The importance of routine can never be overstated. At TSG Academy, where young golfers come to fulfill their dreams of becoming professional golfers, this is the one thing that can set them apart from their peers. At TSG academy, we drive a tough routine making sure that the students get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Can you wake up every morning and show up for assembly? Can you follow the drills given to you and do it consistently without complaining? Can you show up for your workout even though your body is feeling sore? Can you rest when it is time to rest?
Routine, we believe, should not be followed only when you are training at the academy.
The below is an excerpt from a motivational video that Tarun Sardesai recorded for all the students who could not be at the academy during the lockdown period. The lockdown may have passed, but the learning continues to hold true. Read on and get inspired by a coach and mentor par excellence.
“…even if you are at home you need to do the same thing right now. Make a schedule. First thing tomorrow morning or first thing today, get a sheet of paper out and put down a proper routine from the start of your day and I’m hoping that the start of your day will be an early one not one where you are waking up at ten in the morning or twelve in the afternoon. Your day should reflect what you normally do at the academy. Maybe the intensity may not be the same but it should mirror what you’re doing at the academy as much as possible. You are athletes. Always remember that you cannot live like someone who’s not a world class athlete, no matter the situation. You can’t live like ordinary people even in times like these. So I am hoping that you have a schedule, an early morning wake up followed by a fitness routine, followed by a study routine for those of you who are doing academics, followed by a routine where you have some leisure time.
Leisure does not mean on the cell phone… I would like your cell phones to be off all day. This is very very important training for you and if you can’t endure this it will be very difficult for you to get back into any formal discipline when you’re outside the academy. I am hoping we reach a day where I don’t have a tell you all of this and where this is pretty much part of who you are but for now as your coach and, as your mentor I think is very important that I give you this information.
Things like your nutrition plan…take a look at the plan, try to understand it and write down any questions you may have. Do some research or call the academy nutritionist if you need to. If you have any questions on the fitness front we have a fantastic team backing you, so call and ask questions…create videos of your workouts and share them with the team to learn whether you are on point with your form. Ask them questions about why a certain exercise needs to be done if you’re not sure about it but if you’re sure what you need to do then need to go ahead and do it.
Essentially I would think you have a ten to twelve hour day with ten hours of sleep is how you should look at this quarantine period. That’ll you get your body ready for the onslaught that it is going to face when you get back to the academy.
On the golf front there’s lots you can do. Look at your Google drive folder. Look at all your files that need updating. This is very simple stuff for you to do. You can take a golf club at home and do maybe one hundred to two hundred practice swings on a certain move that you’re working on. You can hit some putts at home and I know some of you don’t have your golf sets but, you can borrow a seven iron and a putter from your parents sets and do the same things. Remember the whole idea is while you’re there, while you’re in quarantine you can actually even improve yourself as a person as well as a golfer. You can up your fitness as well as your nutrition quotient. When you come back to the academy, come back improved as a player.
I’m sure that most of you who have been with us for a longer period of time have realized that TSG is a professional academy for golfers like you who want to turn professional some day. It is all about the discipline so show me some right now. I’d like to see how disciplined you can be in a time when discipline is difficult. Show me that you can be outside your comfort zone and still be disciplined with your routine. This is what I want to see and what I want to hear. I’m hoping you respond not for me but for your own sake so on a piece of paper again as I mentioned put down your routine. I would like all of you to send it to me within a day, and in that routine there should be probably just one hour of cellphone usage and maybe one more hour off for a tv show. I want you to be reading books so I’d like to know which book each of you is reading at the moment. Put all of this into your schedule and if you want me to give you an example, I would say 6 am wake up, 7 am breakfast, 7:30 am studies, 9:30 am break and so on and so forth.
I need you to be as organized as we are at the academy. You’ve got a wonderful team of sports scientists, physiotherapists, golf mentors, nutrition experts and mindfulness experts. Start responding to them when they reach out. Better still you should reach out and not wait. Don’t use this time to become lazy, put on weight, lose muscle… I don’t think you will really be able to get back as quickly into routine if this were the case. We have been working with you a lot on the term mindfulness. Now’s the time to put all that into play become better individuals in this one month.
My most disappointing moments are when I get phone calls from your parents telling me that you are on the cellphone five hours a day or eight hours a day, that you’re not following any kind of routine, that you’re waking up at 11 in the morning etc. etc. There is nothing more disappointing for a coach to hear than his students who he has worked hard with, who he put his heart and soul into are not listening to him.
Get into a higher state of living because unless you’re doing more and more quality work than all your peers out there you’re not going to be better than them and that’s the main thing. You need to become better than the rest…I hope all of you create and develop a schedule…”
Tarun Sardesai, Director of Golf Instruction at TSG Academy, India’s first and only residential high performance golf academy with academics, is a mentor who encourages students to maintain discipline, have a routine, prioritize their training, and make the most of their time on and off campus to achieve their goals. Across all his conversations with the students at the academy, he emphasizes the importance of discipline, of being organized, of practicing mental routines – all of which are critical for an athlete’s growth in fitness, golf, nutrition, and mindfulness as well as personal growth.
