meanwhile a film of high jump, throwing circles or running tracks is already rolling inside the child. Preparation is not only practical — it runs in parallel with a body that has started tensing in advance. It is common for this moment, before anything has really begun, to feel harder than the event itself.
Visual support gives that preparation a calm backbone to lean against when the mind is somewhere else. With each item to pack or task to do laid out as a card in order, the child does not have to recite the list in their head or field questions from an anxious adult. It becomes easier to move from thinking about what is coming to actually placing the shin guards into the bag.
A specific tip: separate the packing list from the warm-up visually. Two short sequences — one at home, one on site — keep attention on where you actually are rather than mixing preparation with performance. The sequences can be saved in Routined and pulled up before each session or competition.