3 VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES YOU SHOULD BE USING

One of the demands of elite sport is the ability to play or perform in as flawless a way as possible. In a previous article I gave an example of how an injured athlete used visualization to master some high level skills. This time I want to share the details of three mental rehearsal techniques that can help you play in top form with as few mistakes as possible.

A basketball player (post) was having trouble when getting the ball down low because of frequent traveling once the ball was in his hands. 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:

1. When you are alone, close your eyes and picture getting the ball and making your move. Repeat this a couple of times, seeing yourself acting in a confident and aggressive way.

2. Picture yourself 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.

3. Pick out one place in your body that is 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 activated that you would feel if you were actually playing. 

In the gym practice this move alternating between doing it without the ball and with the ball. Every 4th 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 they got tripped up by picturing something in advance and then sticking with that when in the particular circumstances of actual play the defense played him differently and that move turned out to not be the best move for the moment. If you are too caught up in what you are GOING TO DO when you get the ball you may not be leaving enough focus for the PRESENT MOMENT that you are in right now.  Without strong focus as the ball is being passed to you, you may be 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.

One way to increase your capacity to do this is to spend a good amount of time visualizing situations where the defender switches things up or your teammates are in different places on the floor.  

Adding this skill to your on-court practice can allow you to feel more prepared, and as a rule, when athletes feel more prepared they feel more confident and self-assured - a strong precursor of success.

For previous posts on using visualization click here.

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.

PREPARING FOR FINALS: SOME HELPFUL HINTS FROM SPORT PSYCHOLOGY

 As a sport psychologist I work with athletes to play their best on the field (court, etc.) The fact is that doing well in the classroom – and on exams – is just a different kind of performance, and in many ways, the same strategies and concepts that are useful in sports are similarly helpful in the classroom.  Here are some thoughts that will hopefully be useful to you in maximizing your success in exams.  Good luck!!

1. SUSTAINING YOUR FOCUS

     Focus is a key factor in effective studying and in test taking. When it comes to studying, it is pretty difficult to maintain quality focus over extended periods of time. Most experts recommend dividing your study time into 20-30 minute bouts. During those periods expect of yourself to be highly focused.  You might set your watch for the 20 or 30 minutes.  Then take a 3-5 minute break to de-stress and re-group. Take a few slow, deep breaths. Check where there is stress in your body (shoulders? back? forehead?) and engage in some sort of relaxation strategy to rid yourself of that stress. You might take a brief walk or otherwise look for a change of setting during those 3-5 minutes. The more relaxed you are when you return to the task of studying the more focused you will be – and the more efficient your studying will be in terms of comprehension and retention of the material.

     Another thing to bear in mind is that just as you wouldn’t go into the weight room and try to do all your week’s work in one afternoon, it is similarly more effective to master the material in smaller, repeated sessions than in one extended session.  After an hour or so of studying one subject, you are probably well advised to shift gears and go to another subject (think of it like cross-training).

2. VISUALIZATION

     Before you sit down to study, spend 2-3 minutes visualizing yourself in the times you have been most focused, and visualize yourself being similarly focused as you go to the work at hand. See yourself being efficient and understanding the material. Even if you don’t exactly understand it altogether, having a positive mind frame should definitely help.

     There is research that highly confident athletes make use of visualization picturing themselves achieving their goals on a more regular basis than other athletes. If you have trouble seeing yourself being focused for study or test-taking, then recall in your mind a time when you were focused, so that you can transfer the feeling of being focused to the task at hand.

3.  DE-STRESSING

     Remember, stress is not the enemy.  Without some measure of stress we would not push ourselves – whether on the playing field or in the classroom.  Champions and top performers expect to experience stress, but they are also good at remembering to de-stress at regular intervals throughout the day in order to maintain a manageable level of stress rather than let it become overwhelming.  Do you have successful de-stressing strategies (which don’t involve food or drink!!)?  In general, taking some slow, deep breaths, taking a few moments to relax in areas where you may be tense (such as the back of your neck, shoulders, forehead, etc.) or picturing yourself in a relaxing setting such as the beach can help you to de-stress.

4.  CONFIDENCE

     You know how important confidence is in sport performance.  It is similarly helpful to be confident in studying and taking exams.  Recall past successes in both studying/mastering material.  If you find yourself saying things like “I NEVER…” (such as “I NEVER do well in exams), you need to do a reality check and change that NEVER to a SOMETIMES. Try to find at least one positive statement you can make that feels genuine (e.g., “I feel good about myself when I know I am giving my best effort.”)

5.  REALISTIC GOAL SETTING

     Everyone would love to have all A’s – and some of you reading this will achieve that goal.  But if you are struggling then it might be helpful to think about which courses – or which aspects of certain courses – you feel the best about and set a goal of doing your very best in those areas while setting as realistic a goal as you can in the other courses or areas – enough so to expect the best of yourself while cutting yourself some slack. 

6.  SLEEP

     You wouldn’t expect to play your best on only 3-4 hours sleep.  In fact, one study found that athletes who were sleep deprived were slower in tests of speed and less accurate in hitting tennis balls than those who were well rested. (Sufficient sleep has even been found to be a necessary condition for weight loss.) You will do better by getting as much sleep as you can (if not a full 8 hours a night try to get at least 6 and a 20 minute “power nap” at some point during the day.

                                                                                                © 2016 Dr. Mitch Smith

KEEPING YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME

A friend posted something on Facebook announcing that he and his family were moving out of town, and wanted to say goodbye to everyone. His post read, in part:

I finally got a call on a position I interviewed for a month ago. I didn't mention it (before) because I (wasn't ready) to reveal it yet. I'm happy to announce that I accepted the position. We made the decision to move to X because it would be a better environment. So we will be heading out next month. I wanted to call/text everyone individually, but I thought it would be easier to post my news here. I promise to... (Read more)

Because Facebook only shows so many lines of a longer post on people's Facebook accounts, you have to click on the post to actually read the entire post.

Like many people, I tend not to do that, so after reading the above, I sent my words of congratulation to this friend.

Imagine my surprise when he texted me back and told me I should have read the WHOLE post.  Here is how it continued:

"... stay in touch with everyone, especially because this isn't real and (I invite you) to post this as your status and see how many people actually read this stuff till the end!!"

As Sheldon Cooper would say: "Bazinga!!"

It got me thinking about how in sports (and other things, too) we often react to a portion of events rather than getting the full picture.

For example, a player who misses his first few shots, starts to entertain negative thoughts, losing sight of the fact that there are many more minutes to be played - or that he has bounced back from similar episodes in the past.

Or a player who gets berated by his coach, may not see the larger picture, which includes coaches (if not this one, then typically other coaches in the past) who have encouraged him and helped him.

When we form our "picture of things" prematurely, we undermine the likelihood of turning things around by simply staying in the game.  

I previously addressed this topic in an earlier post that you may find of value: "What Are You Looking At?"

So here is a reminder that things sometimes take a different turn, so it pays to be sure that you have the WHOLE picture before you prematurely react, or you may well find that your reaction is based on incorrect information and end up heading AWAY from your goal.

MISTAKES IN THE POST TO AVOID FOR STRONGER PLAY

by George Galiotos
Coach, Rick Mahorn Big Man Camp (BigMan.camp)

Recently I had the chance to watch a college game, where I was particularly interested in the play of the bigs, having handled post assignments for top clubs in Greece for a dozen years.

What I saw was athletic guys running up and down the court ... but failing to seal the player under the basket. Their positioning didn't allow the guards to feed the post so in this particular game I noticed 6 or 7 times a player posted up but only on one of those times did he score. The other times the ball was turned over because the player either had faulty footwork or when the player went up and under he brought the ball down low rather than keeping it up high, resulting in a turnover.

I also saw that when the big got open he didn't get the ball because he needed to be more vocal and let teammates know he was ready to get the ball. If a big is inactive just outside the paint and not asking for the ball he isn't going to get it. 

George Galiotos

I also saw that bigs were setting screens at the wrong angles so that they weren't rolling to be able to get the ball. When you set a great screen you force the defender to help the player caught in your screen and then you have the space to roll successfully and get the ball. 

On some instances I saw the big just kind of staying where he was and not even rolling or popping out after setting the screen to create space and take advantage of the screen in order to be open to take a shot. .

As far as defense goes, the guys I was watching tended to jump on every shot fake. You don't have to necessarily leave your feet to block a shot. By keeping your hands up and ready  in defensive position you can defend against a shorter player without getting out of position. Not being in position in time - when a player is late to get to where he needs to be and tries to block the shot, that is where bigs get into so much foul trouble. 

Regarding rebounding, I saw players assuming they could rely on their athleticism, making no attempt to box out their player first. I suggest you stop looking for the ball and box out your player first to slow him down. Then you can use your abilities to grab the rebounds.  

When the guard drives baseline past his defender, the big should be ready to help by closing the driving lane. You need to be low with hands up and outer foot on the baseline. to keep the opposing guard from trying to go for the reverse layup. You want to force that guard to have to change or reverse direction, make an errant pass or draw the charging foul. But if you are 3-4 feet away from the baseline, and try to block that shot, you are probably going to be the one who gets called for the foul.  

To sum up, on offense the big should not just be focused on getting up and down the court but getting down quickly for the fast break ... to seal his defender under the basket ... to set great screens and then roll quickly toward the post, getting low and in proper spot close to the basket ... and be loud and active in asking for the ball. On defense, put a higher priority on boxing out to get rebounds instead of overly relying on your athletic abilities ... play with your hands up ... don't jump up on pump fakes ... and make it a habit to be in the proper position to avoid being called for the foul.

Finally, increase your guards' trust in you by projecting the idea that this is YOUR house and nobody is going to score on you. You will be getting more touches of the ball and at the same time the defense is going to be a bit more leery of attacking you.

*George Galiotos, a 7-footer from Greece, played in the Greek league for over a dozen years, while earning a degree in physical education and sport science. He now works as a basketball coach in New York City.

A LESSON FROM THE WORLD OF TV GAME SHOWS

HOW FOCUSED ARE YOU IN CRITICAL MOMENTS?  

Or are you like this guy?

I was watching "Wheel of Fortune" recently with my dad and we couldn't help but feel sorry for one of the contestants on that night's show.  In one puzzle the guy landed on the Million Dollar space (which is nice but only good if you make it to the final puzzle ... AND solve it - but still pretty exciting).  Next spin he lands on BANKRUPT, losing everything including that newly-won card.

Next puzzle he landed on the $3,500 space, called "T" - there were two of them and how he's got $7,000 riding on this puzzle. Spins again and straightaway lands on ... BANKRUPT!

By now you could see he was starting to feel stressed, especially as the other players were racking up big bucks. So what happens on the next spin?  He lands once more on big money, and calls "N."  Normally a good call, except that the N had already been called. 

This fellow's stress had gotten the best of him and distracted his focus. You could just see thinking about those previous puzzles and replaying those bankrupts in his mind - when winning depended on him being FULLY FOCUSED IN THE PRESENT MOMENT. Totally understandable but NEVER a good thing.

How about you? How good are you at letting go of those big mistakes you just made and staying FULLY FOCUSED IN THE PRESENT MOMENT?

FROM DEFLECTING TO REFLECTING: BEING RIGHT VS. BEING GREAT

The alarming spike in anti-Semitic acts (along with other hate crimes) in the past three years reached a crescendo with last week's brutal slaughter of Jews worshiping in synagogue on their Sabbath.

Antisemitism is hardly new. In the Book of Genesis we read of the handsome young slave Joseph, who rejected the advances of his Egyptian master's wife. To assuage her hurt feelings, the scorned woman turns to her other slaves to report that Joseph was the one who assaulted her, adding, "Look how this Hebrew was brought here (by my husband) to ridicule us."

As if she and her slaves had anything in common, she resorts to an "us vs. him" moment to gain their sympathy.

In the nearly 4,000 years since then, there have been many who sought to hold onto their power by seeking common cause with those they ruled through the convenient ploy of Antisemitism. Examples run from medieval blood libels to Eastern European pogroms, and from the Nazis' methodical disenfranchisement of the Jews leading to the Holocaust and the decimation of one-third of world Jewry.

Now we are witnessing the defamatory pronouncements against Holocaust survivor George Soros, who is vilified as a so-called "globalist," (code for "Jew"). Without a single shred of evidence, politicians claim that Soros is funding the trek toward our southern border of people who largely are seeking what most of our own ancestors sought in American - what President Andrew Jackson called "the asylum where the wretched and the oppressed find a refuge." 

Our president told reporters that such claims may be true; one individual was so moved to murder nine Jews and two police officers in a Pittsburgh synagogue, and another mailed pipe bombs to Soros and a list of others who have curried the anger of our president. Our president leads his followers to believe that members of the opposition party want no borders and to simply let everybody "invade us."

This, of course, is preposterous - not to mention dangerous and outrageous.  EVERY American wants to feel secure in our country.  Unfortunately, we are seeing fears being stoked until they turn extreme and then violent. "Us vs. them" has become the norm of the day as American society seems more divided than ever before.

As a sport psychologist I know that only when team members are able to replace fear with trust in one another can they achieve greatness.  Only when players are ready to honestly reflect on what keeps them divided, and resist the temptations to point fingers at one another, can they reach their best.

A college basketball coach asked me to work with his team because players' resentment about how much individual playing time they were getting was hurting team performance. We explored why players weren't feeling valued, why players were not ready to step up and take personal responsibility, and how to trust one another. Fears of being cheated out of playing time eventually gave way to greater cohesion and feelings of unity. The team went on to have a great season, winning their conference championship.

We Americans are a team, what President Jackson called "one great family." But like that college team, we are devoting most of our energies dividing each other into "us" and "them."
We act is if WE are always right and THEY are always wrong.

If we as a country are to be great, it will require a greater measure of trust and mutual respect than we have seen of late. We just have to decide if we want to be right (as factions) or great (as a team).

Thanks to Jon Meacham for the Andrew Jackson references from his excellent book, "The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels"

FROM FEAR TO CONFIDENCE Part 2

Confidence is generally considered the TOP predictor of performance success.  Here is Part 2 of my post on this ESSENTIAL characteristic that EVERY athlete needs in their mental tool box!!     For Part 1 click here.

Some of you had asked how you go about developing feelings of confidence, while others wanted to know how to restore your feelings of confidence when they get undermined due to things not going so well.

Regarding the first question - how we achieve feelings of confidence in the first place - a big part of that simply comes from doing the work. There is no substitute for that.  

A famous (and VERY old) joke tells of a tourist visiting New York City, who asks a local, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" (the well known concert venue where all the big names have appeared). The local replies, "Practice, practice, practice."

It is typically the case that the best players are the first ones to the gym and the last to leave. They have a great work ethic!

Golf champion Aaron Baddeley put it this way: "Once you have (put in the practice) and you have (mastered) your mechanics, you have to be able to walk out there and trust your mechanics."

Most athletes are at various stages of learning and getting better. Still, most have been playing their sport since grade school, and whatever level you have reached at the present, you want to be able to trust yourself to be able to play at THAT level in competition, and particularly in big games like going into the State semi-finals and finals.

It can help to kind of "go inward" and ask yourself how much you trust yourself. If you aren't completely satisfied with the answer you give yourself, try to figure out what is keeping you from trusting yourself - and THAT is what you need to work on.

When I work with an individual athletes on-one-one, we are able to go deeper and more into detail on this than I can offer here. But I can offer this one additional thought that I think can help right away. If you can accept that you may likely make mistakes - that you are not perfect - this will help you stay confidence when things seem to slip away from you. When you aren't expecting perfection from yourself, you are better able - after missing a play - something like, "I missed that ... but that happens sometimes. I am here to play for myself and my teammates, and the the thing that I CAN control is to be giving my best effort at all times."

The important thing is to have a mental image of your strengths and who you are as an athletes, in order to help you zone in on your feelings of confidence and keep the door open to playing at your best level.

Finally, you might also consider the comments made by New York Giants Quarterback Eli Manning after he led his team to a come-from-behind victory against the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII: To be down 4 points with just 3 minutes to go, knowing that you HAVE to score a touchdown - that is EXACTLY where I wanted to be - just the kind of thing I have dreamed of for myself!"  

Of course, it is easier to make a statement like that having won the game!!!  But I suspect that Manning genuinely felt this regardless of the outcome. Ultimately, confidence athletes feel that they are able to succeed in the performance, whether or not the outcome goes in their favor.

FROM FEAR TO CONFIDENCE Part 1

My last post focused on the fears we all experience in life and on the playing field.  This time I am addressing the flip-side of life and sports.  This article is based on a discussion I had with members of a high school soccer team preparing for their State Tournament semi-final game, following a perfect 31-0 season. The questions they raised prompted a piece I wrote and shared with them.  I hope this is helpful to you as well!!

What is the best way to stay confident?  How can I restore my confidence after making a mistake?

Question: If you were to suddenly have unlimited confidence, how do you think you would play differently than you typically do at present?

I have posed this question to dozens of athletes with whom I work.  Take a minute to answer this question for yourself.

  

The answer I most often get is: "I would play more aggressively and not be so tentative."

From this we can infer two important qualities of confident players.
   1) They are more likely to trust their instincts and not think too much about their game, and 
   2) They are not so worried about making mistakes, and more likely to accept such mistakes as an inevitable part of competing at a high level.

Years ago, after winning the U.S. Open Women's Tennis championship, Lindsay Davenport made the following comment:
"I didn't want to leave anything on the court. I might lose, but it would be by going all out - even if I made 60 unforced errors.  I didn't want to be out there just getting the ball back in."

Her focus was on playing aggressively - on going all out, and not on whether or not she might make any mistakes in the process.  If anything, she seemed to take into account that she WOULD make some mistakes, but that would just be a part of the aggressive way she had committed to wanting to play.

Many athletes feel confident WHEN THEY ARE PLAYING WELL. It is as if, when they see that things are going well, they say to themselves, "Hey, I am pretty good," or "I am playing quite well today."

The biggest problem with this way of looking at things is what happens when they make a mistake or two.  Then they begin to doubt themselves ,which can easily lead to another mistake or being outplayed by their opponent. Before long, they are saying to themselves something like "I suck out  here," or "I am not as good as that player."

There is a different kind of confidence, and that is the kind that comes not from the particular results of a given game or match, but from a feeling we have developed about ourselves and our abilities along the way - regardless of how we might be performing on any particular occasion.

Golfing great Greg Norman put it this way: "I know exactly what my skills are ... and I trust them. Knowledge and understanding of my game have brought me an inner confidence and perspective."  

Athletes with inner or self-directed confidence will tend less to start doubting themselves when they do make a mistake or have a bad play. Anyone can stay positive when things are going their way, but these athletes are able to stay positive even when they make errors, and readily accept the fact that no athlete can play perfectly all the time.

Brad Faxon, known as one of the best pure putters in professional golf, was having a bad day. His partner for the round commented afterwards, "It's too bad you weren't putting well today," to which Faxon replied, "Oh, I was putting well today; they just weren't going in."

Faxon knew he was playing his game, and that sometimes even then things don't go your way. This is a great example of confidence as the capacity to believe in your abilities regardless of the outcome of the game.

HOW FEAR IS DESTRUCTIVE ON THE COURT AND OFF IT

FEAR. The one thing that, more than the toughest opponent, can bring down the most talented of competitors. 

I addressed the topic of fear in a previous post, FEAR or TRUST, which told the story of British rugby great Jonny Wilkinson, and his struggles with his own fear as he made his way through his career from self-doubt to confidence.  

The topic of fear was part of a talk given recently by former U.S. President Barack Obama as he addressed the current political climate in America. 

President Obama talked about the fact that much of what is currently happening in the U.S. is guided by a "politics of fear." His remarks caused me to think about how, in one way or another, the challenges faced by virtually every athlete I have worked with in my 25 years of sport psychology work stemmed from some sort of fear (fear of messing up, fear of disappointing others, fear of being benched, fear of falling short of one's goals ... mostly involving some sort of loss). 

These fears  - the fears that any of us face - may well be hard-wired within us. Historian Jon Meacham has noted that "Fear is among the oldest of human forces." At any rate, our fears are very basic and hard to overcome (whether in athletic competition or in our social and national life).*

Paralleling Wilkinson's own journey from fear to trust, President Obama eloquently called for a move from the politics of fear to the politics of hope. If, as suggested above, our fears are our "default mode," then such a shift requires clear  motivation, deliberate efforts, and thought-out strategies to enable us to replace fear with hope and trust.

The only way forward - the only way to adapt to whatever circumstances life throws our way - involves making those efforts, as hard as that may be. And perhaps also accepting that some fear will always be with us, but knowing that MANAGEABLE fears can even be part of what propels us forward. 

When we are able to find the COURAGE - in measure large or small - to face our fears and reach past them, then the kinds of strategies we can develop on our own or with the help of a sport psychology professional, can surely help us move from fear to hope.

* Meacham writes in "The Soul of America, "Fear is caused by whatever we feel has great power of destroying us, or of harming us in ways that cause us great pain. Fear feeds anxiety and produces anger. The opposite of fear is hope. Hope breeds optimism and looks forward. Fear points at others, assigning blame; hope points ahead."

YOUTH COACHES AND THE PARENTS IN THE STANDS

I recently took part in a meeting of youth basketball coaches where the matter of parents who try to coach their own kids from the stands (and at other times) was addresse

Some of the veteran coaches gave some very good advice to the other coaches in the group about some ways to establish firm yet gentle boundaries, and there are other sites online offering similar counsel.

However I asked the coaches to consider another facet of this nearly universal problem, i.e., that this could also present a very important learning opportunity for 8- and 10- and 12-year olds. 

When a parent yells out to his child to take the shot (because that parent cares about his child's success but not necessarily the success or cohesion of the team), the child wants to please his parent (and/or get his parent off his back) but the child is also learning how to be an effective part of a team and experiencing very valuable life lessons about it not always being about you.

I told the coaches that such situations offered children an important learning opportunity regarding such growth and personal development, and that there could be a benefit in NOT trying to only resolve this matter by appealing to the parents' readiness to back off.

I suggested a coach might begin a conversation by asking the kids to think about when parents yelled out such things, and in what ways this was beneficial and in what ways not.
Also to think about how - even though each parent wants the best for their child - this impacts the team as a whole, and that sometimes in life we have loyalty to more than one group and have to make certain choices - so that loyalty to our parents must co-exist with loyalty to our team.

This kind of discussion can help children develop a stronger sense of being able to manage potentially distressing situations and feel confident in their abilities to confront these (and other) unpleasant situations in ways that allow them to emerge with feelings of success.

By ONLY attempting to manage the situation through discussions with the offending parents, coaches, despite their best intentions, could prevent kids from such growth.

Many years ago, a leading psychologist named Albert Ellis, whose lengthy career focused on how people reacted to the things in life they defined as problems, proposed that school could help kids enormously by exposing them to mildly distressing situations so that the kids would develop the skills and strengths to successfully cope with these situations and thereby master their abilities to see such problems as not debilitating or otherwise disturbing, but as road bumps in life that they felt confident they could cope with and overcome with proper effort

If you have had experiences and/or thoughts in this matter of parents and youth sport, please drop a line to MitchSmithMentalCoach@gmail.com. Anything shared will be treated with the fullest of confidence/privacy.

A WARRIOR'S GREATEST WEAPON

At the Rick Mahorn Big Man Camp one of the focuses of our mental coaching sessions is working with guys on developing a WARRIOR MINDSET.

The recent film "12 Strong" about a U.S. Special Ops team sent to Afghanistan after 9/11 to provide tactical support to a local leader and his militia fighting the Taliban, offers an interesting insight.

The U.S. team was there to liaison with American air strikes.

In one pivotal scene the American captain tells the Afghan leader, "I'm your link to the greatest weapon in the history of civilization, General. You've got to start trusting me."

To which the Afghani replies:

"The greatest weapon in history is THIS (pointing to his heart). I don't have soldiers in my army - not one. ONLY WARRIORS.
Stop being a soldier (pointing to his head) and start using THIS (pointing again to his heart), and you can be a warrior too."

In an earlier post I wrote about how Kobe Bryant used music to bring on his warrior's heart: What Kobe Learned from the Movies

MASTERING THE MENTAL GAME

My mind is where every challenge I have ever faced has been won or lost. Train the mind and the body will follow.             - Steph Curry

 

MARCH MADNESS: HERE'S TO THE GUYS ON THE BENCH

The contribution of these guys should NEVER go unappreciated!!!

It's March Madness time again.  Through strength of season or automatic bid 64 teams will attend the Big Dance. Each team includes guys who spend most or all of each game on the bench.  I know from my work with several such players that the excitement of the season can sometimes be matched by a considerable measure of frustration.

However the contribution of these guys should NEVER go unappreciated!!!

A while back I served as sport psychology consultant to a college team in Florida. There was one guy on the team, Rob (not his real name), the kind of guy on every team, who gets into games during the last couple of minutes if the team is up by 25 points with the win in sight.  He is the proverbial fan favorite who everyone roots for to get into the box score. But when all is said and done, most people underestimate the importance of a player like Rob.

Most of these guys (and gals) are cheering their teammates on loudly from the bench. They've got a hand or a high five for each teammate who comes off the floor. In practice they give 100%, they hustle and they dive after loose balls like nobody's business, setting a standard for the starters.

Shortly before the season was over, with a couple of games left in conference play and the post-season tournament still ahead, we did a team exercise focusing on leadership. As player after player was asked to rank his teammates for the leadership they brought to the team and how they manifested it, one name was consistently mentioned alongside the top scorers - Rob. The

guy who was last on the stat sheet was - in the eyes of his teammates - among the first in terms of key leadership qualities he brought to the team in its quest for success. 

There is the flip side, of course, the marquee players who make it all about themselves. There was such a player on one college squad, his league's leading scorer at 23.2 ppg, who was named to the All-Conference First Team. But for all his individual stats, his team finished their season so poorly (13-16 overall, 7-10 in conference play) that they were the lowest seed in the conference tournament and sent packing after the first game. 

"We had a player like that some years back," said Coach Joe Niland, who during his long tenure at Spring Hill College and the University of Mobile has taken several teams to the NAIA Final Four. "He had to be the star, had to be the leading scorer. He simply didn't understand the concept of having your own needs subservient to the team. He made his whole senior year all about him. He cost us getting to the national tournament. He had been the leading scorer in his high school, the leading scorer at his junior college. Yet none of these teams ever won a championship."

"A good player helps his team to win. He might not be a big scorer, he might set picks, he might take charges, he might hustle for rebounds. Look at Bird and Magic. They made the players around them better. We had a player a couple of years ago, he didn't make All Conference Team, but all the coaches in our league told me they would take him on their team any day of the week."

So here is to all the guys going to the Big Dance who won't see action on the court, but without whom their teams might not have made it there!  Here's to everything they did all season long to make the guys who will get playing time better! Even without making it into the box score, they are champions!!