The Deadly Sins of Mental Preparation Part 3

The third Deadly Sin that we will look at I think all athletes, including myself, have been guilty of without even knowing it.

Deadly Sin #3
Getting caught up on the whole atmosphere of the game and the experience

I can remember when I was playing little league our coach throughout the season had put emphasis on us never being scored on during a game. We were going into the playoff game against a cross town rival. We were so caught up in the hype of playing against another undefeated team on a college football field that we weren't focused and prepared mentally. Ultimately it cost us the game preventing us from going to the championship bowl game that year.

The atmosphere of playing in the big game such as a state championship, a big tournaments, national golf and tennis tournaments, for example, distracts athletes during the pregame routine. Do you feel additional pressure to perform well in the big game when the hype leading up to the big game causes you stress?

Why do you think the Super Bowl, or the NBA Finals, or the World Series have all that hype built up towards the actual game? The media can jump on all the stories and expose every nugget of information about the players and coaches. If you allow the pregame atmosphere to distract you from your real mission, you will not be completely prepared to compete.

Sometimes it doesn't have to be the big game that gets us caught up, we can get caught up in the moment of playing the game and forget the ultimate goal of the team. Take a look at the NBA playoffs recently with the Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics. Both teams could not afford to get caught up in the hard fouls to cost them their chance of advancing the next round even though during the series at times that was the turning factor to the outcome of the game. Another example can be seen when a team comes in and tries to play the pace of their opponent forgetting their game plan and instead of playing their style of play.

Finally, athletes and teams must be mindful to not put additional pressures or define certain games as too important. I tell athletes constantly when consulting to define and treat all the games with importance therefore the athlete will not end up with unwanted/additional stress that can cause them to move further away from their goal which is optimal performance.

The Deadly Sins of Mental Preparation Part 2

We continue our blog post on the deadly sins of mental preparation by continuing with Deadly Sin #2.

DEADLY SIN #2
NOT HAVING A PLAN IN PLACE FOR YOUR SELF CONFIDENCE

An athlete's level of self-confidence is often a determining factor of whether or not he or she has a peak performance. However, an athlete's positive self-confidence doesn't just happen, it has to be developed over many years. It is often the result of a positive learning environment and positive self-talk. A positive learning environment is important in the development of self-confidence because people learn by watching. Being negative is bound to bring on negative self-talk, low self-confidence and a poor attitude.

Self confidence is paramount in sports. If you have a high level of belief in your ability you will not become over anxious. Many athletes who lack self confidence in their ability leave their confidence to chance. If you can only feel confident when you make a couple of good plays at the start of the game, your confidence is prone to waver.

Are you unsure how you will perform prior to competition? I teach students how to be proactive with their pregame confidence. You don’t want your confidence to be thrashed around by immediate results at the start of the game. What happens if you start the competition with mistakes or errors? You want to have a proactive approach to confidence- not a reactive approach.

Finally, here are some tips to maintain positive thoughts and confidence: To play as well as one can, a player MUST focus his or her mind on the shot being played, in the here and now, and forget about past mistakes. Almost all athletes would be better if they forgot about the score, and just played their game. If athletes focus on performance, they cannot perform as well.

Building confidence can do wonders for athletes. With practice and positive reinforcement, athletes can achieve their peak performance. Remember that the confident athlete is the successful athlete.

The Deadly Sins of Mental Preparation

In continuation from the last post about overcoming butterflies in order for you as an athlete to be at your optimal for performance, today, we are going to look at some of the mistakes that most athletes make with regards to them prepare mentally for their competition.

DEADLY SIN #1
Pigeon holding themselves to a particular outcome or expectations on your performance

Contrary to what coaches teach their athletes, having high expectations, maintaining high, strict expectations can hamper the athlete’s performance. One tennis player that I worked with had high expectations of wanting to always finish first or place high in their tournaments that they were in. Their sole concentration was on their outcome. I teach my students the hazards of strict expectations and how to identify strict expectations. Your objective is to replace expectations or the outcome with manageable objectives of small tasks that you want to accomplish.

Why do expectations limit your performance? First, you set yourself up for a success/failure proposition. You either achieve your expectations or fail to achieve them. Second, if you don’t achieve your predetermined expectations, you tend to question your ability that day-either during or after performance. Essentially, expectations set you up for failure before you even get started.
In addition, expectations are usually about results such as obtaining a specific score or achieving a personal statistics such as achieving a perfect floor score in gymnastics. Athletes usually judge their performance based off of these expectations. In most cases, high expectations also is associated with pressure to achieve whatever expectation that has been set, which in turn cause a decrease in your optimal level for performance.

We will continue with our topic on the mistakes that athletes are making with regards to mentally preparing for their competition. Until then know that mental toughness is a learned skill that needs to be practiced daily and in every opportunity that presents itself.