Competitive Will Sport Psychology Elevating Athletic Performance In This Issue Welcome to Competitive Will About Competitive Will About Kyle McDonald Consulting Services Competing Through the Doubts of Fear Share Your Experiences
Welcome to Competitive Will Sport Psychology This is the first of many newsletters to follow. Our plan at Competitive Will is to do a short monthly newsletter to give a few insights during your season. First and foremost I would like to thank you for your interest in Competitive Will Sport Psychology. About Competitive Will Sport Psychology Competitive Will Sport Psychology offers mental training for athletes of all ages and levels. It is our philosophy that player development involves three components - tactical/technical, conditioning/nutrition and mental. Competitive Will Sport Psychology focuses its efforts on the mental development of players. Competitive Will Sport Psychology is one component of player development. Through working with Competitive Will Sport Psychology players and coaches will learn how to approach the game, overcome adversity, set goals, be motivated, visualize, act and play with confidence. Competitive Will Sport Psychology offers training in the approach, attitude and psychological skills needed for teams, athletes and coaches to enhance performance. Please check out our website, for video lessons, newsletters and consulting information.
About Kyle McDonald Kyle McDonald is currently the Associate Head Coach at Iowa State University (Ames, IA). Previously Kyle was the Bantam Coordinator at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame (Wilcox, SK). In conjunction with his current coaching duties Kyle is completing his MSc in sport psychology at the University of Regina and is in preparations to begin his PhD at Iowa State. Both his masters and doctorate are focussed on creating effective coach environments for athletes to reach their full potential both on and off the field. Before moving to Regina, SK and Notre Dame, Kyle finished his BA in Psychology at the University of Lethbridge in conjunction with being an Assistant Coach with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men s Hockey Team. Before his ice hockey coaching pursuits at the U of L, he was the director of golf/head coach for the men s and women s teams at Selkirk College, along with being a full time student in the sports administration program.
Kyle has presented in the area of sport psychology and mental training at the Alberta Sport Development Coaching Conference, Saskatchewan Hockey Association/Hockey Canada High Performance 1 Seminar, Montana State Hockey Development, Northwest Sport Psychology Conference, Western Prospects Hockey Development and the Royal Regina Golf Club. Kyle presently works with all 11 Notre Dame Hockey teams, Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL, Advantage Golf Academy and the Royal Regina Golf Club, along with other individuals in the area of mental training and sport psychology. In general Kyle works with athletes in goal setting, imagery, self talk, approaches to winning (adversity and establishing a work ethic), team cohesion and decision making in athletes and coaches. Kyle resides in Regina, SK and Ames, IA with his wife Lisa Poznikoff. Consulting Services Competitive Will Sport Psychology offers team and individual services for players, coaches, parents and teams. From team presentations to an hour on the phone with an individual, we are here to help with your mental game and to Elevate your Athletic Performance.
Competing through the Doubts of Fear It is that time of year where we are all competing to make a team. Our preparation and work through the summer is coming to a head in the next month or six weeks. It is important to realize that everyone else is in the same boat as you. Everybody is there to make the top team, which is a great thing because the world needs competition. In order to deal with the fear of not making it, you must focus on the process. You will never negate the fear of the outcome, however you can focus on the process, which when added up equals the end result. A couple of key training tools to use to help focus on the process and not the fear of an outcome include goal setting and self talk. Goal Setting If anyone saw Deion Sanders Pro Football Hall of Fame speech (you can view it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmzc1zb32n4) he stated that you need goals bigger then yourself, if you don t then you will not get very far. Of course Deion Sanders is talking about meaning and purpose, and his meaning and purpose was to play football so his mother would never have to work again in her life. It is a great story and speech and he talks greatly about meaning and
purpose and how it helped him overcome adversity and fear. With that said the first step is to develop meaning and purpose, developing this will help you overcome adversity, such as not making the team, and help you maintain motivation and constant improvement. Secondly your process goals are crucial; they allow you to constantly get better. If you do or do not make the team you set out to make, there are many process goals you can set to aid in your motivation. Some examples include skating stride, shots on net, finished checks, blocked shots etc. As you may have heard in my presentations Terry Fox s process goal was to get from one light post to another, this was vital because if you are standing at one light post you can always see the next one. In conclusion to help overcome the fear of tryouts focus on your meaning and purpose and your process goals on a daily basis. Self Talk To overcome fear of something new, such as tryouts, self-talk is vital to your success, what you say to yourself helps with your confidence. To view examples please go to my website under Video Lessons and double click on Getting Through the Fear. Here is the link: http:///pages/gettingthrought
hefear.aspx. This clip from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is great example of positive/constructive self talk (although it is Susan saying it). It may be a bit to the extreme and funny but it gets my point across. When using self talk be sure to use positive reinforcement and constructive process orientated thoughts. Process orientated thoughts include heads up, smooth, square etc. Starting with constructive goal setting (meaning and purpose, along with process orientated goals) and positive self talk (affirming your strengths and your focus) you will be more constructive for athletic performance and development. Quick Story on Justin Rose As it relates to our theme in this newsletter of Overcoming Fear I want to share a quick story on PGA Tour Player Justin Rose. At the age of 17 Justin Rose finished 3 rd at the 1998 Open Championship (still in amateur status). On the Monday after the 3 rd place finish Justin Rose turned professional. Subsequently Rose went the next 11 months on European tour and equivalent world events without making a cut. As one paper noted he was the classic hero to zero so ingrained in the British Sport psyche. Currently Rose has won ten times on Tour and is ranked 31 in the world. Rose deemed the
importance of the learning phase in those 11 months have made him the professional he is today. He also states that I think to this point in my career, the damage that was done initially is a long hard road to get over, and I will actually get over it. He goes to say you have to invest in your mind. It s a muscle, and it does need to be trained. You don t just become mentally strong. It doesn t just happen. Finally Justin says that when golf becomes too important he generally does not play well. The lesson we can learn from this is that to achieve is a lifelong process so don t put to much emphasis on the AAA team or whatever team you are trying to make, do not make it the most important thing, make your meaning and purpose the most important and commit/focus on the process goals and positive self talk to develop and elevate your athletic performance. For more stories such as Justin Roses, please read Breaking the Slump by Jimmy Roberts.
Share Your Stories If you have questions, stories or need help in adjusting your mental game please feel free to call/text me at 515-509-5009 or email me at kmcdonald@competitivewill.onmicrosoft.com. I may even use your story or question in our next newsletter Good luck in your fall tryouts and here is to elevating your athletic performance. Yours truly, Kyle McDonald Competitive Will Sport Psychology