Archive for June, 2007

“I was always dismissive of sports psychology when I was competing, but I now realise that my belief in God was sports psychology in all but name.” - Jonathan Edwards This quote came from a blog entry on Not Just a Hat Rack by Mike Chalmers (who definitely believes in God). Our goal at...
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Christine Aschwanden wrote this article for Runner’s World. It discusses coping mechanisms and active recovery. The author interviewed Adam and Kara Goucher as well as our own Dr. Stephen Walker. Here’s a quote from the article. “I had to realize that I’m not just a runner…I am a person who loves to run.” -...
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Steve Blass was a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates who helped them win the World Series in 1971 and was an All Star in 1972. Then suddenly, he lost his ability to pitch and it never returned. What happened to Blass isn’t an anomaly. Other elite athletes have experienced the same loss of ability....
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Specialty sports vision facilities are helping athletes train skills that many believed were “untrainable”; skills like anticipation, field vision, timing, sport intelligence, game tempo, reaction speed, focus and concentration. - Brian Stammer, Editor of SportsVision Magazine Here is their June 13 PRLog.org press release: Montreal, Canada – June 13, 2007: When the inaugural issue...
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Jeffrey Bond, former head of the Sport Psychology Department at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, has coined a term for the reckless behavior by many professional athletes: pedestal syndrome. In an issue of The Sporting Mind, Bond describes pedestal syndrome in detail. His article starts on page 6 of this PDF. In...
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By Gregg Steinberg MentalRule: Go Ahead and Wear the Red Shirt “I have always thought that the actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts” - John Locke We all have seen Tiger wear his red shirt on Sunday, but why does he do that? Wear the red shirt, that is. Is...
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Are you one of those thousands of runners putting in the trial of miles to prepare for an upcoming Marathon? Would you like to double the benefit of each training run? Are you interested in building your mental toughness but don’t have the time or resources to consult with a Sport Psychologist? If you answered...
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It is good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling. - Mark Twain by Dr. Stephen Walker – CC-AASP This article is dedicated to the millions of people chasing that little white ball around the meadow, forests, canyons, and lakes otherwise known as the golf course. Living where...
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Nigel Pond of the UK wrote this article on the benefits of hypnotherapy in sport. It mainly uses golf as an example but the general ideas apply to much more than golf. The author breaks down the essence of the mind game into four sections: before sport, during sport, the “in between” and after...
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The Daily Duck has an article by Annie Plessinger on the use of imagery in sport to improve motor skills and overall performance. Definitely worth reading if you need validation of the imagery concept. It’s well written and based on research. Check out the references below. Feltz, D. L., & Landers, D. M. (1983)....
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