|
|
|
Choosing your waterski rope.
Water-skiers need their waterski rope to have some elasticity so there is give for the skier when changing speeds and turns. The elasticity of the rope absorbs the shock when the skier crosses through the wake when going from side to side.
...
Functional Exercise For Golf Warrants The Quickest Results
Functional exercise for golf can mean different things to different golfers. But the key is to take a look at the golf swing mechanics and devise golf exercises, drills, and golf programs to strengthen weak or limited phases of the swing. Not every...
Home gyms analyzed 3
Home gyms analyzed 3
After having seen so many home gyms I thought I would put everything together and give you the best available opinion about each.
Lets now see the Bowflex home gyms.
Bowflex has many home gyms, they have the
--Bowflex...
How To Win At Sports Betting
If you've read any of my articles before, you know I always emphasize the fact that there are many viable systems for any type of gambling. Sports betting is no exclusion. I've tested and found success with several sports betting systems (see ...
Sports And Romance
How can sports possibly be be romantic? It's simple. Just ask any man who has cheered on his favorite team, while cuddling with his wife, and he'll tell you. Many women I know profess to hate all sports. Why? If it's something your husband really...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
How Can Sports Psychology Help Athletes?
The question you need to ask yourself is this: Am I performing up to my capability? I’m sure you know some fellow athletes who have “great talent” or physical skills, but haven’t played up to their potential. One of the myths athletes buy into is that you first must develop “perfect” technique or knowledge about ones sport before you can work on the so-called mental game. But, from my perspective, you cannot separate the mental from the physical when it comes to motor skills. Decisions, thoughts, images, and feelings set up each action you take. Sports psychology helps athletes develop confidence and focusing skills as they master the technical aspects of the game.
Athletes often ask me this question: “How do I know when a poor performance or error is a physical or a mental problem?” From my experience, here are a few hints that it may be a mental breakdown:
- You perform much better in practice than during competition
- You have a tough time performing well when others are watching you
- You maintain many doubts about your sport before or during games
- You feel anxious or scared when you perform in competition
- You are not sure why you play your sport or what motivates you
- You only participate in sports to feel better about yourself as a person
- You lose focus or have mental lapses during critical times of the game
- You can’t perform the way you did pre-injury, but are physically 100%
- Everything is fine, but you just want to improve your mental attitude
Sports psychology sometimes get a bad reputation because of the association of psychology with pathology. That is why I prefer to call what I do mental game coaching or mental training, which athletes understand. Mental game coaching is for athletes who want to improve upon their current performance and take their games to the next level with the help of a mental coach like myself.
But most athletes, unfortunately, seek out my
services because of an particular performance barrier or decrease in performance. As a mental game coach, I often become the last resort after athletes have tried other means to get beyond performance slumps. I wish it wasn’t this way, but athletes wait until some needs to be “fixed” and they have exhausted all other resources before they commit to mental game coaching.
How can sport psychology help you perform better? Here is the most obvious list:
- Improve focus and deal with distractions.
- Grow confidence in athletes who have many doubts.
- Develop coping skills to deal with setbacks and errors.
- Find the right zone of intensity for your sport.
- Help teams develop communication skills and cohesion.
- To instill a healthy belief system and weed out irrational thoughts.
- Improve and balance motivation for optimal performance.
- Get back into competition after an injury is healed fully.
- To develop game-specific strategies and game plans.
- To identify and enter the “zone” more often.
Sport psychology may not be for every single athlete. Not everyone involved in sport wants to “improve performance.” Sport psychology is probably not for recreation athletes who just like the social component of sport. Most of my students are committed to excellence and seeing how far they can go. They love competition and testing themselves against the best in their sport. They want every possible advantage they can learn including the mental edge over the competition.
About The Author
Dr. Patrick J. Cohn is a leading mental game coach who consults with Tour Pros and amateurs. He is the author of Going Low, Peak Performance Golf, The Mental Game of Golf and The Mental Art of Putting. For more information, visit: http://sportszone.shyper.com/
sonu_ecool@yahoo.co.in
|
|
|
|
|
|