Although the LET hasn’t been able to provide the Rookies with the playing opportunities as originally planning, it is continuing to provide support through its Rookie Programme. The LET has put together a series of webinars to provide the Rookies, as well as LET and LETAS players, with information and advice across a variety of topics that will be helpful to them when they get back to playing in tournaments.
The first webinar in the series, titled ‘Go the Extra Mile’, was delivered by former LET player and Olympian, Fabienne In-Albon from Switzerland. Fabienne retired from the LET in 2017 and now offers life coaching and teaches mental skills in sport and business. She gave a fascinating insight into the strategies and tools she used to overcome the challenges she had to deal with on her way to the 2016 Olympic Games. She provided valuable advice as she elaborated on her tried-and-tested three-step approach: accepting, finding solutions and then going the extra mile. The Rookies were encouraged to adopt the right mindset and see the current situation as an opportunity to develop mental skills such as visualisation and relaxation. For just over an hour, she spoke to almost 50 Rookies and LET/LETAS members and then answered their questions.
After what was an inspiring session, Zhen Bontan from The Netherlands, who plays on the LET Access Series said: “It nice to see that people from the sports world are helping and sharing their experiences. It is really helpful for me as a player to see you are not alone in some situations. Fabienne, was really great and she explained how dealing with uncertainties became her strength and how she can now use this in her career as a coach also.” She added: “I picked up a lot of advice from Fabienne. I really enjoyed hearing her visualization exercise and also hearing her advice in accepting situations and changing her mindset instead. Sometimes life around us happens too quick and we don’t stand still to reflect and we compare to what other people do. Instead we should focus on our own process and I learned a lot of that from Fabienne.”
Fabienne enjoyed having the opportunity to pass her knowledge on to the next generation of LET Professionals and said: “I absolutely loved sharing my experiences with the Rookies and supporting them in going the extra miles. It also brought back all the nice memories I had while playing on the LET and it’s nice to be able to give something in return to the players.
More information about Fabienne and the work she does is available at www.fabienneinalbon.ch. You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook. The next topic to be covered in the series of webinars is public speaking.
