A Coach's Diary

CONFIDENCE is all about trust and belief. Sports psychologist Dr. Patrick Cohn defines self-CONFIDENCE in athletes as to how firmly athletes believe in their ability to execute a physical skill or perform a task. He says that  CONFIDENCE  is how strongly you believe in your ability to make or execute a play, and  CONFIDENCE  comes from past performances, training, and preparation. As your ability and skill grow your confidence grows. Former NBA player Matt Barnes has a popular podcast where he interviews other athletes. In one of his episodes, Jeremy Lin spoke about his struggles with mental health and his  CONFIDENCE  . He said: “The game is 90% mental. At the elite level, everybody has the skills. It's the dude who can shoot 7 times and miss all 7 and not care and shoot the 8th who is different from the person who missed his first 3 and will play it safe from there. There is so much power in the mind.” I think CONFIDENCE comes from two different places, t...

"Two big reasons I work with students to set internal goals is that I want to cultivate in them an “internal locus of control.” I want them to believe that success is within their reach, and that personal, internal goals are more satisfying than external ones. When they do, they also experience more peace of mind. So, as you mentor your students, let me suggest the following: 1 - Have your students write down their goals for this year. 2 - Help them evaluate whether their goa ls are more external or internal. 3 - Coach them to re-write any external goals, converting them into internal ones. Not only will these goals be more rewarding, but they might just help those students decrease their anxiety. I’d call that a double-win. Jean Twenge’s theory suggests that increases in anxiety and depression we see today are connected to the shift from “intrinsic” to “extrinsic” goals in students. Intrinsic goals are ones that deal with one’s own development as a person, such as bec...

The following article is from Self.com.  I am fascinated with the world of mental-performance and how our minds can and are a separator for success.  I am in no way trying to profit from this article, but find it to be a valuable resource in my own growth and understanding of how to get the most of the athletes that I work with. Olympic athletes  push their bodies to the limit. From the outside, it seems that they develop this ability through dedicated training regimens and long days practicing and  perfecting their sport-specific skills . Which, of course, they do. But being an elite athlete is not just a physical feat. To perform at the top of their game, professional athletes spend time training their brains, too. “There's not an athlete or team, either Olympic or professional, that’s not utilizing the services and expertise of a mental skills coach,”  Colleen Hacker, Ph.D. , a five-time Olympic Games coach who currently serves as the mental skills...