Archive for November, 2009

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How Routines Can Help Your Athlete Gain Control and Confidence

November 27, 2009

As a parent of a young athlete, you most likely search for the best ways to help your child gain confidence and control so that they can improve in their sport and have fun.

Athletes, coaches, and sport psychologists talk about the importance of routines in both training and competition. Like any routine, preparation routines for sport performance work to create a sense of familiarity for your athlete. Familiarity leads to a sense of control and control will positively influence your athlete’s confidence.

There are two types of routines you should help your children create: routines before practice and training, and routines after practice and training.

Pre-competition/training routine. Begin observing your child’s behaviors before competition. He/she is most likely has a good understanding of what helps get them into “competition mode”. Make a list of the foods they choose to eat, music they choose to listen to, hours of sleep they get, and any other behaviors they engage in before their competition.

Next, help your child incorporate the same pre-competition routine in training.  Keeping similar routines will help bridge the gap between competition and training. Consequently, your athlete will begin to feel in control and gain confidence.

Post-competition/training routine. Routines after a performance are more difficult to develop because of the numerous outcomes (i.e. wins, losses, poor performance, and great performances). That said, the best way to maintain control and confidence for the next competition is to use the following two questions in your post-routine, regardless of the performance outcome:

(1) Did I exert every ounce of effort I had to give today?
(2) What can I do to be better tomorrow?

Bringing the focus back onto your child’s efforts and improvements is the best way to help them believe they are in control of their behavior and that when they put forth all the energy they have to give, they should be proud of themselves.

Call to Action:
Slowly begin to introduce pre- and post-routines in training and competition.  Begin by observing your child before competition to see what things he/she likes to do. Then, incorporate the same behaviors before training. After the event (i.e. practice or competition) ask your athlete the two post-routine questions.

Believe and Achieve,
Dr. Haley

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Posted in Sport Parent | Leave a Comment »

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Throw Out The Bad Labels

November 22, 2009

For one reason or another, many of us have developed the tendency to label ourselves as either good or bad. Each one of your athletes believes him or herself to be a good athlete, who can improve with effort, or a bad athlete, who has no chance at success.

Can you place your athletes in these two categories? If so, read on to learn how you can influence a positive change in your athletes’ perceptions, eliminate the bad labels, and increase their level of confidence and determination to succeed.

The process is called Countering and involves the following four steps:

(1) Become aware (what do you believe?)
(2) Justification for your belief (provide evidence to support your belief)
(3) Counter your belief (provide evidence to disconfirm your belief)
(4) Create a new belief

For example, if Jersey makes a comment to you about her inability to perform (e.g. “I suck”ˆ). Instead of saying “No you don’t Jersey. Keep at it and it will come around”, take Jersey aside immediately for a few minutes to counter her belief.

Ask Jersey to list all of the reasons for why she thinks she “sucks”. Ask her to exhaust the list with specific and detailed reasons as to why she is a bad athlete.

While Jersey creates this list, pay careful attention to the details and the facts she provides to justify her belief. If Jersey made one unforced error during her last competition, she may say that she caused her team to lose. As Jersey’s coach, who just observed Jersey exaggerate the significance of her error, you must help her understand the reality of the situation. You could say, “Jersey, the team lost by 10 points, if you’re unforced error was responsible for giving the opposing team 2 points, how were you responsible for the team losing the entire game?”

Next, ask Jersey to make a list of her positive attributes that contribute to her athleticism. Remind Jersey of her successful performances, improvements in her technique, and the positive behaviors she has displayed in practice and competition (e.g. sportspersonship, determination, strong work ethic, etc.).  For best results, ask Jersey to write down all the reasons she has for being a good athlete.

The last step involves a comparison of lists. Through this comparison, Jersey will understand that, although there will always be frustrating practices and competitions in sports, she has a list full of facts that support her athleticism and when she chooses to focus on that list, she can continue to improve and increase her opportunity for positive results.

Call to Action:
Challenge yourself to identify your athletes who label themselves as bad athletes. Pull them aside to help them counter their beliefs and create new beliefs that are facilitating to their performance.

Believe and Achieve,
Dr. Haley

P.S. Leave a comment to tell me what you think or if you have any questions.
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Posted in Coach | 2 Comments »

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Follow Through EVERY TIME!

November 14, 2009

RyanWhat happens when an athlete, in any sport, stops before the finish line?

The shortest amount of time lost could cost you the ultimate reward. Have you ever stopped short of the finish line? Have you ever made an error at the end of your competition that could have been prevented if you had maintained your focus?

Unforced errors, at the end of a competition, rarely happen by accident. They are usually caused by a lack of concentration. Athletes lose their focus toward the end of competition for one of the following three reasons:

  1. They shift their focus from the process of the competition to the results of the competition.
  2. They prematurely celebrate the fact that they have completed the competition.
  3. They begin to analyze their performance before they are finished.

For whatever reason, athletes who lose their focus before the competition is complete experience subpar performances.  Furthermore, athletes who lose their focus have usually trained their minds to do so.

The purpose of practice sessions is to train your mind and body to perform the way you want to perform in competition. Thus, it makes sense that, if you allow yourself to lose focus in practice, you set yourself up to lose focus during competition.

The same principle applies to athletes’ physical conditioning. Athletes who train their minds and body to stop focusing during the last repetition or the last minute or two of an aerobic session, train themselves to lose focus before the competition ends.

Call to Action

Challenge yourself and take advantage of your practice and conditioning sessions. Make sure you concentrate from the start to the end of each practice session. Complete the last repetition and last minute of your conditioning with as much effort as you started.  As you train your mind to follow through every time out of competition, you’ll train your mind to follow through every time in competition.

Believe and Achieve,
*Haley Perlus, Ph.D.*

P.S. Leave a comment to tell me what you think or if you have any questions.
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Posted in Athlete | 5 Comments »

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Do You Listen As Well As You Speak?

November 6, 2009

PT listeningWhen we think about improving our communication skills, we often focus on speaking and not listening. When training clients, however, listening is just as important as speaking because it will help you to better understand your clients’ wants and needs so that you can design a fitness program specifically for them.

Just as any other mental skill, your listening skills can be improved by practicing the following three behaviors: (1) paraphrasing, (2) asking questions, and (3) providing feedback.

1. Paraphrasing involves repeating what your clients have just said using different words. For examples, if your client says, “I have been having trouble with my hamstrings lately. They have been really tight the last two weeks”. You can say, “Let me see if I have got this right. You have noticed you have stiff hamstrings during the last two weeks we have been training”.

Paraphrasing keeps you involved in the conversation. It will also reduce your chances of misunderstanding your clients because you are giving them the opportunity to confirm or disconfirm your interpretation. Lastly, it will help you to remember what your client has said because you have now spoken the same message.

2. Asking questions opens the door for communication. Take advantage of every time someone has the courage to come up and say something about your training. At first, they are most likely testing the waters to see if you are interested in what they have to say. By asking them questions you are essentially telling them you are interested. Suddenly you stand out amongst your fellow trainers.

3. Providing constructive feedback is not only the best way to support your clients, it also forces you to listen to what they have to say. In order to provide effective constructive feedback to a client who has been having trouble with his/her hamstrings, you must truly understand what he/she is saying.

Call to Action

Listening has become a passive activity. I challenge you to begin activity listening to your participants by participating in one or more of paraphrasing, asking questions, or providing constructive feedback to your clients. Select a  method in advance and set a goal to implement it each time a client sends you a message.

Believe and Achieve,
*Haley Perlus, Ph.D.*

P.S. Leave a comment to tell me what you think or if you have any questions.
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Posted in Fitness Professional | 4 Comments »