Permit me a personal illustration. I had the privilege of working with scholastic athletes at the University of Waterloo for nine years. In a discussion with the then men's varsity basketball coach, Don McRae, he indicated that in his organizational meetings at the onset of the basketball season, he asked his team what their goal for the season might be. On many occasions the team replied that they wanted to play well. As admirable as that goal was, it was rather useless because it was much too general.
Goals have to be realistic.
One team is bound for the Canada Winter Games next February in Cornerbrook, Newfoundland. Two were hoping to get to their association playdowns and one, quite frankly, was just aspiring to win their club's spot in the zone. All four teams had their heads screwed on right because their goals were realistic. And, of course, the goals outlined above were relatively long term. What we spent a good deal of time discussing with the teams at the camp was exactly what each had to do in terms of practice, nutrition, mental preparation, physical preparation, delivery analysis and team building to move toward the goal.