Sports Psychology - USA Gymnastics | USA Gymnastics Services/webinars/jan15.pdf · Writing negative...
Transcript of Sports Psychology - USA Gymnastics | USA Gymnastics Services/webinars/jan15.pdf · Writing negative...
Sports Psychology With
ALISON ARNOLD PH.D. www.headgames.ws
"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do. " ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Simple Fear vs. Complex Fear
Past Fall
Past Injury
Observed Fall
First Time
Understandable
Floating
Mastered skill
Recurring
Positional (i.e.
backwards)
Not logical
This is for your
Hardcore,
Pull your
Hair out,
I’m gonna
Kill ‘em,
Lil’Angels.
The pathways along which information travels through the neurons (nerve cells) of the brain can be compared with the paths through a forest. As people keep taking the same route through a forest, they wear out a path
in it. And the more people who take this path, the more deeply it is worn and the easier it becomes to
follow. The same goes for our memories: the more we review them in our mind, the more deeply they are
etched in our neural pathways.
CREATING THE VISION and DESIRE
How do you feel? What do you think? How do you Act? Heart Statement
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. " ~ Ambrose Redmoon
EMOTIONAL PUSH UPS: CREATING THE IDEAL MENTAL STATE
Teaching your athletes to breathe and create the state they need. 3 words, which are symbols for feelings. 10 times a day. In the gym. Out of the
gym. Random times.
DESIRE STORY How will your gym be
different when you do this? Why do you want it? HEART Statement
MC-it. Create mental choreography to keep the mind busy and tight.
• Rhythmic-1 Syllable • Corrections • Counting • Singing
Mental choreography should be done with confidence, consistency, and command.
The body always follows the mind. Speak to yourself with confidence, consistency,
and command.
Confidence Ladder
Build a program that leads to responsibility, empowerment,
and natural consequences.
Write out every step.
Do MC (Mental Choreography) every time
1-2 stops, back up a rung. Too much waiting counts as a balk.
Complete all numbers on the rung or double
Remove attention when moving down, be on fire when moving up. If you can’t spot, back it down again.
• Intensity not anger • Keep them moving • Natural consequences • Withdraw attention when backing down/increase when coming up
Arm sets, walk-throughs, the first progression.
Setting them up for success,
repetition, and perhaps boredom.
Identifying and disconnecting from “The Beast”
1. Writing negative thoughts/drawing beast 2. Speaking negative thoughts when they occur 3. Disconnection Drills: Visualizing, walk-throughs, or actual skills with
beast voice internal and external
Comebacks to the ‘voice’
Intensity, humor, boredom. “Tight mind Dogfight”
Flip It Drills
Changing the mind from negative to positive using SBT GO!
(STOP, BREATHE, Tight Mind Thoughts including heart statement, GO!)
Pattern disruptors/state changers
Brainwashers 3x fast, humor, singular
correction, singing, externalize beast, out loud.
Parents 1. Over-involved 2. Pressure 3. Achievement Focused 4. Instability
Fear of Failure
1. Perfectionist 2. Pleaser 3. Poor communicator
Find the underlying message
1. Not the right level 2. Not the right sport 3. Not the right situation
Too fast, too soon, too young
1. Progressions 2. Drills 3. Shapes
Desire 1. Does the child still want to do
gymnastics? 2. Does he or she want to do that
level? 3. Who wants it more.
• It’s not the Olympics, she’s just level 8. • Is the problem in your gym? Look at your culture. • Remember why you coach • Get off of task and on to purpose
"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds
confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about
it. Go out and get busy." ~ Dale Carnegie
I am the decisive element.
"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the
decisive element. It is my personal approach that
creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the
weather. I possess tremendous power to make life
miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an
instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt
or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides
whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated and a
person is humanized or dehumanized. If we treat
people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat
people as they ought to be, we help them to become
what they are capable of becoming."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
FEAR-TAME THE BEAST
7 WEEK WORKBOOK AND 28 VIDEOS FOR
PARENTS, COACHES,AND
ATHLETES.
ORDER FROM:
USA GYMNASTICS TECHNICAL
MATERIALS STORE ONLINE OR
HEADGAMES.WS