The race season is almost over. For every racer, it is a time of reckoning in which you look back and evaluate what kind of season you had: one to be proud of or one to reflect back on with disappointment and perhaps regret. One of the primary criteria that racers use to judge their [...]
Whenever I talk to racers, I ask them what aspect of our sport seems to have the greatest impact on how they ski. Almost unanimously they say the mental part. I then ask how much time they devote to their mental preparation and their answer is almost always little or no time. Despite its obvious [...]
A fundamental question I have been exploring in the many years that I have been working with ski racers is: What does it take to ski your fastest consistently? Of course, you have to be physically fit, technically and tactically sound, and have well-prepared equipment. And most racers and coaches would agree that an important piece of [...]
I just read an eye-opening article titled How to Raise a Creative Child. The ideas and research discussed in the article challenge the conventional wisdom on how to raise children who will be creative and successful. The article argues that the 'drill and kill' and early specialization approaches to child development are counterproductive to innovative and [...]
Mitchell Gunn by permission In the last article in my series on the gifts that Mikaela Shiffrin gave to ski racers for the holidays, I described how I have seen her evolve from consistent and rock-solid racer (and, of course, incredibly fast) into a risk taker on skis (who is now freakishly fast) [...]
Mitchell Gunn with permission Ski racing just doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t always go the way we want it to. Our sport can be so frustrating. To the point where it’s easy to wonder why we devote so much time and energy to it. Let’s look at why ski racing doesn’t make sense. [...]
To close out my 2015 Prime Sport Alert! e-newsletters, I'm giving you a bonus of an in-depth four-part series on fear of failure among athletes. I recommend that you read them starting with Part 1 and progressing through to this final Part 4. As I noted at the end of Part III, a recent email from a reader asked the obvious question, “I now understand why my child keeps getting in his own way in his racing. He has a fear of failure! So, what can I do about it?” This question led to extending my Fear of Failure series and discussing ways in which athletes can let go of their fear of failure. Let me preface my thoughts by saying that there are entire books devoted to fear of failure and how to overcome it. Also, in severe cases, months of psychotherapy are required. My point is that, as with most things in life, there are no magic pills or quick fixes. At the same time, if you (as an athlete) or one of your children (as a parent) has a fear of failure, there are some things you and they can do to relieve the burden of fear of failure and begin to pursue success rather than avoid failure.
Mitchell Gunn with permission In the Part I in my series, Fear of Failure, I introduced you to the epidemic presence of fear of failure in sports these days. The article describes what fear of failure is and its causes. I also describe three ways that athletes attempt to avoid failure: they quit [...]
New York magazine just published a really unsettling article on perfectionism, expanding on my own notions on the topic. Let me state this clearly: Perfectionism is REALLY BAD! It may appear to lead to great success, but, to the contrary, it often results in a lack of true success and, more importantly, it will make [...]
In my last post, Fear of Failure: Part I, I discussed the sad epidemic of fear of failure that I found to be rampant in America and that I see frequently in the young athletes with whom I work. I have discovered a new wrinkle to the fear-of-failure phenomenon that brings greater clarity to the problems [...]