I'm just a few days away from competition again, and I must admit I'm getting excited! At this weekend's National Qualifier in Colorado I only have 2 other people in my bracket, so essentially all I would have to do is weigh in and I will have qualified without competing. I have had a couple [...]
As a competing athlete, you've been taught the rules of your sport, strategies on how to win, and how to get fit and strong. So I would ask you, how much do you practice your mental skills? We find the most common answer is: "I don't." As a result, many athletes begin to break down [...]
This week was a relaxing week since I just fought. The interesting thing is I usually take the week after a tournament completely off. However, I found myself staying in the training pattern of visualizing every day. I was already focusing on the next goal of U-24 National Team Trials in early April. Then I [...]
You wouldn't expect to peak as an athlete if you didn't master the technical elements of your sport. You wouldn't expect to reach your potential if you only gave a half-hearted effort to maximizing your fitness and movement. The same applies with your mental skills development. It may be true that some sports champions are [...]
I think sometimes when you hear the story of an athlete that struggled and eventually succeeded it sometimes seems out of reach so I hope that others can gain perspective from my story. Anyway, update for this week. We have had the week off of games for a November break and have the weekend off [...]
Sometimes I hate it when I have to take my own advice. If you have been following these, then you will know that this past Saturday I was competing at the US Open, in Las Vegas. You will also know that my last blog was about controlling things that I can, and forgetting the rest. [...]
Dr. Robert Weinberg, who is one of the most renowned Sports Psychology researchers in the country and author of the #1 college textbook in the industry, "Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology," describes mental training simply as “a systematic and consistent practice of mental skills.” And I want to emphasize “systematic and consistent” because, unfortunately, [...]
The weekend games here went ok. We lost 3-0 on friday and I played well at times. Sunday I played Defense because we had some guys out of the lineup and I played well. We won 1-0 against a team that is really good and actually won the league last season. I have now played [...]
Well, I can't believe it has already been a week. The past 7 days have flown by, as they usually do leading up to a big tournament. The 2010 US Open in Vegas is exactly 13 days away, and the pressure is on. I have some good competition in my bracket and I'm looking for [...]
I have been thinking about what Dr. Neff (my mental trainer, I usually call him Doc) said as I move away from an intense caring attitude and into a more relaxed, more fun, more energetic way of being. I watch my confidence grow and my performances in practice get better and better. It is really [...]