pressure

Mental Moment-PTSD

Written by on May 14, 2013

PTSD

In my practice, PTSD is a growing barrier in particular for elite female athletes who have been in their athletic career for quite some time. Most of them have been carrying PTSD around with them for a long time. Imagine being an elite athlete and dealing with the pressures that already exist in the elites athlete world: pressure to stay at a high level, stress from long hours of training, lack of life balance, traveling, obtaining/keeping sponsorship’s  politics, injuries, financial stress, etc. Now add PTSD to that: fear of getting re-injured, fear of falling, fear of getting hit by a car, … Continued

Mental Moment-it’ll creep up on you

Written by on April 9, 2013

Tennis pressure

It’s difficult sometimes to see the green eyed monster that gets in the way of you getting what you want because it shows up a little bit differently. In my work with some clients we deal with things in more of a general sense. For example, some athletes care what people think of their performance and they play to that. Your performance should not be tied to external factors because they are unpredictable and out of your control. I work with these athletes on being more internally motivated. With other clients, we work through barriers as they show up again and … Continued

Mental Moment-sink the shot

Written by on March 26, 2013

Free throw

Is your free throw percentage up & down? When the game gets close do you start missing even the simplest shots from the floor? As the pressure increases do you start playing sloppy? I was watching my hometown Orangemen play Cal. It was not a very good game. SU was playing their incredible zone defense as well as they ever have but they couldn’t sink a shot to save their lives and that included free throws. Part of sinking the shot is practicing it on the run, against defenders and taking shot after shot. The other part of sinking the … Continued

Mental Moment-can new exercisers and competitors enjoy crossfit

Written by on March 17, 2013

crossfit

What is your experience as a new exerciser doing crossfit? Do you struggle with the pressure of competition? Have you lost your motivation to train? I can help! There are a lot of people getting into crossfit these days. It’s interesting to talk to people who are new to exercise about why they are making the choice to do crossfit: challenge, getting really fit, structure, accountability, lose weight, etc. These are all really exciting and fascinating elements for people who are new to exercise. The people who are competing in crossfit are mainly people who have been competing at some level … Continued

Mental Moment-everyone feels it

Written by on November 13, 2012

Babs

I went to see Barbara Streisand in concert on Sunday night. She was amazing. She’s been singing for over 50 years. Hard to believe. Here are some of my takeaways from the concert. 1964 During the concert Babs was telling the story about how in 1964 she was doing a concert and forgot the words to one of her songs. She talked about how embarrassed she was and this led to her not doing a concert for 27 years? It was so nice to hear a very famous star talk of her humbling experiences to get to where she is … Continued

Mental Moment-do you deserve it

Written by on May 22, 2012

deserve it

As an athlete there are so many mental components to wanting something. For example, wanting to win. There is pressure that comes along with competition: beating others that might be better than you are and self doubt, worries and fear that you haven’t trained (hard) enough. There are ways to cope with these things besides allowing them to run rampant through your brain using up your energy and confusing your brain on where your focus should be. In fact there are many good ways to deal with all of these mental obstacles but what’s underneath the surface? For many athletes there … Continued

Mental Moment-refocusing during competition

Written by on April 24, 2012

refocus

It’s one thing to be able to initially focus during competition but it’s another thing to learn to refocus particularly when pressure increases. An increase in pressure usually brings with it an increase in negative thoughts, worries, self doubts, etc. In that place you are overloading your brain with information and your brain goes tilt. How do you regain? In order to deal with that you have to have a regularly consistent plan to refocus and not just during high pressure situations. It’s important to get in the habit of refocusing all the time: at practice, in competition, between innings, … Continued

Keeping your cool during the heat of competition

Written by on April 18, 2012

anxiety

When an athlete is faced with the perception that competition is more challenging than the athlete’s skills, the athlete will experience pressure. This pressure is can be exhibited in the form of losing control, freaking out, episodic mood swings, and anxiety attacks. They feel unable to cope with the demands of the task at hand and choke. Choking under pressure is synonymous with an athlete’s sudden deterioration of athletic performance due to excessive anxiety. Pressure is a perception not a fact When an athlete experiences pressure during competition and feels unable to cope with the demands of the task at … Continued

Diary of a cyclist-nationals were awful, I choked

Written by on February 4, 2012

aussie-women-cyclists-join-new-zealand-tour

G: hey Michelle, how are you? Well I had a TERRIBLE race at nationals. I choked. After all the training, hard work and mental focus…I still choked. I don’t know this has quite happened this bad before. I was almost in tears pre event of nerves. I tried to do relaxation, focus, music, all of it. After my performance, which I did not go as hard as I could since I was so scared to go too hard (this only is in this event that I feel this way) I could not stop crying. I HATE THIS about myself. I … Continued

How does lack of focus show up in professional sports

Written by on January 23, 2012

Kyle Williams

I have to say, I feel badly for Kyle Williams. He fumbled the ball twice, once at ‘a crucial time’ during the game. It seems that he and punter, Andy Lee are at the brunt of why SF didn’t win against the Giants last night. How does the rest of the game fit into this Here is what I find a little ironic. I understand the media has to blame someone but why blame two guys that have really had a pretty good season? I mean couldn’t the 49er’s have gotten more points on the board by playing an even … Continued