Lillehammer, Norway
Monday 15 February 2016
Making the play-offs has been the performance goal for my team quite a few times now. I recall making the play-offs at my first Europeans and I was extremely overwhelmed, but somehow we actually made it all the way to the finals.
I guess we where just too young and careless to realise what was going on, hopefully all our young YOG'ers will stay in the moment and enjoy experience! This experience is priceless, while it doesn’t become easier to win these games – It becomes easier to cope with all the thoughts and nerves.
The best advice I have received when entering the play-offs is to defuse with the constant flow of thoughts. Basically, this means accepting that you get really nervous because you are so close to your goal. If you didn't feel these nerves, there would be no excitement and feeling of the reward of winning!
Once the thought of failing comes to mind, just recognise it and let it fly by and take comfort in the fact that every athlete has these thoughts!
Rasmus Stjerne, from Hvidovre in Denmark, has been selected as the Athlete Role Model (ARM) for curling at the 2nd Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Lillehammer, Norway (12-21 February 2016).
Stjerne, who is 27, led the Danish men’s team to a 6th place finish at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games curling competition. He is a World Junior champion (2009) and has skipped the Danish men’s team to silver and bronze medals at the European Curling Championships and qualified Demark for three world men’s championships.
He will be writing a blog for the WCF throughout YOG 2016, geared towards the athletes taking part, sharing the experiences he has had competing at Olympic Winter Games and major international curling events.
Curling fans can follow all the action from Lillehammer 2016 on social media using the following channels:
Twitter/Instagram: www.twitter.com/worldcurling
Facebook: www.facebook.com//WorldCurlingFederation
YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_Fr_yXnOHvi0qIibzUEUi0EQf4orufXQ
Hashtags: #YOGcurling #iLoveYOG #Lillehammer2016