Winter Olympics Encore: “Minding for Gold” – Mental Preparation Strategies of Olympic Gold Medalists
Podium Sports Journal’s Podcast of the Week – An interview with Drs. Noah Gentner and Vanessa Shannon
by Dr. Stephen Walker, CC-AASP
This podcast was the first of a two part podcast with Drs. Noah Gentner and Vanessa Shannon on qualitative research they conducted with Olympic Gold medalists from the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. The interview was given at the Association for Applied Sport Psychology annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky October 2007.
This study evolved over a number of years in a series of interviews focused on identifying and describing the mental techniques and preparation strategies used by world champions. The key exploration focused on how these premier athletes differed from those less successful athletes in their preparation and mental conditioning. A total of nine male and female athletes from six different sports comprised the sample for this qualitative research effort.
Some of the techniques employed included self-talk, attention cues, process focused physical moves, smart “techniques”, short-term and long-term goals. Stay tuned tomorrow for part 2 of this interview.
Dr. Noah Gentner is a sport psychologist consultant and Assistant Professor of Sport Sciences from Georgia Southern University. Dr. Vanessa Shannon is a coaching education specialist and Assistant Professor at West Virginia University. Both were students of Dr. Craig Wrisberg and Leslie Fisher Gould at the University of Tennessee.
Click Here to Listen to the Podcast: aasp-oct07-minding-for-gold-gentner-shannon3
