Days of Reckoning for Youth Sports

“Nerves are something a lot of younger athletes come to me with. I suppose they might not have the strategies to deal with it. One of the first things I do with an athlete who gets nervous is I say to them it’s normal to get nervous. It’s usually about where the nerves are coming from and what are they stemming from?

“Nerves are just a reaction in your body. You feel the same on a rollercoaster when you get near the top. Physically it’s the exact same. It’s excitement. On raceday suddenly nerves are bad.

“I usually explore why is it that nerves are giving people that bad feeling. It’s funny cause a lot of it is picturing the ‘what ifs’."

--Jessie Barr, sports and performance psychologist, former Olympian from Ireland.

According to the National Federation of State High School Association’s annual participation survey, sports participation is down for the first time in 30 years. American football, in particular, saw a low for a fifth consecutive year, something that may be attributed to safety concerns. But what about participation in other, non-contact sports, such as soccer, baseball, and tennis?

1. Sports Are No Longer “Fun”

Studies cite many benefits of participation in sports, many of which have to do with the development of life skills such as teamwork, personal accountability and sportsmanship. Of course, sports are also about having fun — at least, they used to be.

Dr. Vassilis Dalakas, Ph.D., visiting professor of sports marketing at San Diego State University, says “I realize many will blame the popularity of technology and video games as the reason why kids don’t find sports fun,” Dalakas says. “However, as a researcher of sports fan psychology, a coach of youth sports and a parent, I can attest that a big reason for [the decline] that many parents get extremely intense about youth sports in their desire to see their kids’ teams win.”

This phenomenon, which he refers to as “Basking in Reflected Glory,” has begun to infiltrate youth sports. The extreme parent-exterted pressure on kids to win takes away any joy they might have in merely participating, developing skills or improved performance from game to game.

2. Video Games

Despite Dalakas assertions video games aren’t to blame, Richard Williamson, head coach of boys’ lacrosse and administrator for Ballistic Sports Group, sees things differently.

“In the past year, I had three separate sets of parents tell me their sons didn’t want to play lacrosse because they were too involved with Fortnite,” he said. “I’ve always had kids who played video games, but at least we had them coming out [to play sports]. This was the first time I’ve ever had parents letting their kids opt out of sports to play video games. Other coaches told me the same thing.”

3. Commitment

A parent of two middle school boys, Sara E. Routhier says, “I think one of the big reasons parents aren’t enrolling their kids in sports is the pressure to commit a great deal of time and money. [In addition to the] the cost of registration fees, equipment, and travel, there are the expectations.”

Many parents claim the difficulty of fitting in multiple practices between work, homework and other commitments is too much to handle.

4. Crazy Sports Parents (and Coaches)

They pace the sidelines, they scream at 6-year-olds (their children, your children, and you), they berate referees (often volunteers), they demand that their bewildered and still-inexperienced child hustle, run, pass, score, or perform any number of ESPN highlight-worthy skills and scream commands that are often in total conflict to the coach’s directions.

Dr. Matthew Goldenberg, a Yale psychiatrist, said that some of the same psychological impulses driving fan behavior also drive parental behavior.

Those behaviors can include “Displacement” – when we shift our bad feelings about one area of our lives to something less threatening, “Schadenfreude” – a tendency to take pleasure when others fail, and “Splitting” – avoiding life’s ambiguities by resorting to black-and-white thinking.

“Identification is [also] an obvious answer,” Goldenberg also said. “Their child’s success or failure is a reflection on them.”

Parents may also be burned out, worn down and short-tempered after spending an entire day attending multiple travel team games, according to sports psychology expert Dr. Joe Ross, president of Huntsville, Alabama-based firm Higher Echelon and longtime youth sports coach.

And the stakes may feel higher than ever because parents spend so much more money on their kid’s sports than parents did decades ago, Ross said.

According to the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, research suggests youth sports game anger is typically triggered when parents perceive that referees, coaches, players, or other parents are acting uncaringly, unjustly, or incompetently.

Research shows that bad sideline behavior at youth sports games is counter-productive. When kids are yelled at, they can experience stress-induced physical responses that negatively affect their performance. They are also at risk of developing mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.

Parents should remember that kids are still learning and enjoy the process, regardless of wins or losses, Ross said.

“We’re not at school standing over their shoulder yelling at them during their Algebra test,” Ross said. “We allow that process of learning to go through. It’s the same process in sports.”

At middle school, Lindsay Lane Christian Academy in Athens, Georgia, basketball fans are expected to be calm, quiet, and respectful. Head of School Stephen Murr has helped the school community was a good example, acknowledging that he does have to address inappropriate fan behavior from time to time.

“There’s an emphasis on letting people know what we expect,” Murr said. “All of our athletes sign an agreement and the parents sign a code of conduct. We don’t think it’s a good thing for us to boo, to laugh at people who mess up. We’re there to cheer our kids.”

5.  Safety:  Injury and Burnout Risks

Of course, safety is always going to be a concern, regardless of the sport the child chooses to play. Parents may overlook possible risks associated with non-contact sports, but many can’t do the same when it comes to risks associated with football. According to the results from an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll from last year, nearly 50% of parents — 53% of mothers and 39% of fathers — would discourage their child from playing football due to concussions and other safety hazards.

“These kids are going into the league already banged up, and I think parents and coaches need to know [that] … well, AAU coaches don’t give a f---. AAU coaches couldn’t give a damn about a kid and what his body is going through. 

“It was a few tournaments where my kids - Bronny and Bryce - had five games in one day and that’s just f---ing out of control. That’s just too much…

“So, I’m very conscious for my own son because that’s all I can control, and if my son says he’s sore or he’s tired, he’s not playing.

“Because a lot of these tournaments don’t have the best interest of these kids, man. I see it.

“It’s like one time, they had to play a quarterfinal game, a semifinal game and a championship game starting at 9 a.m., and the championship game was at 12:30 p.m. Three games. I was like, ‘Oh, hell no.’ And my kids were dead tired. My kids were dead tired. This isn’t right. This is an issue.” --LeBron James.

James granted Yahoo Sports an exclusive interview that covered a wide range of safety issues such as:  the state of load management, the demanding AAU culture that often leads to injury and burnout, how he monitors his son’s involvement, and preventable measures to ensure that young athletes aren’t being taken advantage of and physically damaged before beginning their professional careers.

“I think [AAU] has something to do with it, for sure,” James said. “It was a few tournaments where my kids — Bronny and Bryce — had five games in one day and that’s just f- - -ing out of control. That’s just too much. And there was a case study where I read a report. I don’t know who wrote it not too long ago, and it was talking about the causes and [kid’s] bodies already being broken down and they [attributed] it to AAU basketball and how many games that these tournaments are having for the [financial benefit]. So, I’m very conscious for my own son because that’s all I can control, and if my son says he’s sore or he’s tired, he’s not playing.

Obviously, LeBron James isn’t a fan of modern Amateur Athletic Union basketball.

The four-time NBA MVP, who’s gotten the chance to witness current AAU culture as a parent thanks to the participation of his two sons, Bronny and Bryce.

Many kids who participate in AAU basketball specialized early—meaning they began playing only basketball before they hit high school.

Instead of spending time honing a variety of different physical and mental skills playing multiple sports in both organized and unorganized environments, they simply devote all those hours (and perhaps more) to playing just one sport, subjecting their body to the same repetitive actions multiple hours a day over the entire year.

Some of the top high school players in the country play approximately 30 AAU games a year, plus a few play on the USA Basketball U19 national team, and that is all on top of a high school basketball schedule that ranges from 25 to 35 games. That’s around 80 games of organized play a year, not including practices, scrimmages and pickup ball.

Early specialization is speculated to be one cause of the New Orleans Pelican rookie Zion Williamson’s injury-riddled start to his NBA career.

James also believes that poor nutrition isn’t helping matters, either.

“And they don’t eat great, too. The nutrition part. They don’t eat well at 14, 15, 16. They’re taking all that pounding and then they’re not putting the right s**t in their body. It’s tough,” says James. “There’s no Whole Foods in those small cities. Those kids are eating McDonald’s, bro. They’re eating bad, and they’re playing five, six games a day. Come on, man. That’s what it is.”

James grew up participating in several AAU tournaments, he says the system has drastically changed since then. He also believes that playing pick-up games, often against older competition, was a much bigger factor in his success than AAU.

“There are way more tournaments, there are way more showcases now compared to when I played,” James said. “You know how we got better as kids? We played against older kids because we knew if we lost, we had to wait a long-ass time before we got back on the court…That was our motivation. That pushed us. That’s how we got better.”

James did not specialize early himself. His first love was football.  He was an All-State receiver at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School (Akron, Ohio). He continued playing football all the way up until his senior year of high school.

While many parents rush their children into early specialization in hopes of a college scholarship and career in professional sports, LeBron’s childhood was different. He believes his most valuable basketball development came via pick-up games, not organized tournaments or private skill sessions, and he continued to compete in multiple sports well into high school.

While James forbids his own sons from competing in youth football due to safety concerns, he did encourage them to participate in sports such as soccer and baseball. Now that they appear to be specializing, he’s concerned about them being pushed to play too much basketball.

“I think it’s just based on if [parents] know you have a special kid or some special kids, you can’t be putting them in every f***ing tournament just because people want to see them,” said James. “But like I said, these coaches don’t give a damn about these kids. I care about my kids. I don’t put my AAU kids in every tournament. We probably play like five or six tournaments a summer.”

The Era of Load Management Begins

Beginning with San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, who was known to give exhausted players a night off particularly after back-to-back games, other star players taking the night off in the NBA has ignited a contentious discussion in recent years as the trend grew.

Los Angeles Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard became the player most associated with the term “load management” when the Toronto Raptors reduced the amount of games he played in his lone season with the franchise that ultimately led to an NBA championship.

And while load management isn’t an approach many fans are approving readily, the conversation has progressively advanced to questioning what has contributed to this attempt at body preservation.

Former Phoenix Suns head coach Earl Watson, also a 13-year veteran of the NBA as a player, recently tweeted that AAU basketball is the reason players are entering the league with a considerable and alarming amount of wear and tear.

A Guide for Parents

Could the seemingly small things we do or say affect the mental game of our young athletes just as much as the “crazy” adults on the sidelines and their explosive behavior? Are words of encouragement, like, “Just go out there and try your best!” actually doing similar but just less obvious damage?

The book, Beyond the Scoreboard: Learn It Through Youth Sports, Carry It Through Life, co-authored by Celeste Romano, and Dr. Nick Molinaro, licensed psychologist with specialty in performance and sport psychology, provides a way to craft a young athlete’s environment to positively impact their mental game. They discuss factors that contribute to burnout, resentment, and even physical injury.

What a parent says after a big loss can help a child maintain their passion for sport and develop a growth-mindset lifestyle.

The authors say “When 70% of youths leave organized sports by the age of thirteen, losing out on the physical, social, and emotional benefits derived from athletic participation, we have to get serious about our approach to coaching and leading them.”

Romano says that many sports parents minimize and discount the impact of their words and criticisms on their young athlete. Parents may think sometimes that they aren’t listening to us or care what their parents think, but the truth is they hear and see everything we do.

When parents berate their kid’s performance in the name of “mental toughness” or “tough love” kids shrink from it. You can see it on their faces or their body language. Their emotional and physical well-being is bruised. And those bruises effect performance, because on the field their mind is worried about the repercussions after the game, not what they need to do to perform in the game.

Dr. Molinaro believes that “parents are the epicenter of a child’s world from birth. The environment each parent provides will affect, for the good or bad, inherent qualities given to the child by nature.

“If a parent provides feedback with critiques specific to performance skills, encourages them to learn from their failures instead of fear them, and doesn’t tie their love to the child’s performance, the child will, in practice and competition, be solely focused on the skills they need to execute in competition. Ultimately, they will then perform at a higher level.

“How parents communicate with their child, through words or actions, will impact their ability to develop a strong mental game. What is learned in competition, whether or not the player is of exceptional or average potential in the sport, will have significant impact on them. Winning or losing should never be the importance of the process of playing sport. Playing should be enjoyable and executing at one’s highest level should be instilled in competitive situations early on in life.

"For example, if a parent focuses on the importance of winning, they convey to their child that winning is what matters. However, high performing athletes are high performers because they have a passion to perform. Winning is just a by-product. High performing athletes see failure as a growth opportunity, to redefine their skill parameters raising their performance bar, not something to fear or be defeated by. So, if a parent’s sideline conversations revolve around winning or admonishing the player over a loss, they send the message that winning is what matters and, in the end, stifle the child’s ability to grow as a player – they have in fact limited their child’s potential."

"High performers all share one thing in common. They all have a low need for positive reinforcement. Basically, these athletes perform at such a high level because during practice and competition they are solely focused on the skills they need to do. They aren’t worried or preoccupied with anyone’s reaction on the sidelines.”

Self-Confidence vs. Self-Efficacy

Dr. Molinaro states that parents and coaches alike foster the false theory that all a player needs is confidence. Two basic processes influence confidence; both are frequently unreliable indicators of success. The first is “belief.” Many say that what a person believes predicts their behavior. Values are great examples of beliefs. However, beliefs don’t always tell us the truth. The second process influencing confidence are “feelings.” Like belief, feelings also don’t always tell us the truth. You can believe/feel something is true, but that does not necessarily make it so. High confidence does not necessarily correlate to high performance; nor does low confidence correlate to low performance.

Dr. Molinaro asserts that confidence and emotions are overrated in performance.

Coaches and parents often say, “Oh, he just needs a little confidence and he will play better.”

In line with what legendary psychologist Dr. Albert Bandura has said, "what young developing players need isn’t confidence but self-efficacy . . . . The key is what is the truth about an individual’s performance – not what they “believe” or “feel.”

Self-efficacy is based on truth and knowledge without doubt. Self-efficacy is a more scientific approach, one that deals in facts and not feelings. In the model that confidence is essential we see an elemental flaw. Bandura’s findings reduce self-effacy to a simple concept: The key is what is the truth about an individual’s performance – not what they “believe” or “feel.” If the truth is that the individual can execute specific behaviors that is what they should focus upon.

For example, take Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. His performance history has little to do with his so-called self-confidence. He focuses on a truth that he knows because he’s established his truth through hours of practice – he is likely to swim fast, very fast. He knows without a doubt what he is physically capable of doing and he does it even when he is not feeling great about himself. His truth drives the performance.

After The Game

Parents shape the environment that influences their child. They build that environment with each and every interaction. When the child comes off the playing field and a parent is yelling at them and giving harsh critiques, the child will see and hear that Mom or Dad is angry about poor performance and are only happy when the child plays well.

So what do parents need to do:

1. Parents must clearly communicate empathy. They need to not talk in overly harsh, critical tones.

2. They need to keep any and all critiques specific to how a child performs a skill. Focus on strengths, specific demonstrations of skills, first.  Such as: I liked the way you anticipated your opponent coming across the field. Or, I noticed your head lifting on the down swing with your driver.

3. Use every performance as a time to talk about improving by asking:

• How do you feel you did today?
• What did you learn on the field today that you want to improve on or perhaps do again because it worked well?

4. Keep all general comments focused on the idea of the child having fun. Parents need to foster the importance of joy being linked to sports. If the child fails to feel joy, then they won’t have passion and will stop playing a sport.

5. Avoid talking about winning. Change the focus from winning/losing to growing/learning. Winning should never be the focus, growth and learning should be. The player that is growth-minded will push themselves to be higher-performers.

Momentum: Game-Changer or Unicorn?

An old baseball coach in Texas once told me "the two most important things in baseball are Mo and Po............Momentum and Potential."

Jill Ellis, the coach of the United States women’s soccer team, also believes strongly in momentum.  She kept and her players discussed it over and over again late Tuesday night after the team’s 13-0 win over Thailand in the opening competition of the 2019 World Cup.

With the win and the domination of their opponent, Ellis and her team ambitions are to win the World Cup, nothing less.  The team understands the importance of maintain a rhythm and flow that fosters confidence.  They wanted to set the right tone and mood.  

To that end, she was delighted to see her team score goals at will; she wanted as many players as possible to experience success.

“Those feelings are what can help you get through the tournament,” Ellis said.

Putting the Pedal to the Metal

“With the score line tonight, we have to look at the group stage as every goal counts,” star team member Alex Morgan said. “It was important for us to continue to go.”

“As a coach, I don’t find it my job to harness my players and rein them in, because this is what they’ve dreamed about, and this is a world championship,” Ellis said. “When you have a deluge of goals like that, it’s important.”

Goal differential in the group stage at any World Cup — the spread between a team’s goals scored and allowed — is the first tiebreaker for placing in groups ahead of the knockout stage.  Team USA's 13 goals were both a statement of intent and skill but also important in getting through the knockout round.

“For us, the goals matter,” said Carli Lloyd, who scored the last one and celebrated with a quick fist pump. “In this tournament, it’s important. So we just have to keep that throttle down.”

But mindset is as important as goals and statistics.  The winning culture and the atmosphere this team has been fostering values momentum, flow and self-esteem. Ellis sees this as a clear competitive advantage. She strives to spread these feelings throughout the team. 

As she prepared to send bench players into the game once the game was seemingly out of hand, Ellis told them specifically not to take their feet off the gas. She wanted more of her attacking players to “get hot,” she said.

At that point that point in the game, there were still several players appearing on the World Cup stage for the first time, and Ellis, wanted them to get comfortable on the World Cup stage as quickly as possible.

Young Rose Lavelle, scored twice in her first World Cup match.  “It’s really about making sure Rose is doing her thing,” Ellis said. “She is unique. She’s obviously a very skillful player, and you don’t ever want to limit that.”

Ellis afterward called the last goal “massive” for Lloyd, the MVP at the 2015 World Cup, as she continues to adjust to playing a supporting role off the bench.

Another young player, Mallory Pugh, who came in late in the second half, was in tears after scoring her first goal in her first World Cup game.

“You forget these moments are massive moments for players,” Ellis said.

Thanks to her aggressive approach to her substitutions, Ellis had three more players on her bench who felt the adrenalin rush of being involved in a World Cup goal.   Collectively, the entire team may feel that they can score again every time they step on the field.

“A lot of this is about building momentum,” Ellis said. “The reality is, we also believe we’ve got more to do, no doubt. We’re going to stay humble, and we’ll go back to work.”

So, Is Momentum a Thing?

Momentum is the feeling that accumulated success will lead to greater success. We want to be able to count on continued success, if at all possible.

Pressure, stress, competition, change, adversity all are a shock to the our systems. Our brains do not like being shocked. We like stability, we like the status quo. If our systems are shocked, we want to return to equilibrium as quickly as possible. 

When we reestablish the status quo again, we hope to stay there. We seek a return to stability and equilibruim. If we sense stability, we do all we can to stay there.  Our brains try to predict and control, for the purpose of returning to a stable place. We look for signal that our environment has returned to status quo, to some sort of stability.

Though the concept is debatable, some people, including sports psychologists argue that momentum is a thing, a literal game-changer, that has the potential to determine future outcomes, as well.  A way to create calmness and confidence.

Terms like momentum, “winning streak,” or “hot hand” (one that’s made many shots in a row) are thrown around casually to describe an experience sports fans and athletes know intuitively: When we feel like we’re winning, winning seems to come easier, whether that’s in the form of sinking multiple buckets in a row or winning a string of important games or even championships.

“What we often observe in athletes is that there are positive and negative changes in their mental states and behaviors when moving toward or away from the desired outcome,” says University of Groningen sports psychologist Ruud J.R. den Hartigh.  

Many scientists studying momentum have cast doubt on whether those changes in mental states are based on any actual statistical patterns of winning — a valid objection.  But den Hartigh and other sports psychologists argue that it’s the feeling that counts, so much that it really can lead to more wins.

Does Momentum Builds Within and Between Games?

Any sequence of positive results or outcomes we achieve, are easy to interpret as evidence of a positive trajectory toward success, suggesting “building momentum.”

Momentum can also be defined as the movement of a team or athlete toward or away from a desired outcome —that can be making a basket, making multiple baskets in a row, winning one game, or winning a crucial game in a playoff series. That means there is positive and negative momentum, both of which can affect the way teams play within a game and across games in a series.

In his research on rowing teams, den Hartigh found that positive momentum (taking the lead in a race) leads to more unified movement within a team, while teams are less coordinated and put in less effort when they have negative momentum (falling behind in a race). Similarly, his research on psychological momentum across rowing matches, published in 2016, showed that athletes with positive momentum were generally less sensitive to negative momentum in later races.

“So, momentum all has to do with that perception of moving toward or away from the desired outcome, and whether that outcome is still reachable,” says den Hartigh.  That perception, as others have shown, has major impacts on how athletes actually play. It is the mindset that counts.

How Momentum Builds

In his research, University of Maryland kinesiology professor and psychological momentum expert Seppo E. Iso-Ahola, Ph.D. has found that teams with momentum perform better because of the confidence that winning brings. Confidence, Iso-Ahola found, plays a critical role in how athletes operate.

“It would be a mistake to think, after winning a game, that we now have a momentum that will carry us through the next game and ultimately, to the championship."

”High-level athletic performance, he says, “occurs at the intersection of neurology and psychology, with specific motor movements (e.g., 3-point throws in basketball) being executed nonconsciously and automatically without any conscious interference (e.g., doubts).”

An athlete performing at their peak are skills at preventing intrusive thoughts from getting in the way, and that’s where momentum comes in.

Momentum, says Iso-Ahola, “facilitates nonconscious processing and automatic execution of athletic (motor) movements that have been rehearsed over thousands and thousands of hours.”  In other words, the confidence that comes with momentum makes it easier for athletes to do what they are trained to do without having to think about it. In his research on momentum, Iso-Ahola has shown that the most successful people are those who have more frequent occurrences of momentum and can make them last longer. In a basketball game, this is the team that has the most and longest scoring runs; in a series, it’s the team that wins many consecutive games often. He points out, crucially, that “between-momentums build on within-momentums” — a reminder to focus on momentum within a game.

A Mindset Leads to Winning

For a player, team, or fan, the feeling of momentum comes down to the belief that there’s been a certain pattern of success, whether in the form of a shooting streak or accumulated wins in a series. Take Steph Curry’s performance in Game 3 of the 2019 Finals against the Toronto Raptors, scoring 12 of the Warriors’ first 14 points, for example: To fans, it appears that a player like Steph Curry can get the “hot hand."

”But a statistician might disagree. Who’s to say that making six, or ten, or 25 shots in a row makes one “hot”? “People have been looking at the hot hand for more than three decades now and there is no clear agreement about whether it actually exists.”

“People have been looking at the hot hand for more than three decades now and there is no clear agreement about whether it actually exists,” psychological scientist Matthew Welsh, Ph.D., says. Welsh, a senior research fellow at the Adelaide Decision Lab, studies heuristics and biases in decision making, and the “hot hand” is a bias he’s spent a lot of time studying.

The hot hand is “the idea that, at certain point in time, players are ‘hot’,” he says. “That is, that their skill level is, temporarily, raised above its normal level.” Though its existence is widely believed by fans, players, and coaches, the numbers remain inconclusive.

The classic paper on momentum, published in 1985 by psychologists at Stanford and Cornell University, dismissed the idea of a “hot hand” in basketball as “a general misconception of chance.”  Their controlled shooting experiments on Cornell basketball players showed no correlation between the outcomes of successive shots.  People who believe the “hot hand” exists, they argued, don’t actually understand what chance means, and so they think they can find patterns in “even short random sequences.”  The way Welsh puts it, there was “no evidence of anything other than random patterns arising from long term shooting patterns."

”There’s some evidence that it may exist in other sports, but basketball, says Welsh, seems particularly ill-suited for it.  Factors like alternating start times, multiple substitutions, defensive changes, many time-outs, and the fact that “hot” players tend to be double-teamed, he says, might obscure the pattern, if it exists at all.  Nevertheless, the conviction in momentum remains, and that’s because “statistical” momentum isn’t equivalent to “psychological” momentum.  Whether a player is numerically “hot” doesn’t matter as long as they think that they’re hot — a feeling that Welsh credits to humans’ “oversensitive pattern sensing mechanisms.”

Teams Can Take Advantage of Momentum

Though the numbers may not support it, momentum is real, at least psychologically, and teams can use it to their advantage. But as den Hartigh warns, “it is important to keep in mind that the relation between momentum and performance is not always straightforward.”

“In the end, it is momentum that makes the difference in who wins and who loses."

”When teams have positive momentum, they tend to relax a little because “the advantage seems to become comfortable,” he says, and this gives the opponent an opportunity to claw back. Negative momentum, meanwhile, can also fire up a team. But reminding us that momentum is all about movement toward or away from a desired outcome, he points out that performance seems to drop once that outcome seems impossible to reach.

Iso-Ahola likewise warns of the dangers of coasting with advice worthy of Steve Kerr: “No backing off, but instead, pouring in as many points as possible, and giving no mercy to the opponent,” he says. “That is capitalizing on momentum. Each competitive situation is its own performance event for which momentum has to be separately created.”

Excerpts from:

https://www.inverse.com/article/56428-raptors-take-lead-in-nba-finals-maybe-it-s-momentum

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/sports/usa-thailand-world-cup.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_190613?campaign_id=2&instance_id=10070&segment_id=14234&user_id=5b07f13b07a1d067ce0262161ce7c9c1&regi_id=279697130613

Hard Work and Practice: The Foundation of a Buzzer Beater (VIDEO)

“I don’t think anything like that is ever rehearsed. It’s just something that happens from hard work and practice. That’s just not rehearsed. That’s what makes it so great. You don’t think. I think if you think, then that’s how you mess up. You just got to let it fly and not think.”

-- Angel McCoughtry, WNBA Atlanta Dream star.

McCoughtry shot and made a three-pointer with 1.5 seconds left to give the Atlanta Dream a 76-74 win on Tuesday night over the Minnesota Lynx.

It was the Dream's first lead of the second half, and ultimately, their first home win of the season.  The win broke a nine-game losing streak for the Dream against the Lynx, behind McCoughtry’s 18 points and Tiffany Hayes’ 20 points.   

Watch the buzzer-beater below, on Twitter:  

The @minnesotalynx had beaten the @AtlantaDream 9 straight times. Until this: pic.twitter.com/PZvTna7uWl

— espnW (@espnW) May 30, 2018

Excerpts taken from:  www.highposthoops.com/2018/05/30/atlanta-dream-minnesota-lynx-mccoughtry-hayes-williams

Quantum Entanglement: Kawhi, the Spurs, and Beautiful Basketball

Quantum entanglement suggests that Kawhi Leonard should stay put and stick with the Spurs. Wait, what? I thought this was a basketball story. What is this, a physics lesson? 

The phenomenon that is Kawhi Leonard cannot be understood or defined separately from his team, the organization and the culture in which he evolved.

In physics, quantum entanglement is a physical phenomenon which occurs when pairs or groups of particles are generated or interact in ways such that the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently of the state of the other(s), even when the particles are separated by a large distance—instead, a quantum state must be described for the system as a whole (taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

The concept of quantum entanglement describes the relationship between two bodies that interact or entangle with each other. Once they do, it becomes impossible to describe one object without considering the other object; both are connected or bonded together.

Accordingly, if you now separate these objects by various distances – two feet or across the globe, it doesn’t matter – when one object is interacted upon, a correlating action occurs simultaneously with the other object. That's right, I googled "quantum entanglement."

Perhaps no team in professional sports provides more evidence for the existence of quantum entanglement that the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. Their sustained success is remarkable.

Subsequently, Kawhi Leonard's success can only be evaluated through his entanglement with everyone from the Spurs' ownership, the Holts; General Manager R. C. Buford; Head Coach Gregg Popovich and his assistant coaches; Tim Duncan; Manu Ginobili; Tony Parker and all the rest of his teammates.

Kawhi Leonard was selected as the 15th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in his first season. Leonard was a member of the NBA champion Spurs in 2014, and was also named 2014 NBA Finals MVP. He has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year twice, in 2015 and 2016, and is a two-time first team All-NBA team member.

However, Leonard entered the Spurs orbit of success that started years before. They have made the playoffs in 28 of the last 29 seasons (since 1989–90) and have only missed the playoffs four times since entering the NBA; they have not missed the playoffs in the 21 seasons since Tim Duncan arrival in 1997. Despite being a small market team with origins in the American Basketball Association (prior to the merger of the ABA and NBA), the Spurs success had achieved remarkable heights.

Leonard obviously has been an integral part of the Spurs' recent success and continuation of their championship contention to this point.  However, some critics suggest that the Spurs' system has stifled Kawhi's talent and potential.  Others feel that he would have much more successful with another franchise.   Still other have felt that Kawhi is just a product of the Spurs' system and would not have been successful elsewhere.   Kawhi is more than just a product of the Spurs' organization but is still just a thread within a quantum entanglement.

Some people think that the end of the Spurs dynasty is near. Many rumors have circulated not only about the current state of the Spurs organization but specifically about Leonard's eventual exit from the Spurs through a trade or free agency. Social media mavens are convinced that Leonard is done in San Antonio.

Despite rumors of a rift between Leonard and the Spurs' concerning the diagnosis, treatment, and medical management of his prolonged leg injury and recovery, it does not appear that there has been any real improvement in his readiness to play. Why would any other NBA have a greater interest in Kawhi than the Spurs have?

It is difficult to envision Leonard in any other NBA uniform. History suggests that Spurs that leave through free agency or trade do not continue or improve their level of success that they had while with the Spurs. Can you think of an ex-Spur whose fortunes rose after their departure? I can't either. So, why would Kawhi have similar or greater success anywhere else?

Other teams seeking Leonard's services should keep quantum entanglement theory in mind when pursuing him.

The only thing that makes sense is that Leonard remain in the Spurs orbit and continue to thrive in the quantum entanglement that is the San Antonio Spurs.

Stay tuned for more about the Spurs and quantum entanglement in future blogposts.

The Athlete and Various Types of Vision

“Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”  - 

Muhammad Ali

In the context of mental conditioning and sports psychology, I have often discussed and written about and coached athletes about vision.  I want to spend some time identifying the various types of vision that I have found important to peak performance.

1.  Visual Acuity:  Let's be real.  You must start here, of course.  Most, if not all sports, require excellent visual acuity, or clarity of vision.  Physically, athletes must be able to see and also have excellent hand/eye coordination.  This ability allows a baseball player to hit a fastball, the quarterback to "thread the needle" when passing the football, or a ice hockey player to find his teammate for an assisted goal.  Think:  Ted Williams, Henry Aaron, Drew Brees, Wayne Gretzky.

2.  Mental Clarity:  Great athletes also have the gift of vision that refers to the concept of mental clarity.  As with any type of goal, the more specific and clear the goal is, the more likely it is to be worked on and achieved.   The clarity of the goal requires a high degree of specificity, "measurability," attainability, realism, timeliness and relevance.   These characteristics of clarity are often referred to as SMART goals.

3.  Long-Range - Seeing The Big Picture:  This type of vision refers to the ability to conjure up a long-range vision of yourself and your abilities.   It is what you strive for.  If you can't see it in your mind's eye, you won't be able to achieve it.  Some people call this the dream, the ultimate challenge or the end game.   Think Muhammad Ali, of course.

4.  Short-Range:  Desired goals/objectives:  this type of vision seems fairly obvious.  It is the big picture broken down into chunks.  However, I want to emphasize that it is an important part of any preparation that an athlete attempts.   Any time spent in serious preparation must be tied to a set of smaller goals.  This type of vision is associated with either developmental or performance goals.

Developmental goals are those that help determine practice or rehearsal activities.  Performance goals are those that are associated with game or match performance activities.

5.  Peripheral:  this type of vision involves the awareness of your surroundings, teammates, opponents.  It is the opposite of tunnel vision.  This type of vision sees the whole field or court in real time.  It goes beyond self-involvement.   With this type of vision, the athlete is oriented in the moment, he/she is fully present and totally engaged.   Think Leo Messi.

6.  Intelligent (Sport-Specific):  This type of vision requires the full understanding of the game itself, and an awareness of the need to identify, study and mastery various components of the game. With this type of vision, the athlete is able to conceptualize and have a mental model for their role and function as a teammate and the role and function of others.  This is the type of vision that turns data into information, awareness into action.  Think:  Peyton Manning or Tim Duncan.

7.  Anticipatory:   This type of vision provides the ability to predict and see the court, the field, or the ice beyond the present or real time.   It involves the skill of recognition.  This ability is what Wayne Gretzky, the Hall of Fame professional hockey player called Fast Forwarding.  The faster the recognition, the better the performance.

8.  Intuitive:  This type of vision requires a belief in the importance of tapping into consciousness, including the unconscious, preconscious and subconscious.   It involves the ability to be psychologically-minded.  This aspect of performance suggests that we have the ability to access seemingly inaccessible thoughts, skills, competencies, and abilities.  This belief allows great athletes to obtain mentally and emotionally what they need to achieve and be successful especially when they need to be.

9.  Instinctual:  The type of vision allows us the self-knowledge and awareness to access and use what is "pre-wired" into us whether it be genetic, biological, evolutionary, or developmental.  It helps us to access what we have inside of us.  It allows us to use the gifts that we have been given.  It taps into our athletic DNA,  Great athletes can quickly identify patterns that they have seen before.  It is an athletic sense of recognition.  

10.  Neural - Muscle Memory:  This type of vision is critical and complementary to instinct.  We can best utilize, develop and leverage our instinct by building our muscle memory.  By understanding the importance of deliberate practice and rehearsal we can leverage and unlock what is programmed within us.    This ability allows the athlete to recall and execute quickly and immediately perform what is required because it has been deeply encoded and learned fully.   Think:  Steph Curry.

11.  Centering - Quieting the Cognitive Mind:  This type of vision requires the development of mindfulness and the practice of sports-oriented meditation.  Great athletes are able to reduce or eliminate chatter as they perform. Great athletes understand the need for removing cognitive barriers to performance.  Quieting the chatter positions the athlete for success by establishing the requirements of being present and in the moment.  Think Michael Phelps.  

Can you see the importance of each of types of vision?   Can you think of other examples of these types of vision?  Can you think of other athletes that utilize each type of vision?   Let me know what you think about these ideas. I look forward to your comments.

Is There Any Difference Between Fear, Anxiety and Excitement?

Much of what we used to know about fear and anxiety, we can toss in the trash can.

It isn't that we need to rethink fear, it's that we need to re-experience fear. We need to change our relationship to fear. Rethinking fear gets us back in our head about fear. Being in our head about fear is what created the problem in the first place. 

For many people, the sensation that we call fear, anxiety or nerves (sometimes we call it stress), can stop us from proceeding with whatever we were doing at the time. Often, that sensation is experienced as something to avoid or something to stop. It's as if we can only resume what we were doing if that feeling of fear goes away (and stays away). If we resume the activity that produced that sensation and the feel comes back, we stop again. We wait for it to pass.  Sometimes, we try to fight through the fear.  

Rather than fighting, avoiding or stopping fear and anxiety, it is important to become curious (and more comfortable) about fear and anxiety.  We need to become students of fear. We need to understand that uncomfortable feeling.  We need to label that discomfort as a signal of excitement, alertness; a signal to pay attention, to activate.  It is not necessarily a signal to stop or freeze.

Here are some guidelines for experiencing fear in a new way:

1. Fear is not to be eradicated.

2. Fear is a human emotion derived from being alive.

3. Fear is not a sign of weakness or incompetence.

4. Fear is not a hinderance to be fought or defeated.

5. Fear is part of the natural order of things.

Performance Anxiety

In my experience, there are not too many athletes that use the words performance anxiety when discussing the challenges regarding their sport. However, the assessments that I have conducted over the years strongly suggest that athletes commonly experience many of the symptoms typically associated with performance anxiety.

Because ultimately the goal of mental toughness is to experience “no fear,” why would an athlete admit vulnerability and acknowledge performance anxiety?  It is more likely that athletes will allow themselves to talk about building mental toughness, than acknowledge the legitimate existence of fear of any sort.

Let's face it. If you are human and if you are required to perform, you will experience fear, otherwise know as performance anxiety.

Human evolution produced the midbrain including the Amygdala. The midbrain was responsible for our survival by sending fast messages from our senses through neural transmission. These messages effectively alerted us to possible danger. They activated us to perform a flight or fight response. They were simple and primitive, because they had to be. They were not very discerning. The midbrain signals "Danger" or "Run Away Fast" or "Bite" or "Attack," nothing more.

Do you really want to eliminate that important function? Of course, not.  

Most sports do not involve excessive danger.  Even when danger is involved, you need focus not fear.  

Many athletes try to not be anxious; however, this often backfires. Pre-competition  excitement is necessary for peak performance. Re-assessing the internal sensations you feel in a positive way is important – rather than saying or thinking you’re anxious, remind yourself that this excitement prepare your body to perform at its best. 

We humans have another part of our brain, the more complex pre-frontal cortex. That part of our brain does the thinking, complex problem-solving, long-term decision-making. The pre-frontal cortex interprets and evaluates more fully. However, it often interprets the "flight or fight" and it overreacts. Simply put, the cortex fears the fear.  Fearing the fear is the response that we need to regulate and manage. That is the response over which we have some control. That is what mental conditioning focuses upon.

Mental conditioning makes you perform better so that your response to fear is not over-activated. The process of mental conditioning helps you learn to be activated, but aren't over-activated when your cortex evaluates the situation. It slows down your fear responses so that you can perform as planned and rehearsed.  

One approach is to develop self-talk about what you are experiencing with statements like:  

"I enjoy the challenge of competition."
“This feeling means I’m ready and prepared for the task at hand.” 
“I’m excited about being able to play well today,” 
“This is not anxiety, this is excitement, which means I’m going to perform at my best” 

These types of statements help you reframe the fear and increase your focus. It also helps you manage your thoughts, rather than the thoughts managing you.

Other mental conditioning tools like mental imagery, visualization, breathing exercises and mindfulness approaches including relaxation techniques and meditation, are also very effective in activating our nervous system to perform without overreacting.  In other words, they allow us to act without over-reacting.  This conditioning dampens our fear reaction and produces the conditions for activation and excitement. 

Your ability to dampen your fear response and reduce your performance anxiety, is a key component of strengthening your mental core.

I will be talking more about your mental core in future blogposts.    

For more information about strengthening your mental core, self-talk, mindfulness, mental imagery, sports psychology, etc. download Mindfuel, the mental conditioning app:  http://appmc.hn/1aekztQ. 
 

I Hate to Break It to You, but You've Got the Yips

Some call it "a pressure-induced involuntary muscle movement."   Others call it "a loss of control of your shot."  In most circles, it's called the yips.  

As you may be aware or you may have experienced, the yips are the loss of fine motor skills in athletes. The condition seems to occur suddenly and without an apparent trigger, cause or adequate explanation.  It usually appears in mature athletes with years of experience.  It has been poorly understood and we have, to this point, no known treatment or therapy. Though rare, athletes affected by the yips sometimes recover their ability, which may require an overall or partial change in technique. However, many at the highest level of their sport are forced to abandon their livelihood.  Some are still at or near the peak of their careers.

The yips manifest themselves as muscle twitches, jumps, shakes, jitters, flinches, staggers, and jerks. The condition occurs most often in sports which athletes are required to perform a single precise and well-timed action such as in baseball, golf, tennis, bowling, darts, and cricket. 

There are many suggestions that it is a muscular problem or neurological issue.  However, technical solutions that focus on major changes in technique or motion are largely ineffective.

On a less severe but more frequent note, many athletes go through slumps, some that last longer than others.   For example, in basketball, jump shooters and free-throw shooters often go through periods of time where their shooting percentages decrease significantly or their shooting becomes streaky, or both.  In either case, their ability to successfully make their shots has been altered.  Likewise, tennis players can lose their ability to serve in a flash.  Golfers lose their ability to putt, or drive the ball off a tee.    

Whether you are experience the yips, or you are in a slump, it is clear to me that even a minor shooting, serving, putting, or pitching problem, has its source and/or is quickly exacerbated and maintained by an athlete's internal dialogue; their self-talk.

In my last blogpost, I talked about strengthening your mental core.  Your self-talk or internal dialogue is an important part of your mental core.  

If you take a look at slumps in putting and teeing-off in golf, shooting in basketball, or serving in tennis, self-talk or internal dialogue is crucial in understanding the beginning, middle and end of a slump, or more problematically, the development of the yips. 

The most successful athletes are often the best mentally conditioned.  Their self-talk is either positive or non-existent.   As I and many others involved in sports and performance psychology know, self-talk affects performance.  During competition or practice sessions, the ability of an athlete to eliminate harsh or negative self-talk can improve performance dramatically.  

Unfortunately, many athletes do not or cannot quiet their inner dialogue, particularly their inner critic.  Excessive self-talk, whether positive or negative, is like having fans (or one particular fan) in the stadium, the arena, or in the gallery yelling at you at various intervals right before and during your shot or serve.  A fan who wants to disrupt you might yell:  "Miss it!"    A supportive fan might yell:  "You can do this!"   Encountered at the wrong time (i.e., at the moment you are executing your task) either can disrupt. 

Your inner dialogue during competition, might sound like this: 

"I don't think I can make this."  "If I miss this, my coach is gonna bench me."  "This is a lot of pressure."  "It's all on me."  "What if I miss?"  "I should have practiced this shot more."  "Come on, you've got this!"  "Would you just relax?!"  

Now, your self-talk is not necessarily intended or designed to disrupt.  Often, as with a supportive fan, it is usually intended to calm you or focus you on the task at hand.  It might be meant to provide encouragement or motivation.  Unfortunately, like an enthusiastic parent yelling instructions (or encouragement) to you from the stands, the net effect is that it disrupts your concentration and focus.  Over time, it erodes your self-confidence because the message is that you need last-second help, encouragement and instruction.  It's not a good message, really.  More importantly, it interferes with deep muscle learning and disrupts muscle memory.  Self-talk can undermine all the hard work that you have put in.  

With these types of messages, your brain is interrupting your shot, and your muscles are saying, "Wait, what?"   Because of this sudden emergency interruption, your muscles are saying "I must be about to do something wrong, otherwise, why would my brain be talking to me right now?" 

So, while you are busy talking to yourself, your muscles are reacting to your inner message by either trying to adjust, overcontrol, restrict, or over-correct your shot.  In most circumstances, you will ever so slightly slow down, stop or inhibit your motion  (shorting the shot) or over-correct (by shooting long).  Once you begin to overcorrect during the shot, your regular motion is affected.   Sure, you might still make the shot, but the probability has been changed, often dramatically.  

With enough disruptive self-talk occurring on a regular basis in practice and during competition, an athlete's ability to effectively develop and firmly establish smooth fine motor movements is compromised.  Self-talk affects the encoding of muscle memory through a series of micro-disruptions. With a sufficient stream of micro-disruptions, small disruptions of fine motor movements occur, resulting in an inefficient, and often erratic set of fine motor movements.   As your motor movements are affected, so is your comfort with your shot.  Any ongoing discomfort begins to erode your self-confidence.  Eventually, your self-talk produces self-doubt which causes you to not only question yourself but to question the fine motor movements themselves.

That's the way you forget how to shoot, putt, throw, kick, serve.  It's your inner critic thats attacking your muscle memory.  This constant internal criticism can erode what you have spend hours trying to perfect.  It's a type of waterboarding.  Death by a thousand cuts.

The more that I work with athletes and look closely at their self-talk, it appears that self-talk is prevalent enough to cause physiological disruption in fine motor movements.  At first, it affects individual shots, causing enough disruption in the athlete to miss any particular shot.  If the athlete's self-talk is disruptive enough and frequent enough, it causes shooting slumps; and, if an athlete's self-talk is chronic enough will create a more severe disorder, the yips.

My experience is that many, if not all, athletes have, at least, a very mild case of the yips.  With enough practice, most athletes can overcome harsh, negative, and disruptive self-talk.  However, when self-talk is at it's most disruptive, it can affect even the most rehearsed shot.  

In fact, I contend that any missed shot has, at some level, been disrupted by self-talk.  A missed shot becomes a slump through increasingly negative self-talk, followed by increased self-consciousness about subsequent misses.  The yips are simply the extreme consequences of extreme self-consciousness.  At its worst and most frequent, negative self-talk could "metastasize" into the yips. 

So, what can you do about your early stage yips?  

Be aware that your self-talk is disrupting your deep muscle learning and memory.    Don't let the yips get to you.  Want to make your shot consistently, or serve with confidence?  Want to avoid slumps?  Quiet your self-talk.  Shut your inner critic down.  Your muscle memory will thank you for it.     

For more information about strengthening your mental core, self-talk, mindfulness, mental imagery, sports psychology, etc. download Mindfuel, the mental conditioning app:  http://appmc.hn/1aekztQ. 

Strengthening Your Mental Core

The word "core" in the physical fitness and conditioning world has become a buzzword.  Like the physical core, there is also a mental core related to mental conditioning. Physical core training is about increasing power, strength and stabilization.  So, is the training of your mental core.

Many fitness buffs often think only of sit-ups and crunches as the secret to strengthening the core. True fitness experts know that there is much more to the core than an impressive six-pack.  Similarly, many athletes and coaches think that the mental core is simply just about developing mental toughness (the equivalent of a mental core six-pack).  The mental core is much more than mental toughness.

The mental core creates a solid, fundamental, and broad base for your overall mental fitness and, thus, your subsequent ability to perform successfully.

So, what does constitute the mental core? Here are some of my thoughts.   

• Internal Dialogue/Self-Talk -  simply put, these are the things you say to yourself about yourself, your opponent, your teammates, your coach, the fans.  It also includes what you say to your during practice, during your performance in games, during time-outs, after games. Often the things you say to yourself about yourself are harsh, toxic and distract you from your performance.  The real problem with our cognitive mindset is that that it is often stuck in evaluation activities when it should be focused on other tasks (such as gathering information, skill acquisition, rehearsal, and execution, for example).   Increasing your awareness of your internal dialogue/self-talk and its effect on your performance will have a great influence on your performance skills.  Additionally, it is important to realize that silencing your inner critic and internal "chatter" is more useful that simply changing your self-talk from negative to positive. 

• Pre- and Post-Performance Recovery Skills -  here, emphasis is placed on the importance of developing a set of skills and activities that provide you with an opportunity to fully recover mentally from performances and competition that is as crucial as physical recovery.   Evidence is mounting that both mental and physical recovery skills (including sleep) are more important than we ever considered in the past.  

• Resilience - this refers to your skill and ability to quickly and fully bounce back from setbacks, to deal with adversity, learn from mistakes and effectively put your mistakes behind you.  Only recently has resilience been seriously considered as a component of mental toughness.   Resilience includes carefully obtaining, valuing, and incorporating constructive feedback.   

• Systems Thinking - in the case of your mental core, this refers to your awareness and understanding of the matrixed complexity, interrelatedness and connection of multiple factors involved in your performance. It also refers to the idea that in order to affect real behavioral change, a system that provides structure and consistency must be put into place.  Systems thinking in this context implies that mental conditioning and strengthening of your mental core requires you to become a student of mental conditioning, sports and performance psychology (as well as a student of your sport).  

• Anxiety Management - refers to the idea that 1)  anxiety is a part of performance and competition; 2)  mental fitness includes the acknowledgment and management rather than the eradication of anxiety; 2) that excitement and anxiety can be two words for the same thing; and, 3)  the goal of mental conditioning can't and shouldn't be to eliminate anxiety.  

• Emotional Intelligence - emotional intelligence (and related skills) is an important and necessary component of performance enhancement in players, coaches, and teammates. Emotional intelligence involves the understanding of the critical role that emotional information and social interactions play in performance and success. Evidence suggests that emotional intelligence is an important characteristic of effective leadership and team development as well as coaching effectiveness.

• Confidence - this component of your mental core is one of the characteristics that has been long considered critical to success in any endeavor, including sports and the performing arts. In this model of the mental core, confidence is defined as a general sense that one's skills and abilities are capable of achieving one's desired outcomes.  Many people include this component in their idea of mental toughness.  Confidence is particularly dependent upon a health cognitive mindset.  

• Preparation Skills - this factor suggests that 1)  success is related to one's understanding and awareness that personal growth occurs through the methodical process of continuous learning and development of skills, rather than inherent, genetically-informed and pre-ordained talent; and, 2) is highly influenced by your desire and willingness to consistently spend long-hours of monotonous, focused, disciplined, repetitive activity to improve and perfect your skills and abilities.  

• Mindfulness - this important factor of the mental core refers to a broad set of skills that include mental imagery and visualization, relaxation and meditation skills, focusing and centering skills (that are useful in practice, preparation, performance, recovery and evaluation activities of athletes and coaches). Mindfulness approaches can be very helpful to post-performance recovery and injury recovery.  

Note that there has been increasing evidence that body language is important in performance.  Be aware of your body language; however, I have seen increasing evidence that body language is more of a indicator of the strength of your mental core than a factor or component of the mental core.  

Assess these core components of your mental core.  Start by identifying your mental core strengths and limitations in each of these areas.  Focus on and leverage your strengths while also learning more about how to shore up your limitations.  Learn to use these basic skills to build a foundation for mental core training.

Future blog posts will go into more detail about your mental core.  Please let me know if you have any comments or questions about your mental core below.

For more information about mental conditioning and your mental core, download my mobile app.
Mindfuel at: http://appmc.hn/1aekztQ

Also,check out my sports and performance psychology book, Razor Thin:  The Difference Between Winning and Losing.  You can purchase it at www.lulu.com/spotlight/razorthin. 

Super Bowl LI Match-up: The Tale of Two Mindsets

Let's take a look at some factors that may influence the outcome of Super Bowl LI between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons.

The Franchise Systems

• Patriot head coach Bill Belichick's management and leadership secrets have been well documented in books and magazine articles such as James Lavin's Management Secrets of the New England Patriots.  Owner Robert Kraft is a successful businessman who built his fortune with Gillette.  

• Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot and current owner of the Atlanta Falcons has a long history of success as a businessman, and has a set of leadership principles that he follows closely.   

Advantage:  New England Patriots

Super Bowl Experience

• This is Bill Belichick's seventh Super Bowl appearance with Tom Brady as his starting quarterback. They have won four of the six Super Bowls they have participated in.  Brady was voted MVP for Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII and XLIX.

• This is the second appearance in the Super Bowl for the Atlanta Falcons since their were founded in 1966.  It is their first Super Bowl since the 1998 season.  Dan Quinn has been an assistant coach for Seattle Seahawks during their Super Bowl appearances.  He knows what it is like, but he has not been head coach there.  

Advantage:  New England Patriots

Mental Conditioning, Team Training and Team Building

• In the off-season, Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff and director of sports medicine and performance Marty Lauzon had a four day team-building session with seven veteran Navy SEALs of Acumen Performance Group.  

• Falcon head coach Dan Quinn spent several years with the Seattle Seahawks and their head coach Pete Carroll.  The Seahawks embrace the use of mental conditioning and employ various high-profile mental conditioning coaches, including Michael Gervais and George Mumford (Michael Jordan's meditation ) guru.

• Bill Belichick is a master of getting his teams prepared for playoff and Super Bowl games.  He understands the mental aspect of the game as well as anyone.   

Advantage:  Atlanta Falcons

Neuroscience

• For the past 3 years. Tom Brady uses the BrainHQ training program developed by Dr. Henry Mahncke, CEO of Posit Science.  A cognitive enhancement tool and brain training program, Brady had it installed at his TB12 Sports Center.  BrainHQ has 29 brain exercises that are done on a computer screen. One example of an exercise that Brady uses is called “Double Decision.”

• Matt Ryan, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback uses a device called NeuroTracker that he says has helped him sharpen his cognitive skills, providing an edge when he targets receivers or chooses plays. The focus has helped fuel an MVP-caliber season.  Ryan uses the 3D glasses at least three times a week to improve peripheral vision.

Advantage:  None

Motivation/Complacency

• The New England Patriots won the last Super Bowl in which they participated two years ago.

• The Atlanta Falcons have never won the Super Bowl.  This year they have embraced "The Brotherhood" as their rallying cry.  

Advantage:  Atlanta Falcons

Distractions

• New England has been distracted by the focus the media and the public has placed on Tom Brady's alleged support of Donald Trump; the injury to star tight-end Rob Gronkowski, and the long-standing Deflategate controversy.

• The Atlanta Falcons are slight underdogs in Las Vegas.  This may take any pressure off of them.  

Advantage:  Atlanta Falcons

Overall Advantage:  Atlanta Falcons

What is your prediction?  

Donald Trump & the USFL: Past Behavior is the Best Predictor of Future Behavior (VIDEO)

I ran into some guy last night at a restaurant.  Admittedly a Trump voter, the stranger reluctantly expressed concern and growing regret about his vote.  His sentiments may be evidence of a growing feeling of fear in Trump voters around the country.  This is after only one week of Trump's controversial presidency.    

But if you still have any illusions (or delusions) about Donald Trump's huge talents as a successful businessman, all you have to do is look carefully at his prominent role as an owner of the New Jersey Generals of the USFL.  Founded in the early 1980s, the USFL, a professional football league, was new and it was experiencing growing pains.    

At that time, a young Trump was certainly a brash, confident promoter and salesman.  Here he is in an interview during a New Jersey Generals game.  Also, forebodingly, listen to the owner of the Birmingham Stallions throw the media under the bus for their coverage of the league.

So, let's fast forward to the story about the demise of the USFL.  Here is a video clip highlighting Mr. Trump abilities as a leader of a league that backed his strategy and, then quickly, failed miserably. No success to be found here.

Now, let's look at a interview with Mr. Trump as he shows his impatience, arrogance, and short attention span, paranoia, lack of a sense of humor and inability to learn from his mistakes as he sits for a moment with the media to reflect on his USFL experience.  Pay careful attention to his attitude toward the media.

The behavioral and social sciences, including psychology, and criminology, and law enforcement all consider past behavior as the best predictor of future behavior.   Ironically, the hotel, casino and gaming industries all believe strongly in this theory.  

So, if we look at his past behavior through the lens of these videos, what is your best guess about about the ultimate outcome of his presidency?  

No, I don't want him to fail either, but we all have to prepare for it.  

  

Stan Wawrinka's Mental Toughness Powers Him to the U. S. Open Final (Video)

"Really tough for the body, a big fight physically and mentally. You need to accept to suffer and almost enjoy it, because you have no choice. I saw after the first set he would start to be tired if I pushed him physically. I know I can last for three, four, five hours. Same as against Del Potro. I need to stay with him, not go down, show him you will push him, push him again. Sometimes my brain gets lost on the tennis court. When I stay tough I can beat anybody. I know I can bring my best in a Grand Slam. Maybe because i didn't play so well in last few months." 

--Stan Wawrinka, tennis pro, speaking on ESPN following his win in the semifinals of the U.S. Open on 9/9/2016.

Stan Wawrinka sounds highly motivated as he heads into a showdown in the finals against Novak Djokovic on Sunday in New York. Can he will himself to victory? It seems that his head's on straight right now. Will it be enough for the upset?

How do you call up your mental toughness? Are you willing to suffer mentally and physically to achieve greatness?