Why is the mental game such a mystery when we see it MASTERED!?

August 15, 2011 By



…even in what’s called a ‘loss’

The CBS (and All of the networks’) golf announcers all seem to be just amazed at how together, non-plussed by pressure situations, calm, fearless, and able to execute the current crop of young PGA Tour golfers are when wrapping up a tournament.  I’m sure that Gary McCord, David Feherty, Johnny Miller, and Jim Nantz all place themselves in the shoes of those young players when they were that age, and remember how they’d have felt in that situation…

But Keegan Bradley mentions Dr. Bob Rotella in his post-round interview….

…and Jason Dufner works with another BIG TIME (albeit elusive) Sport Psychologist.

Hey, announcers (and fans, and amateur players)…It’s not a shock that they can be calm at crunch time!  THEY PRACTICE THEIR MENTAL SKILLS EVERY DAY!  It’s just like a bucket of balls, or a putting drill.  Practice makes permanent.

The PGA Championship was another study in the importance of mental toughness.  ESPN’s headline read ‘Jason Dufner reflects positively on loss’.  To hear Jason talk about it…sure it was disappointing, but it doesn’t sound like it’s a loss to him..(Even the headline ‘reflect positive’ is a mental skill…reframing!)  Here’s the rest:

 

Frequent visitors to our Athlete’s Audio Academy video interview series will hear the themes that our Sport Psychology professionals bring up all the time.

  • Focus on controllables
  • Remaining Positive
  • Keeping an even keel
  • Learning from non-ideal events
  • Persevering
  • Doing what you love, and having fun
  • Letting go, and relaxing…

…gust to name a few of the key mental skills that Keegan and Jason showed as the round wound down.

Kudos, young guns.  You’re teaching everyone about mental skills training without even trying!

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A 5-point system to make you a Star | Dr. Jack Bowman | Mind Plus Muscle

July 25, 2011 By
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Wouldn’t it be AWESOME if there was a quick visual reference for optimal mental performance??  Something that would keep  you from having to read, remember, and think about a bunch of things…when you’re trying to NOT THINK!?

We’re lucky to be joined today by one of the most recognized Sports Psychologists in the profession, and a pioneer in distance learning programs for mental training.  He’s created (and describes here) the ‘Perform Like a Star’ program for athletes of all ages, and ability levels.

UPDATE!!  Dr Bowman has published a pdf of the Perform Like a Star program on his Facebook Page.  Here’s a link to the pdf.

Meet Dr. Jack Bowman, Founder of the Mind Plus Muscle Institute in Suffolk County, NY.

Dr. Bowman has been a guest with us twice before, discussing internships for young Sport Psychologists, and trying to separate the good info from the hooey with regards to mental training on the web.

He’s a certified consultant with the Association of Applied Sport Psychology, and he’s listed on the United States Olympic Committee‘s registry of Sport Psychologists.  An advocate of Sport Psychology Training at all levels of sport, Dr. Bowman has been a pioneer in the application of Telecommunications and Information Technology to make Mental Training and Sport Hypnosis accessible to all athletes

In addition to the ‘Perform Like a Star’ program, Dr. Bowman created the Mental Training Room, an online learning program in 1993.  Yep…1993, and he’s been involved in numerous programs at AASP, and at the Suffolk County Psychological Association, including the creation of a Mental Training manual for marathon preparation (which you can download here), and a podcast with Dr. Richard Lustberg on Sports Psychology.  Dr. Bowman is also board certified as a clinical hypnotherapist, and offers customized Sports Hypnosis recordings.

Dr Bowman details two important components to any mental skills training program, Goal Setting, and Mental Rehearsal(or Imagery).  At the Mind Plus Muscle Institute, Dr. Bowman offers Mental Rehearsal programs for Baseball, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Lacrosse, Body Building, Running, Football, Soccer, Volleyball, Sped Training, Wrestling, Triathlon, Tennis, and Swimming.  He’s also got some good advice for athletes to know what to look for in mental training, and what to look out for.

Dr. Jack Bowman is the Director of the Mind Plus Muscle Institute for Applied Sport Psychology in Port Jefferson Station, New York. Since 1980 Dr. Bowman has served on the graduate faculty at the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he teaches the Psychology of Sport. In 1981 he founded the Mind Plus Muscle Institute where he has developed numerous performance enhancement programs, including the Mental Training Room that is currently being utilized by athletes at major universities and Olympic training centers world wide.

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Sports Choking, explained by a psychology pro

July 6, 2011 By
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Picture this situation as an athlete…and see if it’s ever happened to you:

‘Like two minutes ago, I was playing GREAT!  Now I can barely hit the ball!!  WHAT HAPPENED!!’

Framed through the Masters collapse, and US Open triumph of Rory McIlroy, PhD Sport Psychologist from the Minneapolis area Dr. Justin Anderson joins us today to talk some mental toughness, resiliency, and how the brain works (and changes) when faced with the ‘zone’ or faced with everything falling apart.  (As documented in this article in the BBC)

There are changes at the neural level in high pressure situations.  Flow, Self 2 (in the language of the Inner Game of Tennis), Muscle memory is the goal…but when the pressure cooks up…the chemistry in your head moves to different areas of your brain.  Your brain chemistry actually changes, and a new alchemy kicks in that the athlete doesn’t experience very often…let alone their normal state!

Your brain changes, your body tenses up…LOTS of inhibitive changes all at once.  Imagine how hard it is to hit a shot in THAT mindset!

Dr Anderson gives some GREAT tips on how to recognize some of your own self-talk, and tension growing in yourself, and how to get refocused on the present & the goal!  Even setting appropriate goals for learning from experiences, or reframing, are tips that you’ll hear in this Athlete’s Audio interview.

Dr Justin Anderson is a licensed Sport Psychologist in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. He specializes in sport and performance psychology, organizational psychology (primarily with family-owned and privately held businesses), and counseling psychology.  He publishes a blog on Sport Psychology topics, and can be found on twitter.

As an aside to our interview…preparation, and practice in all of the different physical and mental conditions that you’ll face is key to staying focused in competition.  Check this out to see how Rory practices.  The money quote is the last sentence: “So I can prepare…just like I’m there really.”

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If your goal is to win, you probably already lost. | Dr. Rob Bell

June 12, 2011 By
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Wait!  Why would you set a goal to not win?  The short answer is that’s what is called an outcome goal.  There are many things that can keep you from achieving your goal that are outside your control.  The best kind of goals are performance, and process goals, but I’ll let Sport Psychology Pro Dr Rob Bell tell you about that…

Dr. Bell is a professor, and the sport psychology consultant for Ball State University, and has credentials on the PGA tour. He assists numerous athletes at the professional, collegiate, and amateur levels and serves as a caddy on professional golf tours.

Last November, at the Association of Applied Sport Psychology Conference, Athlete’s Audio was fortunate enough to interview Dr. Bell.  We spoke on the topic of his (then) new book, Mental Toughness Training for Golf.  In that tome, Rob talks extensively abut practicing with the same intensity, and pressure that you’ll face when you’re competing (among other things).

Dr. Bell’s research include the “Yips” in golf, applied golf and baseball research in mental training, athletic identity, and streaks. He has been published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, Journal of Athletic Insight, Journal of Sport Behavior, and the Encyclopedia of Sports. He also writes on the mental game and has been noted in Runner’s World, NY Times, Stack magazine, and numerous additional websites. He presents for numerous teams, schools, and organizations.

 

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Goal Setting vs. Goal Doing

March 19, 2010 By

I went to a seminar once where a guy who had written a best-selling book conducted a really insightful experiment with the crowd. There were about 800 people in the room. He asked everyone who had heard of his book to stand up.

Of course, the whole place was on their feet…

Then he asked the people who had bought his book to remain standing.

Half the crowd sat down.

“Remain standing if you read even one chapter of my book”

Half of those standing sat down.

“….if you read the whole book”

Half again

“Now remain standing if you tried any of the suggestions in my book.

Two people were left.

Two out of 800.

I was reminded of this from a tweet by Shawn Fairweather (@mindofchampions):

“Goal Setting is Overrated”… “what makes the biggest difference is what you do AFTER the goals are set”

Don Shula…you know, the winningest coach in NFL history…That Don Shula said that. Shawn’s tweet linked to that same story, and he has a good 4 part riff on goals here.

So what are you DOING?? Are you just ‘buying the book’?…or are you taking some action?

Are you writing down your goals?? Putting them on the calendar?? Creating a visualization recording to help you use imagery? Actually dedicating 15 minutes a day to visualize them?

….Going to a workshop to clarify your goals??

If you’re in the Bay Area (Berkeley to be specific) on the 30th, Sports Psychology Consultant Paige Dunn (@paigedunn, @XcelSports) is hosting a goal setting workshop.

It’s a step.

I heard once that people fail for only two reasons. A lack of knowledge, or a lack of action.

I’ll bet you already had the knowledge before you read this post.

Just do it.

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