Build a Positive and High-performing Sports Team Culture
Some sports are ready made for a discussion about the influence of team culture on individual and team performance. Team sports, such as basketball, football, and soccer, require that time and energy be devoted to building a culture that will lead to success. Without this discussion, the chances of a team being successful are small.
Individual sports, however, often don’t give much attention to team culture despite the fact that most individual sports are built around a team structure, for example, track and field, ski racing, and tennis. The fact is that, for individual sports, the influence that individual athletes can have on a team, whether healthy or toxic, is just as important as in true team sports.
Nor do we often think about how an individual sports team can have a significant effect on the performances of its individual members. Yet, have you ever been on a “downer” team? I’m talking about one that is permeated with negativity, unhealthy competition, and conflict. It sure doesn’t feel good and it can definitely interfere with your performing your best. Whether you are an athlete on a team or one of its coaches, you can have a big impact on how your team gets along, functions, and performs.
Read MoreThreat vs. Challenge in Sports
I have found that a simple distinction appears to lie at the heart of whether athletes are able to rise to the occasion and perform their best when it really counts or crumble under the weight of expectations and tough conditions on the day of a competition: Do they view the competition as a threat or a challenge.
What happens when you are threatened by something (think mountain lion). First, what direction do you want to go? Of course, you want to run away from the threat as fast as you can. Physiologically, your muscles tighten up, you hold your breath, your balance goes back, and your center of gravity rises. Psychologically, your motivation is to flee from the threat. Your confidence plummets because you don’t feel capable of confronting the situation (that’s one reason it’s a threat to you). You are focused only on protecting yourself from the threat. And, naturally, you feel fear, helplessness, and despair (because the mountain lion will eat you!). In sum, everything both physically and mentally goes against you, making it virtually impossible for you to overcome the threat and success in your sport.
Where does threat come from?
Read MoreThe Ultramarathoner’s Ultramarathoner
Here is a NY Times article about a 25-year-0ld French ultramarathoner who is performing remarkable feats of endurance. Definitely worth a read.
Read MoreDon’t Have Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda in Your Sport
Over the last few decades, I have worked with many athletes, from juniors to weekend warriors to pros and Olympians. One thing I have noticed is that the most powerful work I do with them isn’t your typical mental training where I teach them about positive thinking, mental imagery, routines, and how to stay intense and focused (though I certainly do that).
Instead, the most valuable work I do seems to involve the attitude that athletes have toward their sport. No matter how good your mental skills are, if you don’t have the right attitude, you aren’t going to perform your best.
This article is going to focus on several key ways you should think about your sports participation to not only perform your best, but, perhaps more importantly, to enjoy the competition and gain the most benefits from your athletic experiences.
I see athletes express many different emotions after competitions. After a good performance, I see joy, excitement, pride, and inspiration. But, after less successful competitions, I see frustration, anger, and sadness. Yet, the one emotion that I consider to be perhaps the worst of all emotions for athletes to experience is regret.
Read MoreSports: Why I Run video
Several years ago, I participated in a video titled “Why I Run” about, not surprisingly, why people run. i just discovered it and thought I would share it. The video offers some wonderful perspectives on what gets people out on the road, track, and trail.
Read MoreSport Imagery: Your Most Powerful Mental Tool
If you do anything to work on the mental side of your sport, it better be mental imagery. Why, you ask. Because there is no more powerful mental tool than mental imagery and it can have a huge impact on your sports performance.
I say this with such conviction because it had that effect on me when I was a young athlete at Burke Mtn. Academy, a private boarding school in Vermont devoted to developing world-class ski racers (it was also the first full-time sports academy in the U.S.) One summer I took a course at a local college that introduced me to the power of mental imagery. I applied it to my sport as part of my final project for the class and then continued to use it throughout the following fall and into the competitive race season. The results were nothing less than spectacular. From doubt came confidence. From distraction came focus. From anxiety came intensity. From timidness came aggressiveness. From inconsistency came consistency. And, most importantly, from decent results came outstanding results.
When I studied mental imagery in graduate school, I learned why it is so powerful. Imagery is used by virtually all great athletes and research has shown that, when combined with actual practice, improves performance more than practice alone. Imagery also isn’t just a mental experience that occurs in your head, but rather impacts you in every way: psychologically, emotionally, physically, technically, and tactically. Think of mental imagery as weight lifting for the mind.
In my more than 25 years of work with professional, Olympic, collegiate, and junior-elite athletes, mental imagery is the tool that I emphasize the most with them and the one that I have seen have the greatest impact on their performances. Here’s the bottom line. If you aren’t engaged in a consistent mental imagery program, you’re not doing everything you can to achieve your athletic goals.
Read MoreSports: Young Athletes Forced to Choose Between Club and High School
I see this dilemma constantly in youth sports. Young athletes who aspire to be the best by playing on a club team, but also want to enjoy the competition of high school sports, must often choose one or the other. Is it fair? Is it necessary? Here’s a great article that describes the conundrum that […]
Read MoreSports/Business: Is Goal Setting Over-rated?
I’ve have found it to be so. Here’s an interesting take on goal setting:
Read MoreDeveloping Competitive Routines
Many sports, including baseball, football, tennis golf, track and field, and many others, are comprised of a series of many short performances with breaks of various lengths in between. For these sports, whether between at-bats in baseball, downs in football, or points in tennis, being well-prepared for the first performance is not enough. Competitive routines can be invaluable in ensuring that you are prepared for every performances within a competition. One thing that I found that separates the great athletes from the good ones is their ability to be consistently ready for every performance. By being totally prepared for every performance, you can be sure that you won’t give your opponents “free points” because you weren’t ready.
The time between performances is essential to consistent competitive performance. What you think, feel, and do between performances often dictates how you perform. You must take control of the time between performances to be sure that you’re totally prepared.
I use a four-step competitive routine called the Four R’s. The first R is rest. Immediately after the conclusion of the previous performance, take several slow, deep breaths and let your muscles relax. This is especially important after a long or demanding performance in which you become fatigued and out of breath. It’s also important near the end of a long competition in which you’re tired and need to recover as much as possible to be ready for the next performance. Deep breathing and relaxing also help you center yourself and better prepare you for the next R.
Read MoreBusiness/Sports/Personal Growth: A Little Self-deception Can Go a Long Way
Research has shown that deceiving yourself, what is called “positive illusion” in psych-speak, can actually increase confidence, influence over others, and performance. Of course, self-deception that is too disconnected from reality will not work so well. But telling yourself that you are just a bit better than you actually are can go a long way. […]
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