A
MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF PEAK
PERFORMANCE SPORTS
Issue 81.................................................................December 5, 2007
Welcome to Sports Insights Magazine
Welcome to Sports Insights Magazine! We are pleased to bring you practical, cutting-edge sports psychology and mental training tips to improve your mindset and performance. We thank you for being a subscriber of Sports Insights Magazine!
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NEW! The Focused Team DVD Program! After months of tweaking, The Focused Team is so powerful that it’s virtually the same as having me conduct a live (in person) mental training seminar for your team. Includes everything a coach or team leader needs to effortlessly boost his or her teams focusing skills and here is the kicker…. in just 7 short sessions! Read more...
Peaksports Bootcamp DVD's! Not able to attend this year's mental training bootcamp? Watch the DVD's from the comfort of your home! The 6-set DVD program with workbook is available today for purchase. Watch the top mental game experts in the country deliver powerful mental training lessons. Order today! Read more about the Bootcamp DVDs.
Join a Live Mental Training Teleclass! Improve your confidence, focus, and composure rapidly with a live teleclass! Get access to the world's most advanced online mental training program 365 days a year and learn innovative sports psychology strategies - designed for coaches, athletes, and sports parents. Listen to 25 one-hour teleclasses on your own time! Join our live teleclass and get the chance to win 20 minutes one-on-one with Dr. Cohn! Become a member and join 6 live teleclasses per year!
The Confident Athlete Series on Sale! Want to improve your confidence, focus, and composure for sports all in one place? Get all four of Dr. Cohn's new 14-Day Workbook Programs and save $50. Show me The Confident Athlete Series.
Are You a Sports Parent? Please help us help you. Take our sports parent survey so we can serve you better. As a bonus, get our free 7-day e-course packed with information about how to boost young athletes' confidence and make the most of their potential. Please take 2 minutes to complete the survey! Go to the survey for sports parents now!
"You Helped Our Kids Reach Their Fullest Potential!"
“After listening to a couple of your podcasts and reading your "10 tips to confidence in youth sports,” most of the challenges you make note of apply to my 14-year-old son. He's got all the physical ability, coach says he's got most potential on the team, etc... He has a difficult time rebounding from errors and the screaming coach on the side, along with his uncle in the stands probably doesn't help his confidence. So reading and listening to your information has been so helpful and validates what I have observed in him for the past few months. Thank you so much!”
~ Brenda Felder, Sports Parent
Two Critical Mindsets for Achieving Peak Performance
By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.
One of the pioneers in sports psychology was a coach named Tim Gallwey. Tim wrote the popular “Inner Game” series. The “Inner Game of Tennis” was his first classic book he wrote in the 70s. Tim then applied his inner game principles to golf, skiing, and later the business world. If you have not read the inner game of tennis I would recommend you do so and in today’s newsletter I will tell you why his principles are so relevant even today.
Tim contends that in order to reach the zone state you must achieve skill mastery first, which means you must learn the fundamentals of your sport. When you perform at your peak, he would say the mind is quiet and you have a minimum of self-interference - you allow yourself to perform without self-criticism or over-analysis. This is what he called the inner game - what happens in the mind as opposed to the outer game - what happens to your performance.
The basis of his inner game theory states that two contrasting mindsets are always battling for supremacy – sort of a right brain/left brain theory. When the mind is quiet and you allow your performance to flow from creativity, you can get into a state of flow. However, when the mind is overactive and critical, you force your performance. Your game will be awkward at best in this mindset.
He sums up his theory with two concepts of the inner self:
*Self One: The learning mindset filled with self-judgments and criticism. This mindset wants to control and is not the best mindset for performance.
*Self Two: The best mindset for performance is when you are free to react and be creative with your game. This mindset allows you to let it happen.
Gallwey’s goal was to help students suspend self one so self two can be free to take the reins. He used an example in The Inner Game of Tennis. He asked his students to repeat cue words, such as “back-hit” to occupy the trying/analytical mind so the creative mind could do all the work.
Most athletes perform their very best when the mind is quiet (not overactive) and focused. Not only will you excel in this mindset, you will also have the most fun.
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____________________________________________I use the Inner Game principles often in my work with athletes. I do not talk about self one or self two, but instead teach my students the value of having two mindsets: a learning mindset and a performance mindset.
In the learning or practice mindset, you strive to get better and to improve, which is a necessary part of your progress. This mindset is based on a high level of motivation and work ethic, which help you practice hard and master skills. The down side to this mindset is that very motivated or perfectionistic athletes typically get “stuck” in the training mindset and love to practice and perfect technique.
In the trusting or performance mindset, you rely on your ability to let your skills “happen” instinctively by trusting your practice instead of consciously directing your movements. The performance mindset allows you to have a quiet mind - void of self-interference, which allows you to perform freely and allow your skills to flow. When in the trusting mindset you are confident in your skills and ability to put your performance on automatic pilot.
The bottom line… If you are stuck in the practice mindset during competition, you will limit your ability to perform your best because of too much analysis, trying too hard to be perfect, and a loss of trust. If you are stuck in the performance mindset during practice, you might lose some good opportunity to improve your performance.
Your goal should be to balance these two mentalities to get the most out of your physical talents.
Most of my students spend too much time in a practice or training mindset. Therefore, one of your priorities is to learn how to perform functionally instead of correctly. I call this a “functional mindset.” When you are in a functional mindset, you are more flexible mentally and can easily adapt when you are not performing your best.
If you want all my secrets for balancing the practice and performance mindsets, jump over and check out The Fearless Athlete CD/Workbook Program.
"Our Muscles Do Not Understand English!"
What do most athletes and coaches do in practice? They spend their time in the practice mindset analyzing and assessing performance. Gallwey's theory is that giving yourself verbal instructions - similar to what a coach does - is not effective learning...
"Telling our bodies how to do something is not the most effective way to improve performance. Our muscles do not understand english, and out thinking minds do not understand hand-eye coordination."
~Tim GallweyGallwey believes that you will perform your best with images instead of giving yourself verbal instructions and getting out of your own way. Doubt, tension, and poor focus are the real culprits to errors rather than poor mechanics.
The Sports Psychology Podcast of the Month!
This week's sports psychology podcast helps athletes understand the training and trusting mindsets. Dr. Cohn contends that athletes must maintain a good balance between training and performance. Most perfectionists have trouble with the trusting mindset. Over-doing one of these two mindsets cause you to not reach your full potential.Show me the Sports Psychology Podcast of the Month!
The Golf Psychology Podcast of the Month!
This week's golf psychology podcast session helps you understand how to forget about bad play and continue with confidence. If you continue to focus on past mistakes, you will feel frustrated and in addition, you will feel distracted by your thoughts that cause you to dwell. You simply will not be able to focus in the here and now!
"Awareness is the Key!"
“There is always an inner game being played in your mind no matter what outer game you are playing. How aware you are of this game can make the difference between success and failure in the outer game.”
~Tim Gallwey, Author of The Inner Game of Tennis
"Sports Parents Behavior on the Sidelines?"
Sports Parent:
What amount or type of parent behavior and support is most beneficial to the child athlete, especially during a game? What are specific does and don'ts as a parent on the sidelines?
The Focused Team: A Step-by-Step Plan for Coaching Athletes to Zone Concentration-in Just 7 Days! NEW!
The Focused Team: A Step-by-Step Plan for Coaching Athletes
to Zone Concentration-in Just 7 Days! Peaksports.com new DVD and workbook program in The Focused Team Series. Ideal for coaches and mental game coaches, The Focused Team includes absolutely everything you need to help lead your team to zone concentration effortlessly - from helping your team members buy into mental training to assessing their focus - to follow up assessments. Become a peaksports member and receive 25% off retail.Read more about The Focused Team DVD Program!
Buy The Focused Team Program Now!
Peaksports Members please login in by using this page to access the "Member Only" link to save 25%.
Not a peaksports member yet? Go demo our New Online Mental Training Site at Peaksports!
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Dr. Patrick J. Cohn is the President and founder of Peak Performance Sports of Orlando, Florida. He earned his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Virginia in 1991, and founded Peak Performance Sports in 1994. Dr. Cohn is an author, speaker and one of the nation's leading mental game experts. His coaching programs instill confidence, composure and effective mental strategies that enable athletes and teams to reach their performance goals. Dr. Cohn has helped athletes from a variety of sports backgrounds (both amateurs and professionals) identify and develop the mindset needed to achieve peak performance. World-class golfers, runners, shooters and auto racers, as well as motocross, tennis, baseball, softball, football and hockey players, are among those who have benefited from his mental game coaching and training.
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NEW! The
Confident Athlete Series by Peak Performance Sports brings
you the latest cutting-edge mental training strategies
in a practical step-by-step 14-day achievement plan. Each
program consists of 2 Audio CDs and an easy to
follow workbook to help you apply the mental strategies.
Perfect for any competitive athlete or team coach! |
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teamwork
:: confidence :: focus :: composure |
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2007 Peak Performance Sports, LLC 7380 Sand Lake Rd. PMB 5012,
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