Do Worrisome Thoughts Affect How you Perform? Do you tend to worry about letting your teammates down or having a bad game? Athletes who worry think too much about past poor performances or possible negative future results. Worrying about something that has yet to happen interferes with an athlete’s ability to perform at their peak. For example, an … Sport Psychology Article…
Do Mistakes and Losses Affect you Mentally? Are you still reliving a past game or a disappointing season? Nothing hurts performance quite as much as reliving mistakes, bad games, or unfortunate results. Focusing on yesterday or even the last minute interferes with your ability to pay attention to the present. When your attention is divided between the past … Sport Psychology Article…
Put in Extra Work After Practice to Become the Best In sports, elite athletes often have unrivaled work ethics. We hear of Olympian athletes who start their training sessions at 5 a.m. or train between 4-6 hours daily. Other athletes are stuck in a rut or hit a plateau. The common sentiment is, “I work so hard throughout … Sport Psychology Article…
What is Keeping You Stuck in A Losing Streak? A slump or losing streak starts as nothing unusual. Every athlete and team occasionally experiences bad games or unproductive performances. So, what turns a few bad games into a performance rut? What commonalities trap a player or team in a cycle of under performance? If you can identify a … Sport Psychology Article…
What is Your Biggest Distraction as an Athlete? The list of potential distractions is exhausting: The previous examples are external distractions or sources that originate outside of you. While external distractions are bothersome, they are not the most formidable challenge for athletes. Internal distractions are much more destructive and difficult to manage, particularly the ‘what if’ trap. ‘What … Sport Psychology Article…
A mistake Versus a Mental Mistake Mistakes are common in sports. Every athlete makes mistakes. However, mental mistakes are avoidable. Mental mistakes are lapses in awareness and focus, sloppy play, laziness, and lack of effort. Here are some examples of mental mistakes: In basketball, not getting back on defense and allowing the other team a breakaway basket. In … Sport Psychology Article…