Most athletes are highly committed to excellence and seeing how far they can go in sports. They love competition and testing themselves against the best in their sport. They understand the importance of a positive attitude and mental toughness. These athletes want every possible advantage they can get including the mental edge over the competition. Sports Psychology is about improving your attitude and mental toughness to help you perform your best by identifying limiting beliefs and embracing a healthier philosophy about your sport. Mental training is used by elite athletes to help improve focus, confidence and deal with distractions. […]
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08
Nov
2012
Sports Psychology and Mental Training
07
Nov
2012
The Key to Composure in Sports
The first step to improve your composure is to identify the mental breakdowns that cause you to lose emotional control in sports. For example, an athlete with very high expectations for his performance is likely to become easily frustrated, lose control emotionally, when he believes that those expectations are not being met. Below is a list of the top mental errors that can reduce your composure. 1. Perfectionism — When you don’t perform perfectly you lose composure because you become frustrated and then focus too much on your errors instead of the tasks needed to perform well. 2. Social […]
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05
Nov
2012
Common Mental Game Challenges for Athletes
One of the hallmarks of great athletes is the desire to improve themselves. Athletes at all levels use mental training and sports psychology to become better athletes, and overcome their mental game challenges. Mental training helps athletes perform more consistently, find the zone more often, keep a winning streak alive, and learn how to think well under pressure. The first step of mental training is to identify the need to improve your mental game. Often times athletes are unaware of the mental barriers the limit their performance, and how mental training can help them meet their athletic potential. The […]
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02
Nov
2012
Three Keys to Success in Sports
Three (must have) keys to success in sports are good instruction, practice and repetition, and most importantly – trust in your skills. Many people have a false assumption about learning a new technique such as throwing over the top, or staying on-top of the ball. Some coaches think that once they teach athletes a new technique the athlete should be able to apply it right away. Likewise, some athletes believe that they should be able to make adjustments in their game, and have it pay off right away. Change doesn’t happen overnight. When you expect change to happen overnight […]
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25
Oct
2012
Developing High Levels of Confidence
Confidence is the keystone to performing at your best. When athletes are confident, their mind and body are relaxed allowing them to perform at their best. There are a few things that can be done to ensure you have the highest level of confidence possible. First of all, engineer your approach to competition so that you are doing things that you have already successfully done in the past. Just knowing that you done it successfully before, will give you confidence. Be sure you stick to your game plan. It is a common mistake of teams to see their competition […]
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02
Oct
2012
Taking Action Against Bully Coaches
Young athletes are bullied by coaches as well as peers, which is unacceptable in youth sports. Have your sports kids ever had a coach who yelled at, insulted or intimidated them? If so, you need to take action. We’ve got some tips—and warnings—for you about what we call “bully coaches.” Bully coaches target all kinds of young athletes. They can set their sights on kids who are overweight, small or who lack confidence, for instance. These coaches also target gifted athletes because they believe their approach will “toughen up” their athletes. Whether your athletes are underdogs or stars, your […]
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18
Sep
2012
How to Enhance Your Performance in Practice
To apply the skills you learn in practice to competition, you must to practice like you play. Your goal should be to make practice as close to competition as possible. You will be better able to relate the information you learn in practice through specificity training, goal oriented practice, and improving your mental skills. Many athletes have trouble applying mental skill to competition because they do not rehearse mental skills in practice. Mental skills, just like physical skills must be practiced to make them automatic (well learned). When mental skills are ingrained, you can easily apply them to competition. […]
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04
Sep
2012
How Bully Coaching Affects Athletes
Below is a quote from one of our athletes who is a 16 year-old high school quarterback who loved football and had the potential to start as a freshman — until the coach destroyed his mental game… “Going into high school I was a standout athlete with high confidence but after my freshman year I started to lose interest. It just wasn’t fun anymore. I hated practice because I was always worrying about messing up and being embarrassed by the coach. In games I worried about what he would do or say if I made a mistake so I […]
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22
Aug
2012
The Fear of Striking Out
Fear of failure is a common issue in sport psychology. Fear of failure is characterized by high expectations, a strong desire to success (and not fail), anxiety or tension, worrying too much about results or outcomes, social approval issues or worrying too much about what others think, and performing with a serious, controlled mindset. Are you afraid of striking out before and during your at-bat? Babe Ruth once said “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” Fear of striking out will cause you to get in your own way with fear, anxiety, tension, and worry […]
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19
Jun
2012
Understand THE ZONE in Sports
The “zone” is a state of supreme focus helps athletes in all sports perform at their peak potential. It is when your mind fully connects with achieving a goal, such as getting a hit, or stealing a base. Attention is absorbed into the present (the here and now only). When you’re in the zone your mind only processes the thoughts and images that help you execute your task successfully. Entering the zone requires total commitment your game plan and the process of winning. Many athletes have mental barriers that limit their ability to enter the zone, such as fear […]
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