Vote for the Worst Toy of the Year
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, an organization whose mission is to support parents’ efforts to raise healthy families by limiting commercial access to children and ending the exploitive practice of child-targeted marketing, is having a Vote for the Worst Toy of the Year contest. There are five worthy (or should I say unworthy) candidates: […]
Read More3 Goals for Playing Your Best on Game Day
Defining success in sports is a difficult task. When I ask most athletes and coaches how they define success, it is usually in terms of results, whether wins, rankings, or times. Though, admittedly, results are the ultimate determinant of success, I have found that a preoccupation with them can both interfere with achieving those results […]
Read MoreStay Motivated to Exercise During the Holiday Season
I recently had an old article I wrote (but don’t think I ever posted on my blog) published on a running website. Given the time of the year, I thought it was timely and might be of interest to many of my followers.
Read MoreTaylor Interviewed for Article on the Power of Mental Imagery
I was recently interviewed for an article that explores the benefits of mental imagery for sports performance and injury rehabilitation. Some interesting research shows how imagery isn’t just a mental experience, but can actually help muscles stay active following an injury.
Read MoreThink You Can Get a College Athletic Scholarship? Think Again
If you or your child dreams of a college athletic scholarship, you better think again. According to this article, the chances are exceedingly slim (see the chart with all of the collegiate sports). For the vast majority of young athletes, an athletic scholarship is a pipe dream. Now consider how many thousands of dollars parents […]
Read More3 Goals for Skiing Your Best on Race Day
Defining success in ski racing is a difficult task. When I ask most racers and coaches how they define success, it is usually in terms of results, whether place, points, rankings, or qualifying quotas. Though, admittedly, results are the ultimate determinant of success, I have found that a preoccupation with them can both interfere with achieving those results and can produce feelings of disappointment and frustration (or worse). One problem is that focusing on results can actually prevent you from getting the results you want for two reasons. First, if you’re focusing on results before a race, you’re not focusing on what you need to do to get those results. Second, focusing on results, specifically, the possibility of bad results, is what causes you to get nervous before races which will only hurt your skiing. Another problem with ski racing is that your efforts don’t always lead directly to the results you want because you can’t control everything in a race. In other words, “S&%# Happens” in ski racing that can derail your best efforts. To help demonstrate this point, let’s compare success and failure in our sport to success and failure in school. Let’s say you have an exam coming up. If you study hard and are well prepared, assuming the test is fair, the chances of your doing well are very high, say, over 95%. Why? Because there are few external variables that can prevent you from doing well.
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