A
MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF PEAK
PERFORMANCE SPORTS
Issue 91 ................................................................. October 1, 2008
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!
The Relaxed Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Optimal Mental Preparation. Two programs combined into one, you not only learn how to develop a focused and confident pre-competition routine, but you also learn the secrets to a poised and relaxed mindset. Read more about mental preparation keys...
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! As a member of our newest online community, parents and coaches can 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' success...
NEW! Golf Confidence Video Series! Want a quick boost to you or your students confidence in golf? Check out the new golf confidence videos - free! As a bonus for just watching my videos, golfers and golf instructors can also download my new free report titled: "Six Costly Mental Game Mistakes Golfers Make During Their Preshot Routine."
Locker Room Talk
"Dr. Cohn Has Helped Me Immensely!"
“I think Dr. Cohn’s mental coaching has helped me immensely. It has taught me what to focus on in and out of the racecar. How to stay calm and focused have been key skills that I have learned which are important in me becoming a better and more confident racecar driver.”
~AJ Allmendinger, NASCAR Driver
Feature Mental Game Article
Are You a Gamer or Under-Perform in Competition?
By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.
Many athletes and parents contact me every day to ask mental game questions about how to perform better by improving their mental game. However, some people are confused and really do not understand how the mental game can help or hinder their performance.
How do you know when you need or could benefit from sports psychology? How do you know when you have a solid mental game and already have a fair amount of mentally toughness? I usually begin by asking my students some important questions.
Here’s my top question: Are you performing up to the ability you have shown in practice? Do you perform as well in competition as you do in practice or qualifying? If you have trouble taking your practice performance to competition because of fear, nerves, worry, or tension, this is a good sign your mindset might be hindering your performance.
But maybe you are a gamer and perform your best in competition? A “gamer” is an athlete who elevates her performance in competition. Maybe you have a player on your team that you can always depend on to score 20 or more points in the game? A gamer is someone who always brings her best game to competition.
We witnessed a true gamer in the 2008 Olympics when Shawn Johnson won gold on the balance beam:
“I love the adrenaline rush. I've always loved the feeling of pressure and nerves that you get.”
~Shawn Johnson, Olympic Gold MedallistIf you are a gamer, you most likely have a solid mental game and thrive on competition. However, your mental game challenge could be that you don’t focus your best during practice or work hard as you can in practice.
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____________________________________________How do you know when you need to improve your mental game and you don’t think of yourself as a gamer? Here are the top eight signals your mind is blocking you from peak performance in sports:
(1) You perform much better in practice than you do in competition. You might feel more tense, controlled, anxious, or worried in competition compared to practice. You feel relaxed and in the flow in practice because you don’t feel the same pressure to produce or not make mistakes. This is the number one reason athletes and coaches contact me!
(2) Your pregame jitters or anxiety stays with you after the start of competition. You continue to feel anxious, tight, or have a knot in your stomach well into the first period or quarter. Your extra tension changes your timing and you can’t flow.
(3) You worry too much about making mistakes and how to avoid screwing up the game. Fear of failure causes you to try to avoid mistakes because you don’t want to embarrass yourself during the game. All you can think about when playing is to not hit an air ball, shank a shot, or strike out, for example.
(4) One mistake or mishap can cause your confidence to go into the tank. Your high expectations about how you should play get in the way. You get frustrated quickly or lose confidence after committing what you think are unacceptable mistakes. Confidence spirals downward.
(5) Your performance feels too controlled because you focus too much on technique or how to perform perfectly. You over-control your swing, shot, or at-bat because you want to win badly or not disappoint others.
(6) You get easily frustrated when not playing up to your own high expectations or start to protect your game when you are in the lead. Your comfort zone causes your mind to misfire when playing better than or worse than expected.
(7) You have trouble concentrating in the present moment because you're too occupied with results of the game and consequences if you don’t perform you absolute best. You can’t focus on execution in the moment because you are over concerned with the outcome of the game or how others might perceive you.
(8) You don’t perform well when others are watching you. When others who you care about, (such as parents, fans, coaches) watch you perform, you become too self-conscious of their presence and lose your focus on the task. Often you may even worry about letting others down or failing in front of others, similar to stage fright or fear of embarrassment.
Here is the top priority for my students…. Perform up to their capabilities in competition based on what they have shown in practice. Not every athlete can be a gamer and raise their performance when it counts the most. However, with the proper mindset and mental game, you can get the most out of your ability each time you perform.
If you identify with any of the mental game boo-boos above, you should invest in your mental game. One excellent option – which is the next best option to having a personal coach – is my new Confident Athlete Sports Psychology CD programs. Get the mental game edge and boost your confidence, composure, focus, and trust in competition!
Sports Specific Mental Training Tip
"Harness The Power of The Mind to Your Advantage"
Jeff Burton buys into sports psychology because he understands the power of the mind. Psychosomatic illness happens when stress or other mental issues cause physical changes in the body. If your mind can cause you to feel physically sick at times, then you should be able to use that power to help improve your performance....
"I believe that if you look at psychology in a negative way in that if you think about people who have physical problems because of the psychological problems, that means the brain is extremely strong. So if you can harness that power and use it to your advantage, then that's a good thing."
~Jeff Burton, NASCAR Driver
Podcasts of the Month
The Racing Psychology Podcast of the Month!
In this week's racing psychology podcast, Dr. Cohn's session discusses how to deal with pre-race tension for racers. He helps a racer cope with prerace jitters before a race. "How do I not get tight in a race? I am always faster than other racers in practice and before the race, but prerace jitters make me feel weak. Then, I usually make more errors…"Show me the Racing Psychology Podcast of the Month!
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 and The Mental Art of Putting, Dr. Cohn, helps golfers improve their putting mindset. Many golfers focus on results or try to avoid missing putts. Learn how to focus on the important performance cues to help you putt your best on the course.
Pro Athlete Quote of the Month
"Such a Fun Week"
"I thought it was such a fun week for us. We got along so well off the course, but we've always gotten along well off the golf course, but this week, we just had a lot of fun, off the course, as well as on, because we were all playing well."
~Phil Mickelson, after the 2008 Ryder Cup
Ask Doc Cohn
"How can I help my son let go of mistakes?"
Golf Parent:
My 14-year-old son has such high expectations for himself. If he does not hit the golf ball perfectly or strikes out at baseball, he gets angry with himself, never other teammates. How do we get him to just have fun and let the mistakes go?
Most Valuable Product (MVP)
The Relaxed Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Optimal Mental Preparation NEW!
The Relaxed Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Optimal Mental Preparation!"The Relaxed Athlete," our 5th CD program in the confident athlete series teaches you Dr. Cohn's top mental strategies for complete mental preparation for competition. Two programs combined into one, you not only learn how to develop a focused and confident pre-competition routine, but you also learn the secrets to a poised and relaxed mindset. The program includes 14 days of mental preparation exercises that can be tailored to your specific sport. Each copy comes with 3 premium bonuses that you can download immediately!
Become a peaksports member and receive 30% off retail.
Read more about The Relaxed Athlete CD Program!
Buy The Relaxed Athlete Program Now!
Peaksports Members please login in by using this page to access the "Member Only" link to save 30%.
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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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! Buy
All 4 Programs and Get "The Relaxed Athlete" FREE! |
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