ARTICLES

Tips For Coaches: Getting The Most From Your Athletes During Practice

Good quality practices are the goal of coaches. The largest variable during practice is the intensity and production of your players. As coaches you set the structure of practice, the goals of the day, and where your players are directing their focus.

For the Athlete: Are You Coach-able?

A common topic athletes often discuss is communicating with their coach. As we discuss this issue the athlete often discusses frustrations they have with their coach (amount of playing time, feeling there are favorites, feeling misunderstood, or not liked). While the athlete is focusing on the coach and the coach’s behavior I would like them to focus upon themselves.

Tips For Parents: Understanding Kids and Sports

Children participate in sport for a number of different reasons. Research conducted over decades by numerous sport psychologists (Gould, Weinberg, Murphy, Brustad, Bredemeier, Shields and Andersen) has consistently ranked the following reasons that children state for being in sports...

Getting the Most from Sport Psychology

Many athletes and coaches are interested in sport psychology and mental skills training. They recognize that sport has a mental component, requiring focus, concentration and the ability to direct their thoughts. They desire to learn more about sport psychology and have it become a part of their game. The most common mistake athletes of all levels make is not making sport psychology a daily part of their life. The second most common mistake is attempting to use sport psychology skills in a game or match when they have not used them in practice...

Understanding Child Development In Sports and Competition

Participation in childhood sports can be a rewarding experience and an introduction that leads to a lifetime of enjoyment. For parents and coaches, understanding child development can increase the child’s overall involvement and enjoyment of sports. As the adults guiding children in sport, it is important for us to remember than no two people are completely alike. However, young people change in relatively predictable ways. Understanding your child’s development helps adults avoid unnecessary frustration and inappropriate expectations. Understanding simultaneously creates an environment of learning, increased participation, and fun...

Understanding Pressure: Stop The Choking

Choking is an athlete’s worst nightmare. No matter what you call it, "the yips", "tanking", "having a meltdown", or "paralysis", it can take down the best athlete in any sport at any time. Athletes describe choking in a number of ways: a complete loss of confidence, an inability to make their body move, an increase in anxiety/nervousness, loss of emotional control, and a tidal wave of doubt...

Gaining The Mental Edge Part I: Secrets of Confidence

Every athlete wants to play with confidence. Coaches want their players to exude confidence and play with intensity. A confident athlete has been defined as "being able to be positive, motivated, intense, focused, and emotionally in control when they need to be" (Taylor and Wilson, 2005). Athletes who think and behave this way remain confident even when they are not performing well. Martin Seligman, the father of Positive Psychology, believes that a positive mind set can be developed by following a series of specific steps. Dr. Seligman’s research in positive psychology seeks to discover the ways individuals who are optimistic, motivated, and resilient think. If you are an athlete who would like to be more confident, or if you are a coach and want to learn how to develop your team’s confidence, read on...

Gaining The Mental Edge Part II: Secrets of Intensity

Intensity in competition is sought by athletes and desired by coaches. An intense athlete performs with purpose, single mindedness, and laser focused energy. One common misconception surrounding intensity is that there is a magical point of intensity that leads all athletes to great performances. This mistaken belief can lead coaches to giving the classic pre-game pep-talk to get the team psyched up. Unfortunately, the pre-game talk may help some athletes while annoying others. Research in the field of sport psychology has found that intensity exists at an optimal zone that is individual to each athlete. Each person has his/her level or zone of intensity where he/she performs best. Optimal intensity refers to the ideal level of physical and mental intensity that allows an athlete to perform his/her best (Taylor & Wilson, 2005)...

Psychological Recovery from Injury

When an athlete faces significant injury, there are a number of predictable emotions and phases he/she may experience. A serious injury often requires surgery, recovery time and physical therapy. After surgery, many athletes often replay the injury in his/her mind, feel afraid, feel angry, and wonder "Why did I make that play?" Many athletes feel they have let their parents, coach, or team down. Most worry about what might happen if they don’t fully recover...

Workout Warriors

On February 13, 2008, Sarah Stewart from The Vail Trail interviewed Joe Lenac, President of Winning Edge Sports Psychology, for his thoughts and comments involving atheltic intensity and over training.