mental training

Mental Moment-athletes gain transferable skills

Written by on March 19, 2013

Roller derby

When an athlete decides to work with me, lets say on anxiety, frequently the next question is whether or not I’ll be able to help them deal with the anxiety in other areas of their life. The extended version of this question is what comes first; the horse or the cart. Anxiety does not show up first in an athletes sport. It is present in other areas of your life. For some, in areas outside of sport, it may be mild or you’ve dealt with it so long that it becomes a natural part of who you are. In these … Continued

Mental Moment-what do elite athletes have to say

Written by on February 23, 2013

How do elite athletes make it to the top?  How did they get started in the sport?  What was their youth sports experience like?  What role did their parents play in their youth sports career?  What have been the keys to success for these top athletes? The Responsible Sports Team, together with the experts at Positive Coaching Alliance and our youth sport partners, have had the opportunity to sit down and talk to some of the top athletes in the history of their sports and ask them.  And you might be surprised to hear what they had to say. No … Continued

Mental Moment-what you don’t know can hurt you

Written by on February 19, 2013

Emotions-in-Sports

I am putting a piece of  information together for athletics who are physically at their peak but who doubt (and lack) the benefits of mental training. If you are already a great athlete why bother with mental training. You don’t need it. Right? Wrong! Transitions The transition from junior high to high school is challenging because everything changes. However for a lot of athletes their natural ability (and lack of emotional awareness) will carry them through high school and even into college. The transition from high school to college is difficult but in some ways is not so different than … Continued

Mental Moment-levels of performance

Written by on February 12, 2013

Levels of performance

For most of you when you first started playing your sport, playing your instrument, writing or painting you were a beginner. It was new, exciting, scary and there was a lot to learn. The fact that you’ve now been doing this for awhile doesn’t preclude you from learning new stuff and continuing to always improve. This will continue for a lifetime. Mental training is the same. That was then Think back to the beginning. I’ll bet it was hard work but you loved it which is why you are still doing it. There were probably many moments of frustration wondering … Continued

Mental Moment-mojo

Written by on November 3, 2012

mojo

I currently feel really good about the work I am doing with clients. All of my regular clients seem to be moving in the direction that produce positive and success results for them. They have all worked diligently to get to where they are and I am super happy for them on their progress. I don’t remember feeling this good This week one of my client said that she’s feels better than she ever has and she’s been competing as an elite athlete for a over a decade. Even though she’s had some mental challenges throughout that decade around training … Continued

Mental Moment-as the newness wears off

Written by on September 6, 2012

anxiety-girl

I’ve written a couple of blogs about my rowing exploits mainly along the lines about how learning something new is hard. Over the years it’s not like I haven’t done anything that’s new but I haven’t done anything new that has challenged me and my comfort zone as has rowing. Dealing with fear & anxiety Over the past few months I’ve continued to row but was realizing all along that my fear and anxiety particularly in the single also continued to increase. When I first started rowing I was in a wider scull and although there were definite moments of … Continued

New can be scary but ultimately successful

Written by on June 16, 2012

bullseye

A few weeks ago I wrote about ‘success’ and how having the ability to look at success differently can be one of the key’s to feeling more successful. Another (obviously) import key to success is the ability to add mental training into your performance routine. Mental training Mental training is designed to help Elite Performers develop, acquire and practice skills that have been shown to be useful for improving and enhancing enjoyment of performing. Research has shown that mental skills can give Elite Performers an edge over the competition. New doesn’t have to be scary If mental training is new … Continued

What does success look like

Written by on May 26, 2012

trumpet

Do to confidentiality I can’t talk specifically about who my clients are but I can share some moments of success which are partly attributed to clients working on their mental performance. I am going to share the experiences of three clients to give you an idea of what can happen when you train the mental side of your performance. Swimmer-triathlon This is not confidential and is a yelp review that one of my clients wrote for me. I recently found myself in the terrifying position of discovering I had “open water phobia” only weeks before my first triathlon. I had … Continued

The importance of parental support for Olympic success

Written by on May 7, 2012

Michael Phelps

Exactly 1 month ago I wrote a blog called Olympic & professional athletes natural ability. In that blog I wrote the following: In my experience with many Olympic and professional athletes although they still have an ingrained natural ability and continued family support, in their early 30′s things begin to change mentally. Where these athletes have had a lot of family support to support their natural abilities, this begins to change in their mid to late 20′s. They start to individuate from their families and lose some of their support at least the way they’ve known it. In the process of … Continued

Research on psychological preparation for Olympians

Written by on May 2, 2012

archery

It is true that many more Olympic athletes seem to be striving for greater excellence through the use of psychological preparation. I see it in my own practice. They seem to be beginning to understand that although they are already great because they are Olympians they can be better athletes and Olympians through mental training. Here is some research backing up the importance of mental training. Medalists and non medalists In the research article Psychological preparation for the Olympic Games (Gould & Maynard; Journal of Sports Sciences, November 2009; 27(13): 1393–1408) it discusses some past and present research on Olympians using versus  not using … Continued