by Stephen E. Walker, PhD, NCC, CC-AASP, USOC Registry of Sport Psychology and  Bill Walker, JD.

Athlete’s Dilemma: With So Many Variables in Training – Overwhelm is a Common Occurrence

Not too long ago Podium Sports Journal conducted an interview with Dr. Sam Maniar, former staff Sport Psychologist with The Ohio State University.  In that Podcast Dr. Maniar illustrates the difference between “choking” and “anxiety reactions” in an athlete’s performance.  The most interesting thing to note about this, is that the casual observer can not tell the difference.  Maniar defines choking as a state of “overthinking” the challenges an athlete is engaged in.  With so many technique driven tasks, situations that call for different responses, or circumstances that are confusing and no clearly identifiable course of action is understood by the athlete…they shut down and oftentimes look like they just ‘blew the assignment.’  This situation is what one experiences when the athlete’s brain becomes “gridlocked” and there are too many competing thoughts going on.

On the other hand, an anxiety reaction involves the experience of an athlete going “blank”, unable to recall their assignment because the stress levels have shut them down.  In both cases, the athlete experiences a case of “Overwhelm” – a very common occurrence in sport at every level.  So what is the antidote?  It seems they are different problems.  Fans, and sometimes coaches, just can’t understand because the athlete’s performance might just look exactly the same even though the cause is quite different.  So – what is the solution to these performance problems?

Keep it Simple – “Focus on What YOU Control”

One of the first things to examine is “how” these two problems are similar.  First off, they both look much the same when observing the athlete’s performance.  And, they both involve a high degree of stress in how the athlete perceives their situation.  Hence, one of the key components to any solution is to better manage the stress load involved.  Podium has contributed several articles focused on how athletes can better manage their “jitters” before and during competition.  Coaches offer help and can be key when identifying those key moments when the athlete has the most trouble.  By training “with a Purpose” through these circumstances the athlete can address them productively.  There are times when parents can provide one or more forms of assistance also.  Practicing techniques designed to equip each athlete with arousal control is huge, and there are many opportunities to apply these skills to develop expertise.  In virtually every case, that situation and the triggers for overwhelm should be reviewed with each athlete, either with a teammate, coach, parent or sport psychologist.  There is no substitute for having specific antidotes that you developed for your own situation.  Still, it is critical for each athlete to have the ability to break things down into “bite-sized” pieces.  No one play will determine a college scholarship or life success, but the methods we train with for overcoming “overwhelm,” exercised day in and day out – just might.  Once again, we get back to….

“FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CONTROL.”  This is a common piece of advice given to athletes throughout many years in virtually every sport invented.  But what does that really mean?  After all, some sports are amazingly complicated.  Some have all kinds of gear, even multiple sports per event.  There are details to execution, details to strategy and tactics, nuances and special circumstances that determine implementation, factors that involve strong emotions, tons of hard work, important relationships, sponsorships, scholarships, seeding – whew!  When you consider all the things there are to think about, it is even “more” IMPORTANT TO FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CONTROL.

I define these factors as the P – E – A of sport.  Lets take a closer look……..

P= PREPARATION

The Athlete is almost always in control of their preparation.  The appropriate time to train, to study the play book, to practice for a certain type of scheme you’re likely to face, a well designed diet for fueling yourself properly, film study of your opponent’s skills and execution, making the most of your recovery time…..the list goes on.  It is clear that those athletes that are known to prepare efficiently and competently for competition tend to do well even when conditions are less than optimal.  Truth be told, athletes that PREPARE experience fewer “surprises” in competition, know “how” to play against obstacles their opponents throw at them, and perhaps most importantly, understand the “level and intensity” required of them to be successful when success or failure is on the line.  Are you that athlete?  The one who prepares meticulously?

Preparation is not just the job of the athlete, but athletes bear the burden of responsibility to demonstrate they can play with their opponents.  Coaches have an equal responsibility to identify and articulate the challenge and the training required for their team or athlete to be successful.  And so it is – that TEAMWORK – is not just the collaborative effort amongst athletes.

Coaches, position coaches, coordinators, strength and conditioning experts, trainers, sports medicine professionals and parents ALL CAN AND DO play a key role in an athlete’s preparation for competition.  In what way do you as an athlete RELY on the counsel or training of others to become successful?  Is your communication with these important role players a good one?  Do they want to help YOU succeed because you are appreciative of the input, are coach-able, listen well and practice the strategies provided?  Sometimes an athlete will look like they “don’t care”, indicate they don’t value the contribution of every individual charged with the task of making them better, or worse, they appear “annoyed” by the helpful “input.”

Bottom line – athletes that prepare well are far more capable of performing what they practiced.  Hence, they’re more likely to deliver the goods at the right time.

So, what’s next?

E= EFFORT

Effort is .one thing an athlete is in complete control of.  You either know what is required to master a skill or you don’t.  You either do the work or you don’t.  You work at it or you don’t. You put the time in or you don’t.  You eat right or you don’t.  You listen or you don’t. You study film or you don’t. The opportunity to be successful in a competition is not limited to the 60 minutes, or distance of a race.  The OPPORTUNITY is experienced everyday in training, every off hour in how you recover and in the quality of relationship and teamwork you exhibit in “helping” your teammates, coaches and supporters to bring their best, both to you and the team.  Athletes that train well, practice well, and prepare well demonstrate an effort level that often makes a big difference in the way you feel when the sun sets on competition day. When all the individuals that make up a team work together, and in concert with one another, team goals are much more likely to be accomplished.  There is nothing in sport quite so enjoyable as accomplishing goals set as a “team.”  As one philosopher put it, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”

A = Attitude

Attitude is defined as your “mind-set” in approaching, preparing for, and performing during competition.  There is no substitute for being coach-able, whether you are the coach or the athlete. A positive mental attitude changes your perspective on the grind…(you know the grind…practicing in the heat or cold or wind, doing your umpteenth repetition of a drill…one that could easily cause you to bitch and moan…if you let it.) Attitude is what builds cohesion, brings leaders to the front, and sees “every” player on the team contribute at the right time.  A great ATTITUDE requires a constant desire to improve, not just for yourself, but for your teammates.  A positive mental attitude is evident when one experiences a bad break, and they find a way to overcome.  Some make a science of learning excuses or finding ways to say “I can’t.”  Athletes who have the right attitude know “how” to turn a negative into a positive.  The spirit that can’t be defeated provides inspiration, guidance and leadership amongst your teammates.  At the very least, they will respect the way you learn from your mistakes, and make the most of your difficulties, to overcome those liabilities that you do not let “define you.”  UCLA’s famous coach John Wooden once said, “Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.”

Virtually every marquis player in the NFL covets the “RING”… the SuperBowl Championship.  Every college basketball player is focused on being in the FINAL FOUR – or better yet – cutting down the nets with an NCAA Championship under their belt.  The special nature of striving together to accomplish greatness in such a venue is simply “unforgettable” and there is not one athlete who has been a part of such success – that later regretted how hard they worked to earn that success.  Champions at the highest level can understand how Coach Lou Holtz could say, “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you actually do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”

I like the way our 26th President and fearless leader Teddy Roosevelt put it:

“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
– Teddy Roosevelt (1858-1919)

The point being that competitive results themselves – overvalued in our winning obsessed culture anyway – are ultimately not in the competitor’s control and should not be the way the athlete (or coach or parent) judges “success.”   The athlete’s quality of competing – the PEA  – should be the way the athlete (or coach or parent) judges whether the competitive process was “a win” or not.   I think “the overwhelm” can often be triggered by a counterproductive focus on the importance of a winning result, which distracts from what the player actually controls in the heat of battle – a winning process.   This seems especially true of youth or recreational athletes, like myself, who have a tendency to get unduly distracted in competition by imagined consequences of winning or losing, and unduly bummed out by losing, instead of just focusing on competing to the best of one’s ability and calling that a “win.”   Even star athletes are not immune to getting “tight” in the clutch and performing poorly at times but they are usually better at battling that and refocusing on the PEA of the moment and brushing off defeat as part of making them a better player.

Roosevelt was an expert at leading teams and his accomplishments reflect that.  There is no greater experience in athletics than ACCOMPLISHING TEAM GOALS TOGETHER.  So keep it simple, focus on your mantra – FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CONTROL – YOUR PEA – PREPARATION – YOUR EFFORT – AND – YOUR ATTITUDE.  Good things will happen.

No one ever wants to go there.  No one wants to see it happen.  As brutal and grueling as sport is there is one huge likelihood….and that is that we will experience injury.  Hopefully, it is just a ding…sprain…bruise…contusion…bug…or require a simple brace, ice or a little rest before we can continue to train.  Hopefully, that is.

Unfortunately, sometimes these injuries are season ending.  At worst, they may be career ending.  We never want to talk about it and athletes who have friends in the throws of rehab will tell you they tend to avoid those friends.  They are embarrassed and ashamed about it, but they hate to sit, watch, and experience vicariously the difficulties of the injured.

Dr. Eddie O’Connor penned a piece in the April 3rd, 2011 issue of Podium entitled, Really? No Pain No Gain in Sports.  Eddie is a top notch sport psychologist who just happens to work a lot with rehabbing injury.  He’s seen it too.  The avoidance, the depression, the feeling like a victim, the sense of hopelessness, the frustration, and the incredible strain on the athlete’s support system.  Its tough, to be sure.

Ironically, one of the most difficult aspects of coping with injury is handling the constantly shifting emotions from “Future Worries”….what if it doesn’t heal properly?…what if I can’t perform at the same level?…what if it takes a whole six months to get it back?  The anxiety from this type of thinking is only part of the problem, because all the “regrets” comprise so much of the rest.  “If I’d only done a better warm-up….I could have…..should have…..if I would have done all the X, Y, Z things, I wouldn’t be dealing with this mess now.”  “Future think” is only surpassed by “Past Think” when it comes to feeling lousy after injury.

So what is the answer?  Adopting a great attitude does not come before its time.  We must cycle through all the stages of grief…the denial, anger, disbelief, acknowledgment, withdrawal, depression, sense of hopelessness, social isolation – right up until – we realize that that’s not helping us and in fact, all of those emotions make us feel worse.  Once acceptance settles, and we begin to look around for a better way…..Then we are ready to adopt a healthier point of view.

The little girl who is pictured in the video to follow has some profound things to say about attitude, it is what follows her statements that resonate the most.  My prescription for someone grappling with the throes of injury – is to watch this video EVERYDAY FOR 15 STRAIGHT DAYS – AT LEAST ONCE PER DAY.  Every viewing will help us identify another aspect of our experience we can benefit from.  Try this on as an attitude for recovery from injury – how about as an attitude for life:

Click here to view the embedded video.

‘Nuff said.  Thanks to Louis Swartzberg for a truly wonderful inspiration.

Thanks to Elayne Daniels for sharing this with me:-)

 by Matt Long, M.A., M.Ed.

            By far the most common struggle for the recreational golfer is the increasingly frustrating challenge of producing the same results on the course that they experience on the driving range.  I have worked with enough golfers to know their story well – hours of lessons and practice getting their swing to a manageable place, improving specific problem areas in their game, only to go out on the course and find that their problems still remain (or have even somehow gotten worse!).

This struggle is not unique to golf.  In any sport you will find this same challenge of performing in competition the way you do in practice.  However, golf has some unique mental requirements that increase the degree of difficulty:

• A competition field (i.e., the course) that is significantly different than the practice venue AND always changing due to weather, who you’re playing with, and the format you’re playing that day
• 5-10 minutes (or more) of waiting between each one of your shots during a round – ever do that on the range?
• The temptation to become your own personal swing coach a few dozen times a round

Given these challenging elements particular to golf, it is crucial to build certain elements into your game to help you with the transition from the practice range to the course.  Although the following list is far from exhaustive, it is a great start toward developing a “course-ready” game:

 1.  Change the way you practice

As noted above, there are some very important differences between the range and the course.  This highlights the importance of your approach to your practice time, whether that involves a couple buckets of balls after work or 20 minutes of getting loose before your tee time.

•   Spend time practicing the way you play: incorporate your pre-shot routine into your shots on the range.  Hit some shots while waiting 5 minutes in between to simulate what happens on the course.

•   “Play” the first few holes: When warming up before you play, visualize the view from the first tee, go through your routine, and hit a drive.  Follow this same drill for an approach shot, and then move on to the next tee.  Focus on developing your ability to paint a picture with your mind, and you can stand on the actual first tee feeling like you’ve already birdied the hole 15 minutes before!

•  Introduce some competition into your practice: Either with your friends or on your own, find ways to compete with something at stake.  It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate – hitting to target greens with the loser buying drinks will do.  If you’re on your own, try committing to not switching to another club until you’ve hit your target five times in a row.  But feel free to get creative with this – the more pressure the better.   Lee Trevino said it best: “You don’t know what pressure is until you’ve played for $5 a hole with $2 in your pocket.”  (For a great read with a ton of options, check out Trent Wearner’s book, Golf Scrimmages: Realistic Practice Games Under Pressure)

 2.  Strengthen your pre- and post-shot routines

Everyone has a list of things they do, consciously or subconsciously, in the 15-20 seconds before a shot.  This is also true about what we do after the shot, which is not as common to analyze but just as important.

•   Write down your pre-shot routine and keep it handy during a round: Some helpful elements include strategizing for the present shot, breathing deeply and slowly to reduce tension, visualizing the exact shot you want to execute, and saying an affirmation such as “I have a smooth, effortless swing.”  While this may feel a bit cheesy at first, this is the mindset and attitude you want to build as a player, isn’t it?  Or is “Just don’t shank this in the water this time” working for you?

•   Plan out your post-shot routine and stick to it: Next time you hit a good shot, try savoring it for a few moments.  Log it into your memory banks for use the next time you need a shot of confidence.  If the shot is not one of your best, it is important to have a routine that leaves that one behind – try wiping off your club (in all likelihood, there’s some serious turf on there from the chunk you just executed) as a symbolic gesture of leaving that shot behind and moving on to the next one.

 3.  Build your ability to respond well to poor shots and holes

One of the most useful mental skills for any golfer to train is their ability to be resilient.  It is no secret that golf is a game of failure, so those that prepare for some errant shots increase their chances of bouncing back.

•   Anticipate poor shots/holes, and have a PLAN: As demonstrated with the post-shot routine above, simply having a plan in place can help you stay composed and respond well to mistakes.  It may take some trial and error, but develop a plan that works for you.  It could be a symbolic gesture, something you say to yourself, or simply walking to the next shot by yourself to compose yourself and hit the reset button.

•   Practice staying present: If you listen carefully to PGA Tour players in interviews, you will often hear them allude to their ability to stay present and take it one shot at a time.  As with most clichés, this sentiment is overused because it’s true.  This is one of the primary advantages of having a dialed-in pre-shot routine: it forces you to stay present and devote all of your attention to this current shot.

Never lose sight of why you’re out there.  When things start to derail on the course, try to remind yourself that unless you are playing for one of those oversized checks, golf is still a game and you’re out there to enjoy it.  And you most likely didn’t take up the game because you enjoy stomping around in plaid pants, berating yourself for your athletic shortcomings, and jamming your clubs into your poor golf bag.

So, sometime in the next couple of days when you’re jones to play is starting to peak – jot down the things you most love about the game: why you play it, the challenge, the walk in the park, the camaraderie amongst your friends…whatever it is that draws you to the links.  Take that list and put it on a 3×5 card and keep it in your bag – for easy reference when you need it.  Because anybody who plays the game seriously knows that they will need it.

About Matt Long, M.A., M.Ed.

Matt is a mental performance consultant with Health & Sport Performance Associates in Denver, CO.  He works with athletes of all levels to help them perform to their potential, particularly when it matters most.  A background as a collegiate athlete, high school coach, teacher, and mentor has shaped his consulting style and given him the versatility to work with athletes in any environment.  Learn more at www.mattlongMPC.com.

by Matt Long, MA, MEd, and Stephen Walker, PhD

“What wins championships?”

Kobe Bryant: “Togetherness.  Finding a way to play that maximizes each other’s talents.  It’s not about speed, it’s not about athleticism.”

             Kobe Bryant knows a little bit about winning championships.  With five NBA titles under his belt and two Olympic gold medals as well, Bryant has seen the pinnacle of his profession enough to understand what it takes to get there.  And in a recent interview in the midst of a surprisingly difficult season thus far, he summed it up with one word: “togetherness.”  I would imagine that if we could sit down and pick the brains of champions across any sport, we would find similar answers to the question, “what wins championships?”

So if it can be summed up in one word it should be easy to achieve then, right?  Not so fast.  Anyone who has been part of a team or even a group or organization can attest to the difficulty of getting everyone on the same page, with one purpose.  Togetherness on a team can be an elusive and mysterious goal, with common obstacles such as cliques, differing levels of commitment, and dissatisfaction with individual roles.  For those in leadership roles a lack of team cohesion can often become a source of frustration.

There is plenty of research out there, in disciplines from applied sport psychology to business and industry, showing that team or group cohesion is central to predicting the degree of success over time.  (For a great listen on this subject as it applies to hockey, please check out Dr. Stephen Walker’s interview with Dr. Larry Lauer.)

This article offers up four practical steps for coaches to build team cohesion:

1)     Know your Team

Every group of people has a combination of personalities.  Some are serious, some are funny, some are skilled, others have raw talent yet to be developed.  Create enough time with your players to have a good grasp of their backgrounds, significant experiences that brought them to you, know enough about their family to have a good grasp of “how” they were motivated, what guidelines they adhered to, and what penalties or rewards really had an impact on them.  Much of this information is superfluous when it comes to planning your season, but it can be critical when you hit the bumps in the road.  How to bring out the best in each of your players is THE question.  How to set up pairings to create optimal chemistry amongst your starters or how your rotations might work as you substitute or establish lines (as in hockey) might be key.  These little things you learn about the personalities that make up your team can and will help you win.

2)     Be democratic in your decision-making

Members of any successful team need to share in a sense of ownership, and this can be achieved through bringing them in on some of the decisions you make as a coach.  Of course, like any good objective, this can be taken too far.  I am not advocating for team-wide votes on every decision from who starts to where the team’s funding goes.  The goal here is to give your players the feeling that you take their feedback seriously and use it to inform your decision-making.  As a basketball coach I tried to make a habit of getting feedback from my players as to what the opponent was doing and how they thought our game plan was working.  Build this into the fabric of your team culture and you increase the players’ sense of ownership and buy-in.

3)     Develop leadership qualities in your seniors and captains

In any team it won’t take long for leaders to emerge.  These are the athletes who lead vocally and/or by example, are voted to be team captains, and in general set the course for the team.  The more you can cultivate qualities such as encouragement of others, setting the tone for work ethic, mentoring younger or less experienced teammates, and calling out off-task behavior, the more cohesive the team will become (and, as stated before, more successful as well).  Coach Mike Krzyzewski instituted a “buddy system” at Duke University where upper classmen are each assigned an incoming freshman to mentor and guide in the ways of becoming a Duke Blue Devil.  He even takes it a step further and disallows the use of cars by freshmen so that they are constantly in need of rides from their elder teammate, helping to create a family feel to the program.  If there is disunity within your team, often the people best equipped and positioned to remedy it are your leaders.  Make a point to develop positive leadership qualities in your seniors and captains, and you will build cohesion in your team.

4)     Perfect the use of team building

Team building has been used for the improvement of role understanding, communication, leadership, enjoyment, performance, and of course, cohesion.  If done correctly, it can be a great addition to your preseason program.  One of the most effective team building activities is goal setting.  This is a place where the first two steps can be utilized as well.  If you (or a sport psychology consultant) can facilitate a team goal setting session where specific, measurable, adjustable, realistic, and time-based (SMART) goals are set, and everyone on the team feels their voice has been heard, then you have laid the groundwork for a cohesive team.

Team Goals must “supercede” individual goals – and there is absolutely no feeling that surpasses what you experience when you achieve goals as a team. – Harry Sheahy

In every sport there are coaches who are legendary not only in their successful win-loss records, but also in their ability to lead their organizations through trying times.  Whether Vince Lombardi or Tony LaRussa, they have developed masterful units known for their cohesion as well as their championships.  No coach has been more successful than John Wooden of UCLA Basketball fame.  Not only did Wooden use the four principles stated above in coaching his teams, he is said to have coached his players as both individual people and as integral parts of a well-oiled machine that won with grace, modesty, and class.  This feature of Outside the Lines shows Coach Wooden and a few of his top players in an exchange that truly illustrates these four steps:

Click here to view the embedded video.

There are of course a huge number of team building activities and resources as well, so I will just give you some basic guidelines to think about when deciding how to proceed (for a more detailed look, see Carron & Spink’s conceptual model, 1993):

• Be mindful of the team environment you are creating – teams are defined by their distinctiveness (what makes them unique from other teams, i.e. creating team shirts, slogans, mantras, etc.) and proximity (what can you do to encourage interaction?  i.e. Coach K’s buddy system, or having them eat lunch together one day a week)
• Be mindful of your team structure, and how it is contributing to cohesion.  Does every player know their role on the team?  Has every player accepted their role on the team?  If not, individual player meetings may help to clarify.
• Know when you need to have meetings with your players.  These might be team-wide, or with certain combinations of players, as well as individuals.  It is a wise thing to have individual meetings with each team member right before the season, in the middle of that season, and to debrief the lessons learned at the end of the season.  These meetings should be relatively short, well-structured, and you should be receptive to questions and to think about the observations each player makes about their status and/or progress thus far. Individual player meetings help clarify roles, values, priorities and goals – while also creating frequent and valuable opportunities for feedback, suggestions, and recommendations to improve the process.
• If you don’t have team norms, facilitate their creation with your team.  Here is another opportunity to be democratic in your decision-making.  Having agreed-upon guidelines for practices, games, and outside of the sport will unify the team and create a set of expectations which can be referred back to throughout the season.

As stated earlier, team cohesion can be an elusive achievement.  Yet any athlete will tell you that success is nearly impossible without it.  These practical steps will help you foster togetherness and, as Kobe Bryant suggested, find a way to play that maximizes each other’s talents.

Carron, A. V., & Eys, M. A. (2012). Group dynamics in sport (4th ed.), Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology.

Carron, A. V., & Spink, K. S. (1993). Team building in an exercise setting. The Sport Psychologist, 7, 8–18.

Vealey, R.S. (2005). Coaching for the inner edge. Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology.

There are a variety of team building videos on YouTube, one of which involves a talk by Bruce Weber, now coaching at Kansas State University.  Coach Bruce Weber shares a few ideas on activities off the court.

About Matt Long, M.A., M.Ed:

Matt is a mental performance consultant with Health & Sport Performance Associates in Denver, CO.  He works with athletes of all levels to help them perform to their potential, particularly when it matters most.  A background as a collegiate athlete, high school coach, teacher, and mentor has shaped his consulting style and given him the versatility to work with athletes in any environment.  Learn more at www.mattlongMPC.com.

Dr. Stephen Walker is a therapist, coach, athletic and personal performance consultant who has consulted with national champion and All-American collegiate athletes, Olympians and professionals in IAAF, USATF track and field, USA Cycling, USATriathlon, UTI triathlon, USA hockey, PGA golf and other team sports. For more information visit his website: www.drstephenwalker.com

Amy Cuddy, Harvard researcher on Body Language reviews research and anecdotes that reveal how ‘Power Poses’ can alter not only how others perceive us – but more importantly – HOW WE EXPERIENCE stressful evaluative situations.  I’ve often spoken to the relationship between neurotransmitters and the sequence of how feelings – emotions – moods – attitudes – and BEHAVIOR link together.  Cuddy’s research using measured testosterone and cortisol levels illustrates how these can be personally manipulated by adopting certain poses (either powerful or submissive) and what personal and professional impact these can have on our lives.

Although the research in and of itself is compelling, Cuddy’s personal experience makes it convincing with a story that illustrates why “Faking it until you BECOME it” carries a whole new meaning for each and every one of us.  Cuddy’s TED TV Talk recorded earlier this month is well worth the time spent integrating the information and application for hundreds of situations we are likely to experience throughout our professional and personal lives.

Check it out:

Click here to view the embedded video.

These findings are important for anyone pursuing personal goals and wants to experience a more powerful and competency-based existence.  There is no substitute for actual preparation, but for many even when they prepare they feel their performance was less than what it could have been.  This information suggests that there is clear evidence that ASSUMING a “powerful posture for two minutes” BEFORE any challenge we’ve prepared for puts our minds and bodies into an optimal state for performance.  The ‘behavioral’ shift engaged in a power position helps us focus and effectively reduce the stress hormones normally triggered in such a situation.  It makes sense for us to “plan” a visit to the bathroom mirror right before that tough job interview, a presentation in an important class, a competition you’ve been training for.  SO….Give that 2 minute POWER POSTURE a try, and you’re likely to  feel better and perform your best.

Amy Cuddy is an Associate Professor at the Harvard Business School.

Photo Credit:  Dominik Walker

Podcast of the Week – Dr. Larry Lauer – Keys to Coaching Youth Hockey

Dr. Larry Lauer is the Director of Coaching Education and Development at Michigan State University’s Institute for the Study of Youth Sports.  He has played hockey for many years and continues to coach the game.  As a AASP certified sport psychology consultant, he works with both pro and Division I hockey players while fully engaged in forward-thinking coaching education programs in all sports, but especially hockey.  His doctoral thesis was awarded the distinguished dissertation award from the National Association of Sport & Physical Education (NASPA) as he researched and tested methods for teaching emotional management skills in Youth Hockey.  Coaching in youth sports is challenging at any level because the relationships with players, administrators and parents can derail even the best of intentions.  Youth coaching done right is based on some simple principles Dr. Larry Lauer has shared with us in today’s podcast.  He is a USA Hockey certified coach Level 5 and has been playing and coaching hockey his entire life.  To say he is committed to the sport is a clear understatement.  He honors us with wisdom, great common sense and a clarity on how to coach at any team sport.

In this Podcast of the Week – Lauer speaks to creating and developing great team cohesion, a very challenging task for a coach at any level, but Lauer’s suggestions are not only practical they work.  He’s sets standards in excellence for coaching which proceed from being great in the won-loss column.  He believes that that success begins with “knowing your personnel well, and “how to incorporate these core players in setting the bar for helping the team recognize its identity, mission and each players role in helping to achieve success.  He speaks to developing the quiet players in ways that their leadership and participation round  out the cohesion that makes a good team great.

He encourages coaches to be genuine above all else, and offers some methods coaches can use to “turn the season around even when things aren’t going well.”  Thanks Larry – your input is not only sound but incredibly valuable for coaches in any team sport.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out his blog at Dr. Larry Lauer

Larry Lauer, PhD, is the Director of Coaching Education and Development at the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, Michigan State University. Lauer is a researcher, consultant, writer, and speaker on performance enhancement, coaching, parenting, talent development, aggression in sport, and positive youth development. Named one of the 100 Most Influential Sport Educators in America by the Institute for International Sport, Lauer is listed in the United States Olympic Committee Sport Psychology Registry, 2008-2012, is a volunteer assistant coach for MSU Men’s Tennis, and serves as the sport psychology consultant to USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. Recently, Lauer spent three years evaluating the youth development effectiveness of Think Detroit Police Athletic League (TDP), an organization providing sports to youth in Detroit with a mission of building character. He also trains coaches to develop leadership and life skills in their athletes, and developed an intervention to prevent hockey players from playing dirty and aggressive (The Playing Tough and Clean Hockey Program) which landed him the 2006 Sport and Exercise Psychology Dissertation Award from Sport and Exercise Psychology Academy of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. He recently finished a series of research studies on the role of parents in junior tennis funded by the United States Tennis Association.

  Podcast Interview with Dr. Andrea Becker on Perceptual Differences in Optimism & Coaching Effectiveness

Coaching is a tremendously dynamic process.  One who studies coaching effectiveness is Dr. Andrea Becker from California State University at Fullerton.  She will be the first to tell you that there are many different variables to coaching effectiveness.  She’s been interviewed before for Podium Sports Journal on the “Athlete’s Experience of Great Coaching” and discussed many of those factors that contributed to John Wooden’s success and other great coaches.

One of her recent examinations into coaching effectiveness also examines the perceptual differences that both athletes and coaches have in assessing their own optimism.  That coaches tend to perceive themselves as more optimistic then their athletes do, IS A FACTOR IN COACHING EFFECTIVENESS.

This podcast speaks to this dynamic and the kinds of things athletes and coaches would all value in determining those contributing elements to success on a number of different levels.  Authenticity, an accurate perception of how a coach views themselves, and identifying the kinds of assessment tools that will both accurately and efficiently measure these dynamics are part of the discussion.

Take a listen and see what you think:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dr. Andrea Becker

Dr. Andrea Becker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology. She received her PhD in Sport Studies from the University of Tennessee (2007), and her BS and MS degrees in Kinesiology from California State University, Sacramento. As an undergraduate, Becker competed as a Division I softball player, and later co-author a softball specific mental training book titled, Focused For Fastpitch. Currently, her primary teaching responsibilities and research interests are in the area of Sport and Exercise Psychology. More specifically, she studies aspects of coaching (i.e., coach-athlete interactions, expectancy effects) and performance enhancements (i.e., optimism, focus, emotional control). Dr. Becker is an active member of the Association of Applied Sport Psychology, and also serves on the editorial board for a journal titled, The Sport Psychologist. In addition to her academic responsibilities, Dr. Becker is a certified sport psychology consultant (CC-AASP). In this capacity, she provides sport psychology services to athletes, coaches, and teams.

Dr. Lenny Wiersma is faculty at California State University, Fullerton and has long been an admirer of Big Wave Surfing.  So he decided it might be good to understand more about the mental skills involved in this remarkable endeavor.  He got a great sense of what these incredible athletes experience, train, and go through in the process of meeting the challenges they face with every wave.  Prepare to learn more about the razor’s edge in focusing mentally, and where being “in the Zone” has a whole new meaning.

“Mavericks” are not to be confused with a rock band.  This well-known big wave surfing community is located approximately 30 miles south of San Francisco, where waves travel over a thousand miles and crest into this unique and remarkable surf. Have a look just so you’ve got some sense of what we’re talking about here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lenny’s appreciation of the challenge and who these athlete’s are is palpable, and emanates from a strong foundation in respect for what they do, how they train, their regard for each other and the community they have formed.  To say that this is a team endeavor is more true than one might think and the interplay between those on boards, those on jet skis, and the elements is nothing short of fascinating.  Confidence, committment, and focus are discussed in a way that every athlete (regardless of their sport) would do well to understand and seek out ways to apply what these athletes have to offer.  Listen to the Podcast:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Take a look at these Five Tips for Mental Toughness Wiersma offers through the Speedo “Tip of the Week”.  Wiersma is one of the top sport psychologists working with USA Swimming and is frequently asked to work with elite swimmers from various southern California swim clubs.  One of his strengths is training athletes “how to compete”.

Thanks Lenny for a really remarkable post.

Lenny Wiersma, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Kinesiology
Telephone: (657) 278-3806
Email: lwiersma@fullerton.edu
Dr. Lenny Wiersma joined the faculty in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University, Fullerton in 2001. He is co-director of the Center for the Advancement of Responsible Youth Sport, and serves as the Sport Psychology consultant on the High Performance Network of the United States Swimming Sports Medicine and Science Network, working with developmental and elite swimmers on psychological skills training, biofeedback, and competitive preparation. In addition, Dr. Wiersma is currently serving as the Measurement and Evaluation section editor for the Research Quarterly in Exercise and Sport.

Click here to view the embedded video.

by Earl Poteet, MSW

Background

After spending the 2011 baseball season as the team psychotherapist for the Colorado State University-Pueblo Thunderwolves – (see “Performance Work with College Baseball Pitchers, A Case Study,” Podium Sports Journal July 2011) – I continued to have contact with several of the players who had not graduated the previous year and had returned for the 2012 season. I have also been working on a book about the 2011 season, tentatively titled “The Last Angry Season,” due to the effects of a negative head coach on the psyche of the players. With this in mind, I resigned to only work with those players who sought help with one exception, that being a senior right fielder by the name of J.T.

The first opportunity to work with J.T., using the neurobehavioral technique “Brainspotting”came in late November of 2011.  I had had a previous discussion with his Mother and I expressed to her my desire for J.T. to have a good senior college season. I asked her to have J.T. contact me if he was interested in working with me.  The reasons for my wanting J.T. to have a good senior season were threefold; first, he is a great young man with strong moral character; second, he works harder than most baseball players I have seen at the collegiate level, and finally; he has three strong baseball skills that include a strong arm, good speed, and he can hit for power.

Brainspotting in its use with sports has been written about in Podium Sports Journal previously, but new information and research is evolving regularly.  Dr. David Grand, speaks to the origins and nature of the work in this YouTube video, however, applications such as that in baseball are evolving as we speak and are discussed generally in this article.

Fall ball was over by the time we first worked together but J.T. was still intent on his own methods in preparation for his last year of college baseball.  He was struggling with the fact that he had begun to feel the pressure of his senior year and the need to produce in order for the team to be successful. We had three Brainspotting sessions at the end of November through the First of December. At the focus of these sessions, we sought to find the sources of his anxiety at the plate and employ our focus on calming his limbic/autonomic system activity.  Arousal in this part of the nervous system is customary, but great athletic functioning in many sports is linked to effectively managing this aspect of the nervous system.  J.T. experienced this in noteworthy ways.  He reported that he felt more relaxed at the plate, and that while he was still chasing some balls out of the strike zone, he wasn’t stressing out about it and it wasn’t carrying over into everything else in his life. He reported feeling great and required no further work at that time.

By his own admission, J.T. had a propensity to press when he was at the plate. The season started in mid-February and even though he and I had done the three sessions a couple months prior to the start of the season he struggled early. Perhaps it was the fact that when we worked together previously there were no games and therefore the stress level was not comparable to actual competition. Perhaps it was due to changes in his personal life. Or it could have been that during the time we worked together there was minimal contact with the coaching staff. Whatever the reason or reasons, his statistics in the first 12 games of the year were indicative of his plate anxiety: 8 for 41 hitting for a .195 batting average with 4 extra base hits and 6 runs batted in. The last two games of this period he struggled greatly going 0-9 during those games. The date of the last game of his struggles was March 4 and I contacted J.T. and asked if he thought we had more work to do.  As most athletes are highly motivated, he agreed.

 Anxiety and the use of Micro-Movements

             While J.T. was going through his early-season struggles, I had the fortunate experience to attend a sports performance workshop being taught by one of the primary trainers in Brainspotting, the highly respected Lisa Schwarz. During this training she talked about various ways in which to employ the techniques with baseball players. One particular method she taught working with pitchers caught my attention. She informed the trainees that she had done micro-movements with pitchers and had even done so blindfolded! As a former coach, I understood all too well the value of “chunking” the game down to its basic fundamentals (See Daniel Coyle’s, “The Talent Code,” for a great example of how great coaches accomplish “chunking”). To do so and have the athlete blindfolded was brilliant in terms of allowing the athlete to find where in their body they are holding traumatic or fear-based material without use of the visual cortex. This allows them to find distress, and may even prompt where the distress is being held.  Once determined, it is much easier to employ the process to release it, and neutralize that neuromuscular energy. It also allows the athlete to gain more trust over their athletic movements and the brain/body processes needed to gain mastery over the sophisticated athletic movements they perform.  In J.T.’s case, that meant hitting the baseball.

This was the stage as J.T. and I set forth for our two March Brainspotting sessions. The sessions took place on back-to-back days. During the first session, it was revealed that there was much stress on the young man in his personal, athletic, and academic lives. Personally, he had several close relatives who had been diagnosed, and were battling life-threatening illnesses. Athletically, he continued to stress over the perception that the team was dependent upon him to produce runs while trying to please an abusive coaching staff. Academically, he was attempting to maintain a rigorous schedule of engineering classes while preparing for the difficult exams that lay ahead in that field. We found where he was holding the various distressing material and were able to achieve a “squeeze-lemon zero” (a “squeeze-lemon zero means that the negative affect felt in a person’s body has completely gone away) within a 2-hour session.

For the second Brainspotting session we went to the baseball field and proceeded with the use of micro-movements. Since it would not be safe or possible to do this with live pitching, we focused on batting-tee work. First I blindfolded J.T. and had him go through his hitting motion 6 times using micro-movements with both eyes covered. This task he performed flawlessly.  I used my observant self, making sure to track any signs of distress or anxiety without him having the use of his eyes. Next we did some goggle work with the batting tee. First, I covered his left eye leaving his right eye open, which coincidentally was also his dominant eye. As with the blindfold, I checked first for any signs of distress or anxiety and J.T. reported that he had some activation standing at the tee focused on the ball sitting on top of the tee. While it was only a level 2 on the SUDS scale, we processed the anxiety out to a squeeze-lemon zero and continued with the micro-movement session. We then moved to having his right eye covered using the goggles and did more micro-movements with no anxiety or stress. Finally, J.T. uncovered both eyes and had him perform micro-movements before moving on to full-speed tee work where he reportedly had the best subsequent batting tee session that he had experienced in a long time.

It is important here to note here that the micro-movements that Lisa Schwarz taught at the Pittsburgh training in February needed to be done at least 6 times in order for the brain to remember it consistently enough to consign it to memory. That was the protocol I used in doing the batting tee work with J.T., first blindfolded, then with one eye at a time covered. Also, during all sessions with J.T. that took place it was highly important to maintain the dual-attunement model that is key to resolving traumatic material. In terms of trauma (in this case reminiscent of survival terror – there are four areas this neurological charge can affect an individual.)  When one considers that many people believe that the fear of speaking in public is more traumatic than facing one’s own death – its important to note that an individual’s experience of the activation rules.  Ms. Schwarz cited studies that identified these specific experiences of extreme neural activation.  The four survival terrors that an athlete will experience are: 1) I’m going to die; 2) I’m a failure as a person; 3) I don’t exist; and  4) Mom/Dad/coach/universe doesn’t love me. One of the points of my forthcoming book is that coaches create attachment disruptions if they don’t provide a positive learning environment for their players.  When the coach shows an empathic concern for them as people, this doesn’t acquire the same power.  For J.T., who by his own admission was always conscious of the coaches being angry and perfectionist, he felt his acceptance was provisional, at best.

             The Streak

            Anyone who has been around the sport of baseball, or any other sport for that matter, understands how any one of the things that was going on with J.T. during his senior season could disrupt his on-field performance. Having close relatives with serious life-threatening issues would be enough to send players autonomic nervous/limbic system into a hyper-vigilant state. This scenario can also invoke our own existential fears and thus trigger the first survival terror of “I’m going to die”.  Having a coach who does not show any care or concern for his or her players will likely engage the fourth survival terror additionally – that being “the coach doesn’t love me.” And not performing on the field or in the classroom can easily invoke the last two survival terrors of “I don’t exist,” or “I’m a failure.” This is a ripe scenario for any athlete who wants to excel in their chosen sport, and I believe that all three were factors with J.T. difficulties this past season.

The hitting streak began the following game after the micro-movement session in a non-league contest on March 6 against the Regis Rangers. J.T. went 1 for 3 with an RBI against the Rangers, and it would be an interesting sidebar to the streak that it would begin, and subsequently end, against these same Rangers. Between March 6 and April 13, J.T. would go on a 22-game hitting streak that threatened to place him in the CSU-Pueblo record books. During the streak his numbers were impressive to say the least. J.T. would go 32 for 80 for a .400 batting average during those 22 games while also hitting for power with 5 home runs, 5 triples, and 11 doubles during those 22 games. When the streak ended on April 13 against the same Regis team that the streak had started, J.T. was scheduled to take his engineering exams the following day. By his own account, he admitted that in the back of his mind, the stress of having to take those crucial exams and “not going to be with the team on Saturday” was difficult to overcome on that day.

J.T. would finish the season with a .304 batting average with 9 home runs, 17 doubles, 5 triples, 51 runs batted in, 48 runs scored, 29 walks, and a slugging percentage of .586. His post-season honors included being named to the First Team Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference RMAC, honorable mention to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers’ Association All-Central Region Team, and he was First Team Academic All-District by Capitol One and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). By his own account, he fulfilled his goals for his senior season and as he moves on from his college baseball playing career, the next phase of his life will be one that I am certain to see him succeed even further. Not too bad for someone who did not fair well the first 20% of the season!

As for why we work with athletes to help them achieve their goals, let there be no doubt that Brainspotting is one of the most, if not the most effective tool sports professionals should have available in their tool box. I will close this article with a quote from J.T. sent to me in a card prior to his leaving for California to play baseball this summer: “Earl, I can’t thank you enough for all that you have done for me. My success this year was a lot of you and you guiding me along the right path and I can’t be more thankful for that.” That is what made working with J.T. all worthwhile! I hope you understand two things after reading this article. First, why I wanted so much to work with this incredible young man and to help him succeed and reach his goals. Also, because Brainspotting is what I believe to be the most powerful sports performance modality available.  I thank Dr. David Grand and Lisa Schwarz for their tireless efforts to continue to improve our methods so that we can continue to help athletes achieve their goals at all levels.

I would like to personally thank J.T. for his permission to use his experience for this article and for his tireless dedication to the game and family that he loves dearly. To his family for being the type of supportive people that help young men and women to thrive and become successful adults. Dr. David Grand for his discovery of Brainspotting and his essential book with Alan Goldberg, “This Is Your Brain On Sports.” David has always been there anytime I have needed advice. Finally, the streak may not have happened if not for the amazing work and teachings of Lisa Schwarz, I’m forever grateful for your work and willingness to help regardless of the time and situation.

(For the sake of brevity I have purposefully left out many aspects of “Brainspotting” for this article. I suggest that the reader go to one of the following web sites to learn more: www.brainspotting.pro; www.lisaschwarz.com; or my personal web site, www.pueblotherapist.com)

About Earl Poteet, MSW

Earl has been a professional therapist/case manager/counselor/teacher/coordinator since his undergraduate days at the University of Southern Colorado in 1979.  Graduating Magna cum Laude from Colorado State University in 2008 with a Masters in Social Work. Trained in the cognitive-behavioral aspects of human behavior and psychology of “Love and Logic”, his 30+ year history as a part-time professional stage and radio entertainer, he sought out training in Dr. David Grand’s Brainspotting to work with people in resolving their previous life trauma’s issues to achieve great progress in their lives.

Earl has worked in the world of athletics as a Head Baseball Coach at the high school, collegiate and semiprofessional level.  He has served as an assistant football and basketball coach as well. In addition to playing baseball, football & basketball, Earl currently enjoys an occasional round of golf. Earl operates under the principle that everyone deserves the utmost that life has to offer and to live up to his or her personal and professional potential. Earl is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) in the state of Colorado.

Part One in the Series – Using the Body Report

by John Beeby

If you want get straight down to using the techniques jump to the ‘Techniques’ section below. For a little more background read the Introduction first……

Introduction

From the outset, research and practice around the use of mental imagery or visualization in sports has recognized a relationship between the psychological and the physiological (Psychophysiology, the mind-body connection etc)). For example, Carpenter (1894) presented the ideomotor principle of visualization to describe the similarities in electrochemical impulses that flow through a muscle when it is flexed and when it is ‘imagined’ to be flexed. Essentially, this implies that we can prepare our bodies for movements long before we physically do them and we can improve movements we already do by remaining still and closing our eyes. Mental skills like this enable any professional gymnast or acrobatic martial artist to do extraordinary things and these types of athletes know this concept well. Both often have to perform new sequences that have a high potential to end their careers if they fail the first time they perform it. By using visualization, the gymnast could have practiced the Amanar–round-off onto the springboard (a challenging move!) 1000 times perfectly before they have even got changed for training, and better still their bodies would in essence have experienced it 1000 times.

The principles of competitive visualization have another important application and this mental skill can be integral to – assisting in the recovery from injury.

It is estimated that in the UK alone there are nearly 30 million sport and exercise related injuries in a given year (Nicholl, Coleman & Williams, 1995). Think of the athletes you know who have suffered an injury; you might have even experienced one yourself. Injury is one of the foremost threats to an athlete’s development as even simple muscle strain can affect training programs, which could in turn destroy competitive chances. For many athletes, routine medical interventions can often lead to a full recovery from their injuries. Physical recovery is often facilitated in rehabilitation by the process of ‘visualization’, one of the psychological techniques highly suggested by consultants and physiotherapists.

Despite its prevalence we, the authors, regularly receive opinions from science and athletic professionals that there is a lack of methodology around the actual practice of visualization as a whole, and particularly, the process of visualization for recovery from injury.

Techniques

In this short series of articles we would like to propose a collection of simple step-by-step models that can be used by sports medical professionals, coaches, parents and most importantly, independently by the athlete.
Just so you know what to expect, the process will follow the form of increasing body awareness to a detailed level, preparing the visualization ‘muscle’, connecting with the goal and building powerful support for recovering the effected area.

What is the Body report?

Aims:
- Create increased body awareness needed to carry out further visualization techniques successfully
- Set Body Report technique as a habit to be used after recovery to prevent relapse
- Notice important differences in sensations within the body
- Significantly support Physio based exercises.

We have been using Body report in our personal practice with clients for around five years now and although it is built upon supporting research it is most definitely inspired by a friend, Dr Grinder. The most energetic 70 year old we are likely to know, Dr Grinder is an established climber (of rock and frozen waterfalls). Still highly active, in the seldom occasions he takes a fall on a climb, he scans through his body using a similar technique to check for injuries before moving a muscle and as a kind of status check. It has saved him from worsening injuries on several occasions.

Step 1.
Differentiate psychological stress-related tension, injury related Muscular tension, Pain/physical damage
“ What colour represents the tension you feel in your body when you are psychologically stressed e.g. anxious before an event, angry or ‘wound-up’?”
“ What colour represents the sensation you feel in your body when you have muscular tension e.g. when you have worked out hard, over extended etc.?”
“ What colour represents the sensation you feel when you have actual Physical damage in your body i.e. at the site of Pain where the injury exists.?”

Step 2.
With your eyes open, visualize yourself standing/sitting/lying down in the same posture you are currently in, somewhere opposite you in the room/area you are in now.
Make sure your visualization of yourself is exactly the same height and width proportions that you are.
Now make the visualization almost transparent as if the ‘you’ over there is made of glass.

Step 3.

In the ‘Glass’ Visualization of yourself (NOT your body) – Go through every muscle/muscle group/ area of the ‘GLASS’ body from head to toe using the following protocol:
Using the colour code set-up in step 1 ask “ Is the area transparent (see through,clear…)?”
If No – “ what colour is it , – Stress(Colour), muscle tension(Colour) or Damage(Colour)?”

Make a mental note and move on to next muscle group. (Facilitator’s can maintain a written diagrammatic record if they wish. Clients should be left to be absorbed by the process)
Facilitator’s example “ I would like you to notice in the ‘glass you’ over there, The muscles at the top of his/her head. What colour is the area?/ Is the area Clear, Stress(Colour), muscle tension(Colour) or Damage(Colour)?”

Step 4.
Visualize the coloured areas of Psychological stress in the ‘Glass’ you.
Working area by area starting from the top, pay attention to the coloured area and just let the colour fade and dissolve away until the area becomes clear once again.
Leave the other colours and go onto any physiologist exercise that may have been given, checking in with your body report to make any subtle adjustments that may be needed.

This technique alone is an invaluable tool in supporting the entire process of recovery. We find in our practice that those who practice this technique at least once a day (approx 15 mins) for 5 days (with or without other visualization techniques) can greatly support their progression. However, attempting the coming visualization steps in our model without setting up Body Report has often led to inconsistent results in our experience. Of course all of this is up to the individual to test and the use of this technique is the sole responsibility of the user.
See you next time!

John Beeby – “I specialize in the field of Sport Psychology, accredited through The British Association of Sport and Exercise Science and registered with the HPC. I use Psychological techniques to facilitate health enthusiasts and athletes achieve excellence. Having worked with individuals within multiple sports these include Football, Rugby, Golf, Tennis and Martial Arts.  With a passion for making the difference I am a very performance based coach. Specialising in the progression and development of the psychological needs of the athlete.”  You can visit his website at: http://www.ultimatementalskillstraining.com/