A Monthly Publication of Peak Performance Sports
Issue 109 ................................................................................. June 2, 2010
Welcome to Sports Insights Magazine
Welcome to Sports Insights Magazine! Learn practical, cutting-edge sports psychology and mental training tips to improve mental toughness in sports.
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Parents and Youth Coaches: Help Kids Cope with Mistakes! NEW! Help your athletes deal better with setbacks and errors with The Composed Sports Kid! Available Now! Preview Dr. Cohn's new sports psychology program for parents, coaches, and their athletes!
Golfers: Improve Your Golf Confidence for 2010! Dr. Cohn's new CD and workbook program teaches you the top eight lessons to play with mental toughness on the course. Read more about how to improve confidence in golf...
Athletes & Coaches: Improve Your Success with Online Mental Training! Peaksports Network teaches athletes and coaches cutting-edge and simple mental training strategies for a fraction of the cost of personal mental coaching. Learn how to boost your confidence and success...
Parents: Improve Your Kids' Success with Kids' Sports Psychology! Kids' Sports Psychology is a one-stop, exclusive 10-step plan for boosting confidence and cultivating positive mental game skills in young athletes! Download age-specific confidence-boosting mental game e-books for young athletes. Learn how to boost sports kids' sports success...
Free Mental Toughness Reports!
- Golfers and Instructors: Improve Preshot Routines.
- Baseball and Softball Players and Coaches: Improve At-Bat Routines!
- Tennis Players and Coaches: Improve Between Point Mental Toughness!
- Hockey Players and Coaches: Improve your Pregame Mindset!
- Equestrians and trainers: Improve Rider's Preshow Mindset!
- Parents and Youth Coaches: Boost Kids' Confidence and Success!
Locker Room Talk
"Tremendous change for me..."
“Over the last month I have listened and read most of everything on Peaksports Network. The Peaksports online mental training program has made a tremendous change for me. In my last four tour stops, I have gone 1st, 4th, 1st, 1st, so I am pretty stoked with that.”
~Herb Joiner, pro golfer
Feature Mental Game Article
Pressure Is a Privilege, Not a Burden
By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.
What is pressure in sports and how well do you handle it when performing? Is pressure something that comes from playing in an important competition? Or is pressure something that comes from worrying about what others think or performing up to others' expectations?
The pressure you might feel in competition is different than your fellow athletes because everyone has their own personal interpretation of pressure. You should know many athletes don't understand that pressure ultimately resides within the athlete. Pressure is not something that exists on its own or comes with playing an important competition.
Thus, as the saying goes, pressure is in the "eye of the beholder." Two different athletes are going to respond to pressure in their own way. One athlete may embrace the pressure and urge him or her to perform better. Another athlete might feel scared of pressure and crumble with fear or tension. The strength of your mental game and how your interpret pressure determines how well you will perform.
When do athletes feel the most pressure?
Most athletes feel pressure when they adopt expectations from others, such as coaches, parents, or teammates, or have their own strict expectations about how they should perform. Expectations are what you demand of yourself when you perform or what you think others demand of you. You naturally want to meet your own expectations as well as the expectations you feel from others.
For example, many young athletes feel expectations to perform well for their coaches or parents. These young athletes want to make their parents proud or coaches happy. The perceived pressure that athletes feel can sometimes be triggered by external forces, such as a parent telling a young athlete that she should score 3 goals in today's game.
You should be aware that external circumstances can only trigger an athlete's perceived pressure. A few examples include, wanting to perform well in a big game, wanting to meet the expectations of others, wanting to be better than others, wanting to qualify for team, or being afraid to fail or embarrass yourself (fear of failure).
What happens to your performance when you feel pressure?
When feeling pressure to win or play well, you'll most likely experience the signs that accompany fear of failure. Some athletes will describe this as a choking feeling, thus the word "choke." They feel like their oxygen supply is cut off. Other signs include anxiety, tension, fear, or worry about results. In addition, your performance might feel controlled or tentative due to lack of trust in your skills. You might try too hard to perform your best, which leads to over controlling your performance.
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______________________________________________________Why do some athletes embrace pressure?
No matter what level you (or your athletes) compete, some athletes embrace pressure and use it to help them excel. However, most athletes have a negative connotation for pressure. They think pressure hurts their performance. Often, athletes crumble and choke when they feel too much pressure to win or perform their best. I do think the more experienced athletes - at any level - understand how to use pressure to help them excel and welcome the feelings that pressure brings to their game.
Tennis star Roger Federer is one example of an athlete who embraces or welcomes pressure. He thinks feeling pressure will help bring his best game to matches. Veteran athletes know that the perception of pressure is an asset. "The pressure will never really go away. I hope it doesn't, because I'm supposed to feel pressure and I'm supposed to put myself under pressure and wanting to perform. I think that's what gets the best tennis out of me," said Roger Federer.
Veteran athletes often feel less pressure to succeed as they become more successful in their sport. I know these athletes worry when their competitive juices or pregame jitters don't show up before competition. "If anything, I feel a little less pressure today because I've proven it to myself — and maybe to many other people," Federer said.
Veteran golfers understand they need to feel the first tee jitters to perform their best. Basketball players want to feel their heart beating at tip off. Hockey players want to feel juiced and intense at the start of the game so they can play their best.
Is pressure in your own head?
As I stated, the level of pressure you feel comes from your mental game makeup and perceptions, not external situations or circumstances. Playing in a big tournament like the U.S. Open can potentially trigger your feelings of pressure, but ultimately pressure is produced by your own expectations and thought process about this event.
"No, I don't feel any pressure. The only pressure is what you put on yourself, and I don't really put any pressure on myself to win here again. The only thing I try to do is perform as well as I know I can perform and peak at the right times for the big events. So far this year I've managed to do it two times in a row, so I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to win again over here, but it's not something I put pressure on myself to do.”
~Lee WestwoodHow to remove or embrace pressure instead of fear it
(1) One mental key to removing pressure is your ability to let go of what you think others expect of your performance. In many cases, the expectations you adopt from others can be unfounded or conjecture on your part. You make assumptions about what others think about your game. For example, you might expect to get benched by your coach if you make two or more mistakes in the game, but in reality the coach might not think of doing this.
(2) Another key to removing pressure is to be in tune with your own internal expectations about how well you should perform. I suggest to my students that they try to abandon expectations and replace with more manageable objectives or smaller goals. Instead of the expectation of winning the tennis match, you might think about getting the first serve in or think about good footwork, which helps you focus on execution instead of results.
(3) As stated, many top athletes welcome the feelings that come with pressure. They know their hard work, training, and sacrifice is designed to help them be in a position to accept big-game pressure. At the 2008 Australian Open, Maria Sharapova won her 3rd Major. Sharapova received a text message from champion Billie Jean King before the match saying: "Champions take chances and pressure's a privilege." She said that the message helped her win the final.
“There was a lot of pressure, but it is a fun kind of pressure. I love that kind of pressure. When people are expecting you to win, you can embrace it and take it and run with it and it can be really exciting. It was really awesome because we were the favorite from the get-go, and that we were able to finish it. They say it's the hardest thing to do is when you are on top to stay there and we did it. We always had the same goal to win the Stanley Cup and we accomplished that. It's incredible feeling.”
~Luc Robitaille, former NHL hockey playerAccept the fact that pressure comes from your own thought process, expectations you harbor, and how you interpret your skills compared to the competition. Take responsibility for your own mental game by overcoming expectations that instill a feeling of pressure. Embrace important competitions as a reward for your hard work and dedication.
Want to learn all my mental game secrets for instilling a winning attitude? Check out my popular "The Confident Athlete" series at Peak Performance Sports.
Sports Specific Mental Training Tip
"You can accept pressure or apply it..."
Do you allow your competitors to get inside your head? Do you feel intimidated when you play a strong team? According to coach Babcock, a better option is to be the person or the team that applies pressure. Apply pressure to others instead of allowing the opposition to get inside your head.
“Pressure's an interesting thing. You can accept pressure or you can apply it, put it on the other team. To me, the bottom line is that's not the case at this time of the year. It's just about playing the game.”
~Coach Mike Babcock
Podcasts of the Month
The Tennis Psychology Podcast of the Month!
In this week’s tennis psychology session, Dr. Cohn teaches you how to play aggressive tennis. Some tennis players tend to tighten up and not play aggressively. Listen to this tennis psychology podcast to learn how to play relaxed, but aggressive tennis
- Show me the Tennis Psychology Podcast of the Month!
- Watch the Tennis Confidence Video series!
- Tennis Players & Coaches: Improve your mental game between points with this free report!
- Subscribe to the Tennis Psychology Podcast at iTunes!
The Golf Psychology Podcast of the Month!
In this week's golf psychology session, mental game of golf expert and author of The Mental Game of Golf, Dr. Cohn, answers a question from a golfer about positive celebrations and your mental game. Many golfers become distracted by positive celebrations of other golfers. Learn how to focus on your own golf game.
Pro Athlete Quote of the Month
"I don't know about pressure..."
“I don't know about pressure. I never feel it. I never feel like I have pressure. I have to play the game the way it is. I have good mental control. For me, I don't have for fear, so I just go out there, trying to do what I need to do, taking care of business.”
~Sammy Sosa
Ask Doc Cohn
"How do I help my son cope with frustration?"
Hockey Parent:
I am writing about my son who plays in the OHL. He is an extremely good hockey player but he has a big issue with emotional control when things don't go right he breaks into tears and is unable to focus on the game and everything falls apart for him. How do I get him to change the frustration into positive behavior to make it easier for him?
Most Valuable Product (MVP)
The Composed Sports Kid: A 7-Day Plan for Helping Young Athletes Cope with Frustration NEW!
Do you feel sick and tired of or even embarrassed about your athletes' tantrums, crying, and lack of emotional control in competition? Do you scratch your head and wonder why your kids shut down or act like The Incredible Hulk after they make just one mistake that no one notices? The Composed Sports Kid system is really two programs in one--one program to train parents and coaches how to help their kids practice composure, and one program that teaches young athletes--ages 8 to 18--how to improve composure, let go of mistakes quickly, have more self-acceptance, and enjoy sports more!
Read more about The Composed Sports Kid CD program at Peaksports.com
Peaksports Members get 30% off! Not a peaksports member yet? Go demo our Online Mental Training System at Peaksports Network!
Dr. Patrick J. Cohn
Master Mental Game Coach
Boost Your Success with The Confident Athlete Series!
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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! Boost your confidence... Buy
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