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Issue 95 ................................................................. March 3, 2009
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!
If you enjoy our free mental toughness newsletter, please click here to forward it to other athletes and coaches. Get powerful mental game strategies as a subscriber to Sports Insights Magazine!
Golfer's Mental Edge: An 8-Week Program for Ultimate Golf Confidence. 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...
Improve Kids Confidence 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 strategies, e-books, videos, and audio programs produced specifically for young athletes. Learn how to boost sports kids' sports success...
Download a Free Mental Game Report! Golfers: Improve Your Preshot Routine. Baseball and Softball Players and Coaches: Improve At-Bat Routines. Tennis Players and Coaches: Improve Your Mindset Between Points!
Locker Room Talk
"Improved Mental Game!"
“Already I am noticing an improvement in my mental game and so I am looking forward to the upcoming tournaments to see how it all stands up. Anyway thanks again for your time and help.”
~Paul O’Kane, Collegiate golfer
Feature Mental Game Article
How to Think Like Tiger: Mental Toughness Lessons from Top Athletes
By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.
Do you struggle to take your practice game to competition? Many of my students do. If you do, you might need a mental game tune up because the most common reason athletes contact me to help them improve their mental game is when they under-perform in competition compared to practice.
What do I mean by under-perform in competition?
OK, so you put in all hard work and preparation leading up to competition; Hours of practice and training. You feel confident about your game in practice: relaxed, flowing, and focusing in the moment. But, then something changes the moment you enter the competition. You might feel tighter, tentative, afraid to make mistakes, or worry about embarrassing yourself. All of these mindsets lead you to lose the confidence that you had in practice and not perform up to your ability.
I know there are many reasons why your performance may feel tighter or more tentative in competition compared to practice. The bottom line is your mental game is misfiring. Some athletes place more importance on competition or when they play in big games. Some athletes try too hard. Other athletes are paralyzed by fear of failure and worry about what others think if they don’t perform up to expectations or blow a lead for example. The answers aren’t simple because it really depends upon each athlete’s mental make-up.
In most cases athletes who lack competitive self-confidence are overcome by anxiety, fear or tension. In some cases common pregame jitters – helpful jitters or excitement – might be interpreted by athletes as something is wrong. Pregame jitters are blown out of proportion and interpreted as anxiety or stress. So what was common, helpful pregame jitters you turned into anxiety and worry which affected your performance in competition at least at the start of competition and could cause a negative downward spiral in confidence.
Here’s the kicker… The top athletes in the world or experienced athletes interpret pregame jitters differently. They welcome pregame jitters. Michael Jordan is concerned if he doesn’t feel pregame jitters. He wants to care enough about his performance so he can feel pregame rush or excitement.
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____________________________________________Tiger Woods is another excellent example of this. Tiger Woods relishes the excitement and rush he feels when his competitive juices are flowing.
"The day I'm not nervous is the day I quit. Nerves are great, it means you care. I care about what I do. Of course I'll be nervous. That's the greatest thing about it is to feel that rush."
Some athletes make the mistake of placing too much importance – caring too much – about performing well or winning a competition (We’re talking about good old pressure). Pressure causes you to think your performance is a life or death situation. It’s placing high demands on how you should perform. Higher expectations, pressure, caring too much won’t allow you to focus in the moment and be free with your performance.
Let’s talk about the solution. In order to execute each play, shot or point to the best of your ability in competition, you can’t place more importance on the outcome at least more than you do in practice.
The ability to execute in practice is no different than the ability to execute in competition except for the expectations and demands you place on yourself to win or perform well when competing. Tiger’s a master of focusing on execution without attaching consequence to the outcome. I think that’s what makes him so mentally tough. He probably practices with the same focus and intensity that he’ll need in competition. And thus, his execution of each shot in competition is no different than what he’s trained himself to do in practice.
Combine this with Tiger’s unique perspective of competitive pressure and you have a winning combination.
“It really is just another shot. Just because I've taken time off and away from a competitive environment doesn't change the nature of how you execute a golf shot. And there's a lot more pressure out here, granted, but still, it's just when you tee it up, you make a swing and you go place it down the side of the fairway you want it to be on and go about your business.”
How do you “go about your business” when playing in competition? You equate practice with competition. You focus on execution in competition just like you did in practice. You relish pregame jitters and think they are helpful to your performance. You take the perspective that “pressure as a privilege” for athletes.
Want more tips to help you relax and perform well in competition? Check out The Relaxed Athlete in the Confident Athlete Sports Psychology CD programs - to boost your confidence, composure, focus, and trust before and during competition!
Sports Specific Mental Training Tip
"You have to know who you are."
After winning the 2009 Australian Open, Nadal talked about knowing who you are as a person and as an athlete. He said that you should not change your opinion of yourself, or look at yourself differently, based on winning or losing an important match, which I thought was very insightful on his part.
"I just won an important title for my career. But I’m no better five hours before than now when you win an important match. But you have to know before the match who you are and after the match know who you are, too. You are the same, no?"
~Rafael Nadal
Podcasts of the Month
The Tennis Psychology Podcast of the Month!
In this week's tennis psychology podcast, you'll learn how to stay focused on every point you play. Dr. Cohn teaches you the mental strategies to improve your focus during match play. You'll learn how to maintain the same level of intensity and focus throughout the match. The Tennis Psychology Podcast by Dr. Patrick Cohn helps tournament players, tennis coaches and parents improve confidence, focus, and composure.Show me the Tennis Psychology Podcast of the Month!
Tennis Players and Coaches: Improve your mental game between points with this free report!
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, helps golfers learn how recover after a few bad holes. Many golfers become frustrated with their game and lose valuable momentum after a few bad shots. Learn how to regain momentum and play with confidence.Show me the Golf Psychology Podcast of the Month!
Golfers: Download a free golf psychology report and improve your preshot routine overnight!
Pro Athlete Quote of the Month
"Baseball is a Mental Game..."
"Baseball is definitely mental. I know have the athletic ability to do it but if you don't have the right frame of mind to go about it, I don't think you'll succeed so that was a big part of it this off season."
~Clay Buchholz
Ask Doc Cohn
"How do I stop my son's meltdowns?"
Baseball Parent:
How do I stop the meltdowns (taking the head out of the game and crying) of a competitive, perfectionist, and easily frustrated young athlete? Please also suggest books or techniques that we could use to build confidence and techniques we could teach for controlling one’s emotions instead of releasing the frustrations out through tears. I would like to see him manage the emotions and to learn how to let the emotions roll off of his back and not take them so personally.
Most Valuable Product (MVP)
Golfers Mental Edge: An 8-Week Plan for Ultimate Golf Confidence NEW!
Golfer's Mental Edge: An 8-Week Plan for Ultimate Golf Confidence. What's the one big sign that your mental game is the weak link in your golf game? When you can't play consistently as well as you can perform in practice! The “Golfer's Mental Edge Program” is a complete brain dump of the TOP eight mental training sessions Dr. Cohn teaches his personal students to help them boost their mental game and improve consistency on the course. In each of his 8 coaching sessions, you eavesdrop as Dr. Cohn teach four golfers his top mental strategies and learn right along side his students.
Read more about The Golfer's Mental Edge CD Program!
Peaksports Members get 25% off (save $100)! Not a peaksports member yet? Go demo our New Online Mental Training Site at Peaksports!
Dr. Patrick J. Cohn
Master Mental Game Coach
Boost Your Success with The Confident Athlete Series!
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