Podium Sports Journal » process-goals

Mental Training Pays Off – Vancouver Olympics 2010

Stephen Walker, PhD — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:05:32 +0000

by Dr. Stephen Walker, PhD, CC-AASP, USOC Registry of Sport Psychogists

What do you get when you employ a positive mental attitude, strong self-motivation, well managed goal-setting, effective self-talk, a disciplined visualization of your upcoming performance, competent stress control, determined focus and concentration, and an ongoing dedication to establishing and maintaining productive relationships with both your teammates and your coaches?

You get success. And when you combine those ingredients with physical skills and a well trained athlete – you get medals….lots of them. Successful athletes at this years Olympics in Vancouver demonstrated skill and tenacity that was both physical and mental….
….. – and for most – their success was the culmination of years of practice, dedication, and conditioning.

Bode Miller will leave the Olympic Games having accomplished what no other American alpine skier had done. After a disastrous games in Torino, Italy – Miller refocused himself on his goals, shook a bad attitude, settled down and dedicated himself to perform his best. His self-talk was relentlessly positive and drew his focus to concentrating only on those factors under his control.

Joannie Rochette, the Canadian figure skater, and Chad Hedrick both overcame personal losses, managed what were clearly strong emotions, and channeled the added inspiration to motivate themselves beyond expectations – achieving medal winning performances. Julia Mancuso was reminded of her friend, CR Johnson‘s, “love of skiing” to overcome a disappointing GS and comeback strong. Although she didn’t medal in the event she was the defending Champion in – she was able to let go of a zillion distractions and love skiing just as CR did. Overall, she performed beautifully – winning two silver medals in the games – and staked her claim as one of America’s premier alpine skiers.

Every athlete sets goals, but sometimes they are focused on outcomes…rather than dedicating themselves to attend to the “process” of the performance. No one country was more guilty of this than the Russian Hockey team – anticipating Gold from their world cup successes – but not attuning to the fundamentals in play that got them there. The Soviets underperformed and finished 2-2 as they were eliminated in the preliminary rounds. Their results as contrasted with the upstart USA and juggernaut Canadian Hockey teams was noteworthy. Both the USA and Canadian teams have emphasized playing “one period at a time”, maximizing their strengths and training their weaknesses as they finished 1-2 in the medal count. The Gold Medal game was arguably the best Olympic hockey game of all-time as Canada took the gold with a 3-2 win in overtime.

Positive self-talk coaxed many of these athletes to success even when the odds were against them. Johnny Spillane and Billy Demong illustrated this better than most as they experienced success both individually and as a team in an event Americans had rarely been close enough to sniff at a medal. They supported themselves admirably by constantly offering up reminders of their strengths and focusing on “how” they could make up for time differentials lost in ski jumping on the nordic track. They talked to themselves and each other throughout the competitions, and created a positive momentum that launched them onto the podium.

Visualization techniques were evident in more events than any other as athletes like Lindsey Vonn appeared to be ‘dancing’ with her eyes closed in the que leading up to the starting gate. But no athlete did a better job than Jeret “Speedy” Peterson as he not only wrote out his goals on paper – but – he incorporated a very focused form of visualization (PETTLEP) in preparing for and landing the “Hurricane” – a here-to-fore never performed aerial in Olympic competition. Peterson landed the most difficult aerial in the event to claim a Silver Medal. His focus and concentration proved to be stellar as he took a calculated risk, planned for it consciously, and succeeded.

Controlling stress was at a premium throughout the entire Olympics as speed skaters fell at the start, half-pipe artists “forgot” their routines, and gifted athletes succumbed to the pressure in every venue. The best conditioned athlete proved to not always be the most successful – as time and time again – emotional and mental control proved to be an essential ingredient in determining who made the Podium. Congratulations to them all. Thanks for reminding us of the importance of training the “WHOLE” person.

Inspiration Fuels Greatness in Many Ways

Stephen Walker, PhD — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:05:59 +0000

DJ Gregory and the PGA Tour

by Dr. Stephen Walker, CC-AASP

There have been a number of great stories that serve to inspire. Many of them refer to athletes who did the extraordinary. Last year we featured the story of Kara Goucher overcoming years of injuries to finally land on her proper platform – the Podium – as she took a bronze medal at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan. She later performed well in Bejiing and has since set American records in the Marathon. I’m still impressed with Kara’s development, but recently I became inspired by the story of D.J. Gregory.

D.J. Gregory was born with cerebral palsy, a disease which deforms bone, nervous and muscle tissue. For the most part this disease sentences those afflicted to a lifetime of dependency and a wheel chair to get around. D.J. grew up having none of that. He loved sport, wanted to play, and found inspiration in what athletes could do with their bodies. His parents and doctors helped as much as they could, and after several surgeries and countless hours of OT and PT, he developed the capability of walking – with only a cane for balance.

With a Master’s degree in Sports Management from Springfield College (one of the better graduate schools turning out sport psychology consultants,) DJ engages in sport on many levels…but no sport is more personal than golf. DJ has set his own goals to coincide with his love of the PGA Tour.

DJ’s love of sport and golf especially has inspired him to be there live – for many great events. And, he’s been able to play on his own, a sport that drives even gifted athletes absolutely bonkers. He is a golfer…and plays with one arm while he supports himself with his cane to swing and help him walk from shot to shot. His PR is a 105 for 18 holes. Pretty decent considering many folks work diligently for years to break 100.

So in love with golf is DJ that he has passionately watched the PGA tour for years – live – every chance he could get. But in 2008 – He accomplished what many believed was impossible. DJ gives new meaning to setting process goals…literally one step at a time.

Only watch this video if you want to be amazed. Thanks to ESPN.

Click Here to Watch: DJ Gregory walks the PGA Tour

The Best of Coaches – Bring out the Best in their Teams

Stephen Walker, PhD — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:18:30 +0000

Here Comes March Madness! The Mens and Womens NCAA Basketball Tournament

Today, the brackets for the NCAA Basketball Tournament are being announced….and everyone has dreams of winning. In my opinion, no sporting event on planet earth brings out the best in coaches like the road to the National Championship.

John Wooden, unprecedented winner of 10 straight NCAA Championships while coaching at UCLA, once said; “Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.” I’ve heard this quote in circumstances that questioned a bad break like that of the diagnoses of an unwanted affliction. Yet no better quote addresses the advantage of those given the opportunity to make the best of their success.

Will they revel in making the show? Absolutely! But the real question will reveal itself in how each coach prepares their team for the tournament itself and the fabulous competition they will see.

Chris Charmichael, Lance Armstrong’s famed coach – stressed that Lance race his strengths, but train his weaknesses. His training for the Tour began many months before the first gun went off, and his mileage in the Pyrenees mountains is legendary. But what are lessons for these coaches as they enter the post season?

The Best Coaches are those who bring out the best in their players at crunch time….and this tournament levels the playing field like no other in sport. Those who are best at focusing on the “process” have the advantage. They will practice with purpose, focus productively in their preparation and prepare themselves to incrementally improve their ability to neutralize the strengths of their opponent, one game at a time. Those who play every second of every minute of every game…emphasizing their strengths – while purposely strengthening their weaknesses – these are the coaches and the team’s who will succeed. Whether they win the tournament or not, they will have “realized” success in performing to their very best.

And when all is said and done – they will remember the “process” of their preparation and their play…all along their road to success. For some that lesson will last a lifetime, and provide the seed for never-ending confidence and many more successes in life.

by Stephen E. Walker, PhD, CC-AASP

To learn more about the importance of “process” vs “outcome” goal setting….read on. The examples will be seen as this tournament unfolds.

What Teddy Roosevelt taught us about “Process vs Outcome Goals”

Stephen Walker, PhD — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:27:51 +0000

“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)

by Dr. Stephen Walker, CC-AASP

Roosevelt was an American Icon – the president who took on the Panama Canal and saw technology and great enterprise thrust men and women to stretch their limits, expand their horizons, and make possible the impossible. He inspired, cajoled, got tough when necessary, and used shear determination to do his part to solve an incredible array of problems from the failed reconstruction efforts in the south to getting a handle on organized crime as police commissioner in New York City. He served as the Secretary of the Navy and was perhaps best known as a war hero…leading the charge. Most of all, he was one of America’s forward thinking leaders possessing an ability to inspire the country, motivate innovators and bring out the best in people in all walks of life as the 26th President of these United States.

America’s Coach

He was America’s coach at the turn of the 20th century – and he was a stickler for “focusing on the process.” He knew that the process dictates the outcome …. and even though unfortunate events can sidetrack even the best prepared – their best performance can only be realized by attending to the little things, the fundamentals applied to the most challenging of tasks….that the “flow state” in the process precedes every great accomplishment. Our concentration on the task at hand, the drive, determination, purposeful discipline to focus on our objective every second of every minute… is what helps each and every one of us remain consciously in control of our life’s work.

Focusing on outcomes may be wonderful in a dream state and can be helpful in picturing the process. Yet again, we must come back to that pesky “process” if we are to be successful. Roosevelt pushed people to have a vision but engage in the action steps necessary to build the resources, skill sets, effective methods, and integral pieces necessary for realizing success.

Those who malfunction in maintaining a focus on the process – oftentimes – see only the outcome they dream of – and fail to adequately concentrate their attention on the methods for accomplishing the goal. Many set a goal and immediately begin to panic at the prospect of not succeeding. The “fear of failure” has claimed many a victim. Those promising talents who never quite lived up to their potential are just a few.

Talent may be God given – but the “development of talent” delivers the goods.

Stephen E. Walker, Ph.D.