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Sport Psychology/Psychologist! No, thanks!!
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I am NOT crazy! 5/25/2015 Working in the field of sport psychology the very words out of the athlete's or parents mouths are, 'I am not crazy' or 'are you saying my son/daughter is crazy?'. No, no I am not. What we as mental trainers and sport psychology consultants around the world offer is a tool. It is a tool to help the athlete deal with peer pressure, coaching pressure, parental pressure, time pressure, game time pressure, all things that make an athlete think twice or become nervous. Athletes between the ages of 11 to 99 deal with performance anxieties because someone is hounding them to get the job done and get it done right the first time. Think about the time you took to the starting line feeling weak in the knees. Butterflies in the stomach. Every athlete generally faces this at some point. The emotions felt are good, but it is a matter of how they handle them that decides which direction their performance goes. If they tense up then the muscles are not relaxed so their stride is shorter, their steps are stiff, the arms are not swinging, and things that make the athlete not perform well. This in turns causes the emotions to become focused on the past, the future, the whole ‘what if’, ‘what of, could of, should of’ realm of actions plays out. When you seek out a mental trainer or sport psychologist, look at the consultant as a tool. They are going to teach you or your athlete how to deal with performance anxieties through imagery, progressive relaxation, GAP training, and many more tools. Look around at how many athletes hire a speed coach, a strength and conditioning coach, skills coach, etc. The reason I mention this is because when an athlete mentions that they have a sport psychologist on staff, the others see this is a weakness. If we were to go that route, then the athletes that hire skills coaches, speeds coaches, etc. are weak and need to get it together. These specializations are hired to help improve that particular skill so why is unacceptable to hire a coach that helps you focus on controllables and not focus on uncontrollable? There are sport psychologists for every sport out there. Each sport presents their unique issues that a former athlete may have an inside track on, but all athletes face the same performance anxieties. If a prospect or a person out of curiosity asks what it is that a Mental Trainer does, one of the things we say is, ‘ever see the athlete that stands out and succeeds?’ When they reply yes, we reply, we teach athletes how to do that. Lastly, think back to Superbowl XLIX. Malcolm Butler intercepted the pass that was the game winning dagger. In his post-game interview he said, he studied film, route preparation, and knew that they would go after him so he jumped the route and beat them to the ball. This is mental focus. This is letting go of the situation and focusing on what needs to be done. You can sit and watch video after video of defenses collapsing and finger pointing at each thinking the other person has the coverage area. Butler showed what mental focus can do. If you have thought about talking to a sport psychologist or consultant, I encourage you to do it. It is not a negative move in your career. It is very much a positive step forward in moving from good to great. |
