OH, THE LOWLY FREE THROW

Alan is a 7-footer who, like a lot of the bigs I work with, finds himself not getting many touches of the ball. 

It has affected his game in a number of ways. 

For one thing, it has brought his confidence down, and then on occasion when he would get a pass he would drop the ball. 

He even felt his confidence leaving him when it came to shooting free throws, even though in a game I saw him play he shot 4 for 4 from the line and his form looked pretty solid to me. Then he had people, his teammates among them, telling him why he needed to be dunking the ball so he felt pressure to do that. 

A couple of days after we spoke, I was watching a ball game on ESPN, and heard the guy calling the game say how everyone wants to dunk and gives little importance to free throws, but games are often won or lost at the free throw line. 

I reminded Alan how solid his free throw shooting was and told him to not make the mistake of losing his perspective because everyone is putting such emphasis on dunking the ball. I told him he would have his share of dunks but it would be a shame if he lost sight of the larger picture. 

 Alan emailed me to say, “You are right about the free throws. I feel like my confidence has been restored. I can’t wait to get back to practice after the Christmas break!” 

It is easy to let go of our confidence, and every mistake we make presents an opportunity for other voices to get into our head. When we step back and find a way to find our own voice – and vision – we are able to silence the other voices and restore our confidence.

LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER!

The morning news had a story of a political TV talk show which featured two political commentators, one liberal and one conservative, who happened to be brothers. 

At one point during the very heated conversation the host took a phone call from a listener … who just happened to be the men’s mother! She berated them for being so argumentative (and even said she was glad that this was the year both sons went to the in-laws for Thanksgiving … how is THAT for harsh!!! Where’s the love??) While reporting this story, one news anchor recalled a time when J.R. Rider (always known for his in-your-face style) got involved in an on-court brawl when his mother came barreling out of the stands to set him straight!! 

Although there are always times when we should heed our parents’ criticism, the fact is that the real value is in how our parents support us and encourage us. I had occasion to think of this during a recent conversation with Gary, a college senior who has been struggling in recent weeks, and reporting that the game he has loved all his life has not been so much fun lately. 

Gary is eyeing the time in the near future when he will be a professional player drawing a salary. His parents make a modest living and it means a great deal to Gary to be able to help his family out and to make a difference. But that has been weighing heavily on Gary’s mind. “I have been thinking a lot about where I would be playing and if I would make enough to take care of my family. Even though they always been very supportive I just feel the responsibility to help them out, and I am afraid that I won’t be able to do enough, which makes me insecure.” Gary was feeling both the promise and the pressure of what the future represented, but I reminded him that these worries could only get in the way on the court, which indeed was what was happening. So I told Gary that I was certain that if his parents were in the stands and they knew he was harboring these worries they would want to call a “Time Out” to tell him to get his head back in the game. 

As he readily agreed (and thought that would be kind of funny) I told him that every time he started having that worry he should picture his mother making the “T” Time Out sign. I reminded Gary that if he could keep his concern about helping his parents to the proper time and place (off court) and limit the times he gave it consideration (not every day!!) that he would find a proper way to cope with a very legitimate concern … BUT the image of his mother’s consternation would help him keep his heart in the game and restore his love of the sport. (P.S. I also reminded Gary how thrilled his parents would be at his getting his degree and preparing himself for life after basketball and a profession that would be another way to help provide for his family!)

A couple of weeks later, Gary and I spoke again, and he told me that when he thought of his parents he was mainly feeling good about making them proud of his efforts in the present rather than stressed about how he could help them in the future.

Update:  Gary did in fact go on to play in Europe, where after a challenging first year he subsequently signed with a Euroleague team where he is one of his team's leading scorers.

GROWING BEYOND YOUR COMFORT ZONE

A FEW YEARS AGO I WAS INVITED TO SPEAK TO PLAYERS at a Big Man Camp for NBA hopefuls. 

During the sessions, as I observed the ball-handling and low-post drills that were being run, I noticed a number of guys who, rather than really try to work on some of the weaker parts of their game, seemed to just be "going through the motions". In scrimmage games, these players fell back on the moves they already had, rather than take advantage of the opportunity to try to master the new moves. 

I concluded that these guys either didn't want to be bothered, or they decided they would rather "look good" (since we all look a bit awkward at first when trying out new skills) than "play good" (by developing a stronger game). Apparently, they preferred to stay in their comfort zone. We all have our comfort zone – learned behaviors that are our customary ways of handling all sorts of situations. 

Human nature being what it is, we all develop routine ways of responding to various events on the playing field or in life. These responses (like sticking to the skills we have mastered rather than giving new skills a shot) serve an important need: they help us to fend off anxiety by keeping things predictable. Staying within our comfort zone reduces our sense of stress that comes with the fear of not measuring up to the moment in trying something new, or our fear of “looking bad.” But doing so also stops us from growing and developing as players. 

Take for example, the case of Michael Chang. As one of America’s top-rated tennis players, Chang was considered a gutsy player who would run down every ball, playing to his strength as a baseline player. But at one point in mid-career, he took stock of things, and decided that in order to stay among the top-ranked players in the world, he would have to develop a net game, and he committed himself to doing so, even though it took him outside of his comfort zone. He devoted many months to this task, and understood that during this interim period – while he was looking to develop this weaker part of his game - he was likely to lose a larger number of matches than he would have liked (which cost him in terms of ranking points and tournament money). But he stuck it out, and eventually emerged a more skilled player. The resulting improvement enabled him to retain his ranking among the game’s best for several more years. 

Sometimes it's not a technical aspect of your game that needs adjusting, but a mental aspect. During his playing days as a quarterback with the Indianapolis Colts, current 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh was going through a rough patch. He attributed his on-field difficulties to the fact that he put great pressure on himself to live up to other people’s expectations. Seeing how this hampered his game-day performance, he concluded that he needed to stop demanding of himself to have perfect performances in every game and to risk just letting himself enjoy the game more - regardless of the outcome. When he was able to trust himself enough to do this, his play improved and he led the Colts through several successful seasons. To be sure, the beliefs that many athletes hold onto become powerful impediments to their venturing outside of their comfort zone. Some athletes tie their on-field performance to their sense of self-worth, and stay within their comfort zone in order to get "ego-strokes" for what they already know how to do, rather than focus on the weaker aspects of their game in order to make them better. 

They would rather go over and over the things they already do well than give up (at least for the moment) their pride, the need to look good to teammates, coaches, etc. The question is: where will that get them….. or you? When Steve Kerr graduated from the University of Arizona, few people believed he could make it in the NBA. The sharpshooting guard who played 15 seasons in the league, winning 5 championship rings and setting an NBA record for all-time 3-point field goal percentage (45.4%) once commented, "The thing that helped me find success in the NBA wasn't so much my ability as an outside shooter, but the fact that I was constantly working on the weak parts of my game.” Along the same lines, one-time Kerr teammate Michael Jordan similarly noted that each summer, he isolated a part of his game that needed improvement, and focused on strengthening that aspect. If Jordan, of all people, was willing to make that effort, is there a single athlete in the world who can afford to take a pass? Aside from acquiring the skills you need to be competitive at the highest levels in your own sport, forming the habit of accepting new challenges and the willingness to grow beyond your comfort zone, makes you not only a stronger athlete, but – as life brings new challenges along the way – a stronger human being.

ARE YOU SETTING YOUR FOCUS ON THE RIGHT TARGET?

With the Cleveland Cavaliers down 92-90 to the San Antonio Spurs and 9 seconds left on the clock, LeBron James had the ball on a coast-to-coast push to tie the game when he committed his fifth turnover of the night. 

Afterwards he said, “I felt like I could get to the rim … to get a shot for myself or my teammates. Maybe I was thinking too much because I left the ball behind me.” Even the King is human, demonstrating one of the most common challenges that even the best athletes face: staying focused in the moment. If only by a few seconds, LeBron was getting ahead of himself, thinking of what he was going to do and not what he was doing. Basically he was splitting his focus between two things: the act of bringing the ball down court, and the goal of tying the game. Like the driver who is holding a conversation on his cell phone while driving through traffic, there is only so much focus to go around. 

This is one of countless examples of the critical role of focus in athletic success. Professional athletes with whom I have spoken who made the transition from college sports have all said pretty much the same thing – “At this (professional) level you can’t afford to lose focus for a moment. In college you could always get back into things, but in the pros you lose your focus and your opponent is going to take advantage of it.” Champions do three things: (1) figure out what aspect of the task they are performing requires their focus, (2) direct their focus there, and (3) fend off all possible distractions. The fact is that at any level of sport, and certainly at the elite levels, athletes will find themselves constantly subject to distractions and having to make mental adjustments to get back on focus. (And really, we don’t so much “lose our focus” as allow our focus to shift to a secondary concern that has somehow gotten our attention.) So the best athletes are typically the ones with good re-focusing strategies. 

 Here is an instructive example of refocusing that anyone who does much driving at night will identify with. You’re driving down the road, or stopped at a light, and the lights of the car opposite you are too bright (either because he has his highway lights on or his lights are not properly calibrated - in either case the guy has pissed me off lol!). While keeping our gaze fixed ahead of us is the natural thing to do ... and while we are instinctively drawn to looking at the bright lights, doing so will be blinding. In such instances, the experts recommend shifting your focus to the white strip (or margin) on the passenger’s side of the road. This allows you to eliminate the distraction of the bright lights and properly attend to the task of driving safely. (Directing our focus to the bright headlights is an example of an involuntary focus - something that we do before we realize we are doing it. The “corrective” act of shifting our focus to the side of the road is a voluntary or strategic focus, and in this case a strategy intended to correct the involuntary act that preceded it.) 

With nine seconds to go, the ordinarily highly-focused James got caught up in the demands and pressure of the moment, and his focus jumped from what he was doing to what he hoped to achieve. In another situation, LeBron might have gotten away with splitting his focus in this way, but not on this occasion. The bottom line is that focusing on what you are doing at the moment is usually the best mental course to take. Dr. Bob Rotella, one of the first sport psychologists to work with professional golfers, noted that players “don’t always stay in the present on every shot … but they strive to as much as possible. The good ones constantly monitor themselves (to catch themselves) when their mind starts to wander.” And don’t forget…. You can’t execute what you don’t practice! What are YOU doing to train YOUR focus muscles?

MENTAL SKILLS IN SPORT: WHAT IF YOU HAD UNLIMITED CONFIDENCE?

I have asked dozens of basketball players this very question. Before I tell you what almost all of them said, ask yourself that question and see what you come up with…. Confidence is considered one of the best predictors of sport success. A confident athlete is more likely to play his best. So as mental tools go, it is a pretty important one to have. Unfortunately, most athletes’ confidence tends to go up and down like a roller coaster. In this article, I will address that situation and tell you what you can do to overcome that and maintain a consistently high level of confidence. So first let’s consider some important sources of confidence. One thing that gives us confidence is having coaches, teachers, parents or other important people in our lives commenting on our success and telling us we did a good job. 

Another source of confidence is when we work on something and achieve success, and in particular, when we see our own efforts as having brought about that success. A third source of confidence is the knowledge that we put in the hard work to get ready for competition. Most Olympic athletes talk about the confidence they get from feeling they left no stone unturned in the months and months of preparation that preceded the Olympic Games. So let’s say you have a pretty good history in all three of these factors. Then it’s safe to say that your core self-confidence is relatively strong. So far so good …. But enter the dangerous “confidence feedback loop.” For example, you hit three baskets in a row. You’re hot. And you are feeling pretty darn confident. Each made basket tells you that you are a good player, and that becomes your feedback loop. 

But what if you miss three shots in a row (or in the case of one NBA rookie, 10 shots in a row)? With each successive missed basket you might start to doubt yourself. Because the immediate thing you experience is the missed basket – and THAT becomes your immediate feedback loop. Even NBA stars can struggle with confidence. Few guys would seem to possess the confidence of a top athlete like Vince Carter, NBA All-Star and former Rookie of the Year. One season a number of years back, Carter returned to the rotation following a five-game absence due to injury. It was clear during the first few minutes of play that his game was suffering, his shot flat and off the mark. He missed a number of baskets until he finally banked one in off the glass. I got to speak with him after the game and asked him about it. “Well, I had my mom and my agent and everyone telling me not to try to make up for five missed games right away, and just to take it easy, but I kept thinking about that and couldn’t help myself, so I was pretty hyper for the first few minutes although after a while I settled down. Thank goodness for that three-pointer I shot going in, even though it was off the glass, or else I would have really felt embarrassed.” So although a seasoned athlete like Carter can have all the benchmarks of strong confidence, he allowed the immediate feedback loop to dominate his thoughts, and his game. 

The immediate feedback loop looks like this: missed shot leads to negative thoughts or feelings, which then challenge confidence. Typically athletes try to replace a negative feedback loop with a positive feedback loop by trying (often harder) to make the next basket. If they do, there confidence returns, but only till they miss another shot. The main problem with this strategy is that is makes your confidence dependent on your performance. The mentally tough athlete does the exact opposite. He makes his performance a function of his confidence. He interrupts the feedback loop in order get off the confidence roller coaster (up and down) and instead he finds a deeper sense of confidence which rests on the foundation of the three factors mentioned at the start of this article. So here’s the deal. Don’t get seduced by the immediate feedback loop.

If you miss a shot, take a moment, re-group, and remember everything you have done to be a successful athlete. (Even the most successful athlete misses shots). Relying on making that next shot produces momentary confidence. Relying on the solid foundation that produces confidence over time helps you activate that foundation to achieve a more consistent confidence. So how did most athletes said they would play if they had unlimited confidence? Nearly every one said they would be more aggressive … meaning that even if they made a mistake, or two, or three, they wouldn’t revert to a more tentative style of play. As a top European footballer once said, “When you’re confident, you’re not afraid to make mistakes.”

POST PLAYERS: DON'T WORRY ABOUT TRAVELING

A post player was having trouble when getting the ball down low because of frequent traveling. He told me that he was working on NOT traveling and I explained to him the value of re-thinking his goal in terms of what he wanted to do rather than what he was hoping NOT to do. 

 He then showed me the move he would typically make and I asked him to do it without the ball. After doing this several times he worked on getting the pass and making the same move, this time with the ball. So he came up with the thought of making this move assertively and confidently as his intention (rather than staying with the idea of NOT traveling)

A week later he told me “I'm actually thinking about what to do and not about what NOT to do, but it's not easy ....I have to get used to it so it will become natural.” 

I asked him to tell me what would help him do this and he replied, “I think how to make the move before I get the ball.” 


 I gave him the following additional suggestions. 

• When you are alone close your eyes and picture getting the ball and making your move. Repeat this a couple of times seeing yourself do it in a confident and aggressive way.
• Also picture this as if you were sitting in the stands and watching yourself make the move.Pay attention to your footwork and rhythm as you imagine watching yourself on the court.
• Pick out one place in your body that is especially key in this move.... your feet, your core, your upper body? This time use your sense of muscle feeling rather than vision to imagine this move, so that even though you are seated when you mentally rehearse this move you feel the very same muscles being activated that would be involved in the actual event.
• In the gym practice this move alternating between doing it without the ball and with the ball. Every 4
• 1th or 5th time do the move in your mind, and then go back to doing the actual move.
• Finally, think of one or two words that most describe how you want the move to go and write them down.

One last thing I shared with him was that if he was going to plan the move in his mind ahead of time it was important to be careful to NOT get ahead of himself. Other players have shared with me that on occasion that got tripped up by picturing something in advance and sticking with that when in the particular circumstances the defense played him differently and that turned out to not be the best move for that moment. Also, if you are too caught up in what you are going to do WHEN you get the ball you may be not leaving enough focus for the PRESENT moment. Without strong focus as the ball is being passed to you you are more likely to have it slip through your fingers or be picked off. So while it is good to feel confident about what you are GOING TO DO, it is no less important to stay focused in the moment and be ready to adjust to any last second changes in the defense to make the best possible decision/move.

WHAT MOST COACHES (AND ATHLETES) DON'T UNDERSTAND ABOUT GIVING 100%

I recently ran into a friend and former college basketball player from Europe who now lives in the U.S. He was telling me about his first year in college. “As it turned out, our team wasn't that great, but we ended up winning the conference championship. In our very first practice, the coach started yelling at us and punishing us for not giving full 100% effort. Not 80%. Not 90%. He expected 100% from Day 1. And when the season started, if he saw you not giving 100% in a possession, he pulled you out. If he saw you miss a defensive assignment he pulled you out. If he saw that you didn't go after each and every rebound he pulled you out. It made us play hard and that is why we won the championship.”

This coach successfully caused his players to be mindful of the consequences of failing to give full effort. Not giving full effort is not only something one finds on college teams, but some years ago Joakim Noah took himself and his teammates to task for not giving 100% effort in NBA play … and these are highly paid professionals!!

Imagine if the surgeon who was operating on your mother or father was guilty of not giving 100% effort. Or the pilot flying the plane you were traveling on!!  

The fact is that there are few Kobe Bryant's out there who are so competitive they don't need anyone else to hold them to that standard of excellence. Truth to tell, most of us need the coach who is going to call us out on our effort.

However, I have more often seen coaches who pulled players out not because of their lack of effort BUT because of mistakes they made. And that is almost always on the offensive end.

In the course of my sport psychology work I have talked with MANY MANY players who are often seen glancing toward the bench to see if he can make out if the coach is pleased with him or not, fearful of being taken out of the game should he make a mistake.

These are frequently the same kinds of players who can light it up in practice but fall flat in games. One player I worked with could hit outside shots like crazy and dunk with authority … in practice … but in games could go 1 for 20. This is a terrific example of a guy with a good PHYSICAL skill set but not such a good MENTAL skill set.

Knowingly or not, coaches create and support this kind of mindset when they bench guys for mistakes (as opposed to benching them for effort).

When this happens, usually the the player's TRUE goal when on the court ends up being not so much to get the victory for his team but to avoid making mistakes that will get him benched. He becomes a TENTATIVE player who starts to second guess himself rather than an AGGRESSIVE COMPETITOR. His focus is too much in his head and not ON THE COURT!!! What coach would want THAT player out on the floor? And yet that is what coaches so often end up supporting.

HERE IS THE POINT:

If a player thinks he may get pulled out for messing up on the defensive end he is probably going to become more AGGRESSIVE and ramp up his GAME INTENSITY. If he thinks he is likely to get pulled out for messing up on the offensive end, he is going to become more SELF-CONSCIOUS and HESITANT. Physiologically, his muscles are probably going to tense up, so that his timing and his release will be off and/or he may hesitate for just that fraction of a second where he gives the defense the advantage as he tunes into that voice of doubt in his mind WHEN HE REALLY NEEDS TO BE FEELING CONFIDENT AND RELAXED.

When it comes to effort, there is NO excuse or reason to not be giving ones full effort! But when it comes to missed shots, a player will do better to look inside and re-adjust his mental state rather than looking to the bench to see his coach's face.

If a player isn't working on THAT skill set in practice along with his full physical effort, then he isn't TRULY giving 100%

STAYING MOTIVATED, PART 1

Yellow Light Moments

When it comes to athletic success, there is often a point where an athlete needs to push himself to his limit. In some sports, like swimming and track and field, this “comes with the territory,” but there are other sports, like soccer, basketball and tennis, where athletes are asked to push themselves in practice to develop the physical conditioning that may well make the difference between winning and losing in games. Few athletes may possess the iron will of a Michael Phelps or a Novak Djokovic to push themselves unrelentingly hour after hour -  but there are mental strategies that can help an athlete who is on board with the need to push himself but may find himself giving up too quickly when pain or fatigue set in.

                            *     *     *     *     *

WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE… You are approaching an intersection as the light turns yellow. Most of the time, we speed up to make it through the yellow light. Sometimes the light turns red as we are going through the intersection. It happens with drivers thousands of times every day.

     Sometimes, a driver slows down and comes to a stop at the intersection.  And while it is often a matter of our ability to get an immediate read on our timing relative to the light, there is something else at play… our motivation (in this case, the motivation to save time).

     We’re coming up to the intersection… the light changes to yellow… and we’re thinking “I don’t want to get stuck waiting at this intersection. What a waste of my time that is. I want to go on my way.”  (And if we are in a rush, all the more so…)

     And so we go through the light. (Hopefully it’s yellow… how many senseless deaths are cause by people running  the red light – but that’s another matter for another time.)

     But any reasonably responsible driver will also be saying something else to himself/herself at the same time … something like “I need to stop at the intersection because that is the safe thing to do under the circumstances.”   Or even “I need to stop at the intersection because there could be an officer nearby – or a traffic camera, and I don’t want to get stuck with a ticket.”

     IN OTHER WORDS… we are faced with two reasonable but opposing motivations – one which translate into “GO” and the other which translates into “STOP”

     It all happens in a fraction of a second, but in that fraction of a second ONE of those factors (“GO” or “STOP”) wins control and determines our behavior.

     This thought occurred to me recently while doing interval training on the bike. As I was pedaling at maximal effort I was feeling an energy drain – and probably would have dropped down to a lower speed.  But all of a sudden an image came to mind that gave me a surge of energy – enough energy to keep me going strong! (What was the image? See the end of the article!)

     There I was, my body sending signals of pain and fatigue to my mind, which in turn was ready to activate the “STOP” response … when a different (opposing) thought came into my mind which sparked the “GO” response instead. That thought prevailed over the other tendency and won out… with the result being that I kept going “full throttle” instead of giving in to my original temptation to slow down.

     A similar situation was reported during the 2008 Summer Olympics, when U.S. Olympian Jason Lezak captured the world’s attention by recording (unofficially) the fastest relay leg in swimming history to help the U.S. to a gold medal finish in the 4 x 100 freestyle. This was one of the races needed to help teammate Michael Phelps set his Olympic record of eight gold medals – a loss in this event would have put an early end to that quest.

   Lezak was going against French swimmer Alain Bernard, who, at the time, held the world record in the 100m freestyle, and had earlier that day bragged to his teammates that they would “smash the Americans.”  Lezak was swimming the final leg of the race, and trailed the Frenchman noticeably at the turn. With 50 meters to go, Lezak was a full body length behind. After having taken first place in this event for nine consecutive Olympics, the Americans had come up short in both 2000 and 2004. In fact, just prior to the 2004 Olympics, I asked Jason what aspects of the experience – his second time there – he was most looking forward to, and he replied, “I’m looking forward to getting the gold in the 400 freestyle relay back from the Aussies.”

     So when Lezak swam his part in what television commentator and former gold medalist Rowdy Gaines called “the greatest relay I have ever seen,” besting his own personal record by 1½ seconds, he later explained:

“When I flipped at the 50 and I saw how far ahead he still was, I really thought, ‘There's no way (I can catch up with Bernard). The guy holds the world record. This isn’t possible.’ And then I changed and I said, ‘You know what, that is ridiculous. This is the Olympics, and I'm here for the United States of America. I don't care how bad it hurts. I’m just gonna go out there.’ I’ve been part of two teams at the last two Olympics that came out behind, and I wanted … to show that we are the nation to beat in that relay. In like five seconds I was thinking all these things. I just got a supercharge and took it from there.”

     Whether it is that “supercharge” that helps an athlete surge ahead in competition, or just the motivation to maintain a high level of energy and effort in practice … it often comes down to that “Yellow Light Moment” and WHICH ONE of the conflicting messages we tell ourselves – “Take it easy” OR “Keep on going!” – takes hold.

   I often ask athletes to picture some sort of image or scenario that will remind them of the way they want to perform. In this case – me on the bicycle - I thought of filling my car up with gas to fuel me on the way … and then imagined passing someone on the highway (i.e. going strong). That image over-rode the other signal my body was sending my brain – the one of feeling tired and feeling about to quit. 

   Another time I was on the treadmill, going at full speed, when the pain/fatigue kicked in. Although I was similarly tempted to slow down, I thought to myself “What if I was to get my second wind in the next 2 minutes? What if I was to get a surge of energy if I could just keep it up for the next two minutes? I thought to myself that IF that would be true and IF I would have slowed down instead that would have been a shame… and that thought – that my second wind could be right around the corner – gave me the determination I needed to keep going for the next two minutes. THAT MENTAL STRATEGY MADE THE DIFFERENCE between stopping and keeping going. 

     Like the saying goes – “mind over matter.” Which one of two opposing thought will prevail in your mind. That is what matters!

Post Script… There is probably not a basketball coach around who hasn’t made his players run suicides in a certain time, (e.g. 28 seconds) only to have them run again because some team members didn’t make the required time.  So the team runs again, and still comes up short. Eventually they push themselves and everyone finishes in time.  The thing is that by the fourth or fifth time they are that much more exhausted, and yet they manage to run the best time of the lot. This certainly speaks volumes about the mental part of our ability for endurance!  As former Celtics great and Hall of Fame basketball legend John Havlicek put it:

“Most people think they’re overworked so they stop. They could have kept going but they didn't. They weren't beat physically, they were beat mentally.”

                                     © by 2014 by Dr. Mitch Smith.  All rights reserved.

LESSONS FROM OUR FIGHTING FORCES

In the U.S.A. – and likely elsewhere – it is not uncommon to hear of corporate leaders or others in key positions who credit much of their leadership ability to their earlier experience as athletes. A number of years ago I heard a fascinating and very moving account of such leadership achievement by members of the U.S. military who had competed as student athletes during their college days at the United States Military Academy (West Point).

They shared their experiences as officers in the Army, and described how many of the qualities that had helped them to excel in sports proved extraordinarily critical in combat situations… such qualities as successfully managing their emotional responses in high-stress situations, maintaining laser-like focus in battle, identifying and prioritizing key goals for short term and long term performance objectives, and the ability to perform with high levels of confidence. (In fact, the entire student body at West Point receives the very same kinds of training that sport psychologist use to help professional and Olympic athletes.)

I thought about that presentation after viewing two recent TV interviews with young military veterans, each of whom had been singled out for their valor in combat.  Their comments made me think not only about what sports has to teach people in the military, but what people in the military can share with athletes regarding superior performance … and some very important considerations that can help any athlete at any level step up his/her game.

In 2009, Dakota Meyer was a 21-year-old marine whose feats in battle earned him the Medal of Honor – becoming the first living recipient of this award in 38 years. In September, 2009, Meyer, a marine sniper, was sent with his unit together with some Afghan soldiers into a small valley where they were told the villagers were friendly. They didn’t know that that Taliban had set up an ambush in the village and had everyone pinned down. The enemy was attempting to cut off the rest of the team in the rear and kill them all. Dakota, who had raised some doubts about the mission, had been left behind apart from his team.

When he heard the gunfire, Meyer decided to enter the battle, knowing that his disobedience might result in his being sent on the first plane back to the States. According to reports, Meyer found four fallen comrades, all stripped of their weapons, radios and body armor. With the help of some friendly Afghan soldiers he moved the bodies to a safer area, then went in to evacuate 12 additional wounded troops and provide cover for another 24 Marines to escape likely death. He later told friends, “I kept hearing all this static, and later I realized that it was all the bullets going by.”

He and his driver came up behind the Taliban who were trying to complete their trap, and the Taliban fighters ran up to his truck to throw grenades at it and he was shooting people who were one and two feet from him. At this point the helicopter came in to get the wounded and if Dakota hadn’t been there a lot of people would have died.

Appearing in the interview with Meyer was Retired Admiral Jack Fetterman who trained pilots at Pensacola Naval Air Station. Fetterman shared that he was often asked what made a great pilot, and noted, “They keep sending us engineers, but I don’t want engineers. I want a guy who was an athlete or majored in P.E. (Physical Education) that’s got instinct and guts, who isn’t going to sit there and analyze things but is capable of acting on instinct.”

Comparing a well-trained soldier to an athlete, Fetterman added, “Take a baseball player who has swung at a ball 10,000 times and when he’s at bat he doesn’t have to think about it.” So when Dakota was asked, “What were you thinking about during the battle?” he replied “Just my aim point.” In the course of the battle he had used a 50 caliber machine gun, a 240 machine gun, his rifle, his grenade launcher, and even took one enemy out with a rock… and all the time, in the midst of all that pandemonium, all he was focused on was the sight picture because of all the rounds he had fired in the weeks, months, and years leading up to that day.

While all the arms training might seem repetitive, it was the technical and strategic competency developed during the hours and hours of practice that Meyer was able to rely on in the heat of battle. In a moment of extreme stress, Meyer’s effectiveness was enhanced by his ability to free his mind from technical concerns and trust completely in his preparation and his abilities.

As he put it, “All I did was go to see where I could help and fight together with my brothers … when I came upon what I saw I simply reacted.”

Having the confidence to trust one’s instincts and one’s ability is important not only in battle but also in the “battle” we call athletic competition. Too often it happens that a missed shot or poorly executed defense, and fears of being taken out of the game, cause an athlete to become overly self-absorbed… and he starts to focus on the wrong things. Dakota Meyer’s comments shed insight what helped him do what he did on that day -  going about reacting to the situation and looking to see where he could help.

Another valiant fighter talked as well about how any worries he might have had regarding his own individual performance were rendered inconsequential by his focusing on the greater concern for the team.

Sal (Salvatore) Giunta received the Medal of Honor for saving the lives of members of his squad during fighting in Afghanistan in October 2007. His unit was sent to the Korengal Valley, an area roughly 10 km. by 1.6 km or 6 x 1 miles, known as the “Valley of Death” due to the extreme amount of firefights in that area.

One night some 10-15 Taliban ambushed the main body of the squad from a mere 10 meters away, making air support from the Apaches overhead impossible. As Giunta described it:

“There were more bullets in the air than stars in the sky. A wall of bullets (coming at you) with one crack and then a million other cracks afterwards. They’re above you, in front of you, behind you, below you. They’re hitting in the dirt. They’re going over your head. Just all over the place. They were close—as close as I’ve ever seen.”

During the fighting the leader of Giunta’s team was hit repeatedly and taken captive, and soon there were several casualties. Pinned down, Giunta and some of his men acted to disrupt the attack, and though hit twice himself, Giunta then he ran after the retreating Taliban to rescue his unit commander and bring him back to safety.

When asked if he had acted on instinct, he replied “It’s what we train for, so we don’t have to think about it… so it becomes second nature to us. We were there to help the local people and improve the quality of their life. I’ve never done anything in the military alone. That is one thing the military does a great job at is to build a team. There are so many great things that men and women in uniform do every day that we don’t hear about. I did my job. I was trained well. I acted on reflex. I just wanted to save my buddies.”

“We have to do whatever it takes... and it’s about the team … so it’s about the person to the left of you and the person to the right of you. You don’t have to worry about yourself because the person to the left of you is going to worry about you and the person to the right of you is going to worry about you. We’re there to take care of each other. We’re all in this together. We’re all part of the same team and the same fight. That night in the Korengal Valley it was just brothers looking out for brothers. If you were to think of it like a painting my brush stroke wasn’t the first brushstroke and it wasn’t the last brushstroke, and it wasn’t necessarily the most beautiful brushstroke or the most amazing – it was just one more brushstroke that helped paint that picture at that moment. I was able to do what I did because of the people around me.”

For the many athletes who become discouraged when their execution falls short, and who tend as a result to focus on their own play – the words of these two soldiers who in the heat of battle were focused not on themselves but on their team – focused on what they had to do at that moment and relying on instinct to step up to the task at hand – offer invaluable guidance.

© 2013 Dr. Mitchell Smith

WHEN IT'S "NOW OR NEVER"

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake spent the 2011 spring training working for a spot on the club’s 25-man roster. Things didn’t go entirely well … Leake had a 7.29 ERA in six spring training outings competing for the 5^th spot in the rotation. His chances weren’t looking so good – but then two other pitchers, Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey, went out with injuries, making way for Leake – at least for the moment.

So when Leake took to the mound against the Astros on April 8, 2011, he had a lot on the line.  According to one report, manager Dusty Baker left Leake feeling that he had better prove himself if he didn’t want to be going back to the team’s AAA affiliate.

Leake got the team up to an early 5-0 lead, before an Astros single in the 5^th drove in two runs, but the Reds got the “W” 8-2.

As it turns out, Leake’s place on the roster wasn’t really in jeopardy after all; it just seems that the coaches felt he might do a better job if he believed he had something to prove.

Afterwards, Leake commented, “You always like pitching with a lead. Sometimes it makes you let down a little bit, but I made sure I wasn’t going to do that tonight.”

Feeling that there is NO CHOICE – that you HAVE to come through – can, in some cases, prove to spur an athlete on to success.  Some years ago as a college player at La Salle, NBA wing man Rasual Butler sank two free throws at the end of a game to secure the win.  Afterwards, I asked him what helped him hit both shots with all the pressure on.  “I HAD to make them both,” he told me. “Missing just wasn’t an option.”

A similar sentiment was expressed by Giants quarterback Eli Manning when he led his team to the championship in Super Bowl 42 in 2008, to beat the heavily favored New England Patriots, who came into the game with a perfect record that season.

With just 2:42 left in the game, the Patriots had the lead, 14-10, and the Giants had the ball on the Patriots 17 yard line. Manning’s gutsy play, including avoiding being sacked several times as he led the team down the field, and a crucial third-and-5 on the Giants 44-yard-line where Manning connected with David Tyree, who caught the ball of his helmet, kept the  Giants in the game.  Four plays later, with just 35 seconds remaining, Manning threw to Plaxico Burress for the win.

Afterwards, Manning commented that knowing he HAD to go for broke – that being down four meant that settling for a field goal was not an option – made it easier for him to do what had to be done.

                                          
With that, Manning became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw two fourth quarter touchdowns to come from behind and secure the victory.

And more recently, the 2011 Masters offered a study in contrasts. With a 4-stroke lead going into the final day, 21-year-old Rory McIlroy looked to be the second youngest player to win the event (after Tiger Woods), but was unable to hold his nerves in check and had a disastrous final round. Aussie Adam Scott, 30, was in the lead, and fellow Aussie, Jason Day, 23, birdied on the 17th and 18th holes to finish up 12-under, when South African Charl Schwarzel, 24, stepped up to the 18th tee.

"With Jason and Adam making so many birdies, I knew I needed to do something,” Schwartzel noted afterwards. “I said to myself, ‘IT'S NOW OR NEVER!!’”

Schwatrzel hit the ball down the middle of the fairway, hit his approach shot to within 15 feet of the hole, and then one-putted in for the win (four birdies on the four final holes).

To be sure, not everyone will respond similarly to this kind of pressure, but for some athletes, knowing that they HAVE to step up – and telling themselves that nothing else is acceptable – gets the job done.

MAINTAINING COMPETITIVE FOCUS: DEVELOPING YOUR FOCUS MUSCLES

Maintaining Competitive Focus Part 1: Developing Your Focus Muscles

FOCUS. It’s one of the critical ingredients in athletic success.  Professional athletes with whom I have spoken who made the transition from college sports have all said pretty much the same thing – “At this (professional) level you can’t afford to lose focus for a moment. In college you could always get back into things, but in the pros you lose your focus and your opponent is going to take advantage of it.”

EVERYONE REMEMBERS – OR HAS SEEN ON NUMEROUS “BEST OF” SEGMENTS ON ESPN – Christian Laettner’s unforgettable buzzer beater

against Kentucky back in 1992 – without which Duke would not have advanced to the Final Four … Duke would not have then won the National Championship for a second consecutive year … and Laettner might not have been named the Player of the Year.

Flash back three years to Laettner’s freshman season.  Already a blue chip player and past McDonald’s All American, Laettner and his team were up against the University of Arizona Wildcats, led by Laettner’s future NBA colleague Sean Elliot, playing in front of thousands in Madison Square Garden in New York City, and a national TV audience of millions. It was a close game.  Arizona was up by two with seconds to go when Laettner was fouled.  He stepped up to the foul line with a chance to tie the score.  He bounced the ball a couple of times, then readied for the shot.  It closed in on the rim … and then (slow motion here if this was a movie!!!) rimmed out. Laettner took his second shot … and  missed that one as well.

What was going through Laettner’s mind as he stood there on the foul line.  “If I make these shots we can still pull of the win…”???  “I MUST make these shot…” ???  “I CANNOT let my teammates down…”???  Whatever it was, Laettner’s focus was likely NOT on the task of sinking those free throws, but on the consequences of his succeeding or failing

Chances are – in one variation or another – you’ve been where Christian Laettner was.

In this series – we will be looking at some of the typical challenges to your focus, exactly what focus consists of, and how you can stay focused – or regain focus when you have become distracted.

WHAT IS THE KEY TO STAYING FOCUSED? A huge part of my conversations with bigs ends up on this subject, as they tell me of the things that take them OUT of their focus.  Ninety per cent (or more) of the time, their concern is to regain focus when they have has lost it.  

One of the things I most commonly hear from athletes is that when they make a mistake, have a bad shot, etc, they get annoyed and it takes them out of their focus. Just the other day, I received an email from a post player telling me about a recent event when a missed defensive assignment led to shouts from his coach on the sidelines, leading to a missed shot on the other end of the court as he was focusing on his coach’s words (and thoughts of being benched).

Anytime an athlete makes a mistake or misses an assignment, it is always going to present a challenge to his focus.  Like anything else, an athlete’s focus will go up and down in the course of a game. So most of the time, the problem is to re-set your focus when it is starting to slip.

This has been the case with a tennis player I have been working with, the number two player on his school’s roster.  Every time a shot went long or into the net, he would become annoyed.  He would allow that feeling to stay with him, eating away at his confidence, so that he was thinking about almost any- thing except having his head in the next point. 

While making fewer mistakes is one way to deal with this situation, there is no such thing as an athlete who NEVER makes a mistake, so that is – at best – a very partial solution.  Furthermore, an athlete who plays to avoid making mistakes is not likely to improve; his play will often be tentative, rarely bold or aggressive. 

Consider the attitude that helped tennis player Lindsay Davenport to win the 1998 U.S. Open: 

      I didn’t want to just be out there getting the ball 
      back in.  I was going to go all out - even if I made
      60 unforced errors.  I didn’t want to leave 
      anything on the court.

One of the things that I had been working on with this athlete was how to keep things simple – both on and off the court.  For example, he found that if, during practice, he decided to give his attention to one part of his game exclusively, he was less concerned with making mistakes in other aspects.  So if, for example, he was focusing on his backhand, or coming to the net, then he was more “forgiving” of himself with respect to mistakes made in other parts of his game.  Furthermore, he found that by focusing on one aspect of his game, he would find himself making improvements in that aspect, and would notice a “spillover” effect so that the incremental confidence he began to feel would lead to stronger play and fewer mistakes in other parts of his game in that same practice.

So I asked him to complete the following sentence: “I don’t care if I make mistakes as long as…”

Here is what he came up with (after I told him that a good answer would not be “as long as my opponent makes more mistakes!”)… “I don’t care if I make mistakes as long as I can keep my focus.”

In other words, a mistake does not need to be an occasion to get off track.

If anything I suggested to him that making a mistake could be an opportunity to actually strengthen his focus “muscles”, in a way that would not be likely if he were not making any mistakes.

Consider, after all, how we build muscle in the gym.  When we lift weights, we are actually breaking down muscle tissue.  Afterwards, when the tissue repairs itself, it comes back stronger than before.  It is, after all, called “resistance” training.  If we think of focus in the same way, then when we subject our focus to resistance (such as in making mistakes, becoming annoyed and “losing” our focus – but then working to quickly regain it) we are building the “focus muscles,” making them stronger than before.  The key, then, is in the “working to quickly regain it”.

This involves consciously deciding to put all non-relevant thoughts out of mind.  Being annoyed at a mistake is understandable; we all experience that.  But the more quickly you tell yourself to re-focus, the more effective you will be in competition.

Consider the example given by skier Bonnie St. John Deane, silver medal winner in the 1984 Paralympics slalom.  She noted that

In my first run of the slalom I was ahead, but then I fell down and had to get up to complete the race.  In fact, the woman who won the gold medal also fell down. I knew from previous races that I could ski faster than her.  But what won the gold medal for her was that she got up faster than I did after falling down.  I learned that everybody falls down – but Olympic athletes get up faster, and gold medalists get up the fastest of all.

Substitute “regain focus” for “getting up”, and you get the point.

NBA Hall of Famer Karl Malone once said that if you’re not willing to make mistakes you are never really going to improve as a player. The more you are willing to develop an attitude that instead of letting the mistakes get the best of you, they can become opportunities to improve your ability to stay focused – the more competitive you are likely to become.

"The more I focus, the less I worry about pressure"

    -- Nick Price, winner of the 1994 U.S. Open and PGA Championship

(c) 2017 by Dr. Mitch Smith

STAYING MOTIVATED WHEN PLAYING WEAKER OPPONENTS

A European post player recently contacted me online regarding a situation that is very common ... difficulties encountered when playing a weaker opponent. This player told me that he has a problem with motivation in such games, adding that it is easier for him when going up against stronger players, as opposed to weaker ones.

I asked him to consider if he has any thoughts as to what is happening in these situations that creates the problem. Here is part of our conversation.

I have a problem with motivation when I'm playing with a weaker team. When I play against strong and of good players, it's easier. What is the key? Where do I look for motivation?

That is a good question. I actually hear this quite often from players I work with. ... Another way of looking at it is to ask: What is your goal in this game? For example, if a player says his goal is to win and he thinks the opponent is weaker he says to himself ... "Okay, I only have to play so hard to win and not harder than that." That might create the problem you have been experiencing. To find the proper motivation it can help to figure out the MOST USEFUL goal to set for yourself.

Well I think my problem is the fear of making a mistake. 

This is also something I hear quite often. I observe that many guys play - at least in certain games - with the goal of NOT making any mistakes. Would you agree that in this case, a player is probably not going to play at his best level?

Yes, I know. But....

But??

It is not easy.

Sure. I find the main reason that players play with this goal in mind (even if they are not aware of it!!) is the fear that if they make a mistake the coach will take them out of the game.

And it might be true that the coach will take them out - but you can NOT control what the coach will do and to worry about it is to spend your energy in the wrong place.  I have talked with NBA players who also have had this problem... and kept missing shots in games for this very reason. They got themselves very stressed and this affected both their mind (when you are worried your mind is not as free to stay focused on the moment to moment action of the game) AND their body (when you are tight you are not going to get a fluid shot off or successfully get past your defender).

For this reason it is VERY important to have a clear goal for what you WANT to be doing ... NOT what you DO NOT want to be doing (like NOT making mistakes. For example, a player might set as a goal "I want to be more patient and trust myself with decisions when I have the ball" ... or "I want to focus on the quality of how i shoot."

So what I am saying to you is that motivation is always about finding the BEST goal for the situation. I hope this helps