EBOOKLET WHEN IS SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY USEFUL?

EBOOKLET WHEN IS SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY USEFUL? Copyright 2003-2005 by Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D. All rights reserved. No part of this book my be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Published by Peak Performance Sports & Publications 7380 Sand Lake Road PMB 5012 Orlando, FL 32819 407-909-1700 http://www.peaksports.com

2 Forward Dr. Patrick Cohn, like you, has been an athlete and a coach. He s experienced firsthand how beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors influence performance. That s why he s dedicated to helping coaches, athletic trainers, parents of aspiring athletes, and every athlete whether junior, amateur, or seasoned professional excel in his or her sport. Dr. Cohn s passion for sports was born early in life. It grew as he participated in sports such as football, hockey, baseball, lacrosse, skiing, and golf. Throughout high school and college, Dr. Cohn has experienced both the joy of winning and the lessons from failure. After competing in sports for many years, Dr. Cohn went on to study and research how mental attitudes shaped physical performance. He is a mentor to many in the field of sports psychology and provides performance enhancement skills through mental game coaching. Today, Dr. Cohn is the president and founder of Peak Performance Sports in Orlando, Florida. Experts in the field of sports psychology consider him the leading authority on mental skills for entering the zone and pre-performance routines, largely based upon his extensive research. He has consulted with high profile teams such as the Miami Dolphins, and tour professional golfers such as Brian Watts and J. L. Lewis. He s also worked with powerful corporations such as IBM. Dr. Cohn has been a sports commentator on the Golf Channel and has been featured in trade publications such as Golf Magazine and Golf Digest. He has authored books such as Going Low, The Mental Game of Golf, The Mental Art of Putting, and Peak Performance Golf. In addition, he has written audio books such as Think to Win and Great Putting Right Now and has produced videos such as Make Your Most Confident Stroke. Contact Dr. Cohn at: Peak Performance Sports 7380 Sand Lake Road, PBM 5012 Orlando, Florida 32819 Phone: 407-909-1700 Toll-free: 888-742-7225 E-mail: PatrickCohn@peaksports.com Website: www.peaksports.com

By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D. When is Sports Psychology Useful? 3 Introduction Some athletes and coaches are confused about the field of sports psychology and its role in improving athletic performance. Sports psychology is part of the larger field of sport science and studies human behavior in the sport environment; and the effects of sport on the participant; and the effects of interventions on sports performance. The goal of applied sports psychology is to help athletes perform their best by improving the necessary mental skills to excel in a sporting endeavor. Mental Game Coaching is the segment of sports psychology that concentrates specifically on helping athletes break through the mental barriers that are keeping them from performing up to their peak potential. By focusing on the mental skills needed to be successful in any sporting competition, mental game coaching seeks to achieve the overall goal of performance improvement. I prefer to use the tile mental game coach because I think athletes can relate to this title better than sports psychologist, as mental coaching is an another facet of coaching athletes. I make it clear to my students that I am not trained in traditional psychopathology or have a license to practice psychology. My background is in education, physical education, sports, and sports psychology. My experience comes from the sports world as a former athlete, instructor, and for the last 15 years, as a mental game coach to athletes.

4 Negative stigma is still attached to the area of psychology, because many perceive that people in my field deal with abnormal individuals or problem athletes. This is far from my role in helping athletes in my work as a mental game coach. I work with normal people who are under additional pressures to perform in their sport. Unlike psychotherapy, I don't use couches, prescribe medicines, or work with abnormal behavior. My primary goal is to teach athletes how to be more confident, focus better, stay composed under pressure, practice more efficiently, and develop more effective preperformance routines. I become an extension of the athlete s support team. The main difference between a mental game coach and a psychotherapist is that a mental game coaches work with athletes on sports performance enhancement and not personal challenges (such as divorce, grief counseling) or abnormal behavior. Most athletes view the mental game and physical aspects of their sport separately. There is a false belief that athletes must first master perfect technique or knowledge about the sport before working on mental skills. My philosophy is that you cannot separate the mental from the physical when it comes to motor skills. Decisions, thoughts, images, and feelings drive motor behavior. Sports psychology helps athletes develop confidence and focusing skills in conjunction with the mastery of the technical aspects of the game. How do you know when you need or could benefit from sports psychology? Start by asking some key questions. Are you performing up to your ability? Do

5 you perform as well in competition as you do in practice? I m sure you know some fellow athletes who have been labeled with great talent or physical skills, but haven t played up to their full potential. This is a primary sign that one s attitude may be getting the in way of performance.

6 When Mental Training is Indicated There are several signs that indicated sports psychology or mental coaching can help athletes. Below is a partial list of the common signals that a mental breakdown is holding you back. You perform much better in practice than during competition. Your practice game is flawless, but in competition, your performance is below par. You feel free and loose in practice and then are plagued with doubt or indecision in the competitive arena. Something changes between practice and competition, but you just can t put your finger on what it is. You have a tough time performing well when others are watching you. When others who you care about, (such as parents, fans, coaches) are watching you perform, you become too self-conscious of their presence, and lose your focus on the task. Often you may even worry about letting others down or failing in front of others, similar to stage fright. Most likely you are afraid to embarrass yourself in front of others who are watching you perform because of how it might reflect on you as an athlete or a person. You maintain many doubts about your sport before or during games. You perform with a lot of confidence in practice and gain confidence from practice, but when you play your sport for real, you start to entertain doubts about your ability to get the job done. I call this game self-confidence as opposed to practice self-confidence. You start to think, Can I really beat this

7 person across the net? Do I have what it takes to strike out this batter? Doubts can be disguised subtly in the form of a simple question. When you question your ability to perform, it is really doubt in disguise. In the absence of confidence, you have doubt. When you have doubts, confidence suffers. You feel anxious or scared when you perform in competition. You perform free and loose in practice and do not have many worries, but in games, you are paralyzed by fear and anxiety. Most of the time, athletes with a fear of failure get tight and anxious in games because they want to win so badly. Fear of failure causes you to try too hard and worry too much about outcomes. You are not sure why you play your sport or what motivates you. You participate in your sport but are not sure why you do. Maybe you play sports to please other people in your life or to make someone else happy. Maybe you participate because your friends do or you think it is cool to play your sport. You might not have any real goals that you want to accomplish or even know what motivates you. You attach your self-worth to your ability to perform. Some athletes are driven to compete because of what comes with being a successful athlete: fame, accolades, and respect. You have a desire to get your name in the paper, get praise from others, or rewards from your parents. These motivators, although help you feel better about yourself as a person, are not the best type.

8 When you are doing well in sports, it s easy for you to feel good about yourself as you attach your self-worth to your ability to perform. You lose focus or have mental lapses during critical times of the game. When up to bat with the bases loaded, two outs and the game tied, you have trouble thinking clearly because of the pressure to produce for your coach, teammates, or fans. You forget the count or don t pay attention to the sign from the coach. You commit simple mental errors that you wouldn t normally do in other less threatening situations. After an injury, you are physically 100% recovered, but you can t perform the way you did pre-injury. Many athletes who have sustained a major sports injury have trouble regaining their confidence post-injury. Even after the doctor gives you a clean bill of health, your mental scars have not healed. You may be afraid of re-injury and this causes you to play tentatively. Alternatively, you may have lost your confidence and wonder if you can return to previous performance levels pre-injury. You just want to improve your mental attitude or performance. You do not have an identifiable problem or mental challenge in your sport, but you want to improve your mental game and get better. You are curious about how mental game coaching can help you improve and get to the next level. You want to do everything you can to get the edge over your competition, including the mental edge.

9 As stated previously, sports psychology sometimes get a bad wrap because the association of psychology with pathology or abnormal behavior. For this reason, most athletes resist working with a sports psychologist because of the fear of others labeling them as a head case. Even today, professional athletes I work with do not want the public to know they are working with a mental game coach. Most athletes, unfortunately, seek out my services because of a particular performance barrier, slump, plateau, or decrease in performance. As a mental game coach, I often become the last resort after athletes have tried several other means to get beyond performance slumps. I wish this was not the case. Most athletes wait until they get into a slump or something needs to be fixed and they have exhausted all other resources before they commit to working on their mental game. Very few athletes work with me because they want to become more mentally tough (with no apparent mental block) and improve performance. I find that coaches are more likely to bring in a mental coach to give the team every chance of being successful from the start of the season or pre-season.

10 How Can Athletes Benefit From Mental Game Coaching? Sports Psychology is about improving your attitude and mental game skills to help you perform your best by identifying limiting beliefs and embracing a healthier philosophy about your sport. Below is a list of the top ten ways that you can benefit from sports psychology: 1. Improve focus and deal with distractions. Many athletes have the ability to concentrate, but often their focus is displaced on the wrong areas such as when a batter thinks I need to get a hit while in the batter s box, which is a result-oriented focus. Much of my instruction on focus deals with helping athlete to stay focused on the present moment and let go of results. 2. Grow confidence in athletes who have doubts. Doubt is the opposite of confidence. If you maintain many doubts prior to or during your performance, this indicates low self-confidence or at least you are sabotaging what confidence you had at the start of the competition. Confidence is what I call a core mental game skill because of its importance and relationship to other mental skills. 3. Develop coping skills to deal with setbacks and errors. Emotional control is a prerequisite to getting into the zone. Athletes with very high and strict expectations, have trouble dealing with minor errors that are a natural part of sports. It s important to address these expectations and also help

11 athletes stay composed under pressure and when they commit errors or become frustrated. 4. Find the right zone of intensity for your sport. I use intensity in a broad sense to identify the level of arousal or mental activation that is necessary for each person to perform his or her best. This will vary from person to person and from sport to sport. Feeling up and positively charged is critical, but not getting overly excited is also important. You have to tread a fine line between being excited to complete, but not getting over-excited. 5. Help teams develop communication skills and cohesion. A major part of sports psychology and mental training is helping teams improve cohesion and communication. The more a team works as a unit, the better the results for all involved. 6. To instill a healthy belief system and identify irrational thoughts. One of the areas I pride myself on is helping athlete identify ineffective beliefs and attitudes such as comfort zones and negative self-labels that hold them back from performing well. These core unhealthy beliefs must be identified and replaced with a new way of thinking. Unhealthy or irrational beliefs will keep you stuck no matter how much you practice or hard you try. 7. Improve or balance motivation for optimal performance. It s important to look at your level of motivation and just why you are motivated to play your sport. Some motivators are better in the long-term than others.

12 Athletes who are extrinsically motivated often play for the wrong reasons, such as the athlete who only participates in sports because of a parent. I work with athlete to help them adopt a healthy level of motivation and be motivated for the right reasons. 8. Develop confidence post-injury. Some athletes find themselves fully prepared physically to get back into competition and practice, but mentally some scars remain. Injury can hurt confidence, generate doubt during competition, and cause a lack of focus. I help athletes mentally heal from injuries and deal with the fear of re-injury. 9. To develop game-specific strategies and game plans. All great coaches employ game plans, race strategies, and course management skills to help athletes mentally prepare for competition. This is an area beyond developing basic mental skills in which a mental coach helps athletes and teams. This is very important in sports such as golf, racing, and many team sports. 10. To identify and enter the zone more often. This incorporates everything I do in the mental side of sports. The overall aim is to help athletes enter the zone by developing foundational mental skills that can help athletes enter the zone more frequently. It s impossible to play in the zone everyday, but you can set the conditions for it to happen more often.

13 I will add that sport psychology may not be appropriate for every athlete. Not every person who plays a sport wants to improve performance. Sport psychology is probably not for recreation athletes who participate for the social component of a sport or do not spend time working on technique or fitness to improve performance. Young athletes whose parents want them to see a sports psychologist are not good candidate either. It s very important that the athlete desires to improve his or her mental game without having the motive to satisfy a parent. Similarly, an athlete who sees a mental game expert only to satisfy a coach is not going to fully benefit from mental training. Sports Psychology does apply to a wide variety of serious athletes. Most of my students (junior, high school, college, and professional athletes) are highly committed to excellence and seeing how far they can go in sports. They love competition and testing themselves against the best in their sport. They understand the importance of a positive attitude and mental toughness. These athletes want every possible advantage they can get including the mental edge over the competition. How Does Mental Game Coaching Work? The first step in mental coaching is to identify your mental game strengths and weaknesses. I send all my students my AMAP or Athlete Mental Aptitude Profile. This serves as a guideline and helps you think about the right questions. When we first meet in person or talk over the phone, I ask you more questions about your attitude and beliefs based on your AMAP so we can develop a complete picture of your mental game.

14 The next phase is to develop a mental game plan outline, which guides the work we do together. The mental game plan outlines what we need to improve and includes some basic mental game skills I teach all my students such as how to focus on the process and identify self-limiting expectations. Once the mental game plan is developed, we would begin our work on mental skills that apply to your specific challenges. I try to present a mental game program that is customized to your needs, but I do include a few foundation skills for all of my students. Here is an example of how I would work on with a Bowler: 1. Dr. Cohn s Formula: Identify expectations and replace with manageable objectives and high self-confidence. Identify self-liming expectations such as what you think is a good score for a game and other outcome expectations (number of strikes, spares, etc. you should get). Replace expectations with manageable objectives such as focusing on one shot at a time and setting objectives around execution in the present moment. Example: Committing to the plan for each shot prior to execution. Confidence is not an expectation. Confidence is belief in your ability without judgment of how you are doing (based on expectations). Here we would discuss the differences between confidence, expectations, and goals or objective.

15 Once you grasp the basic concepts and skills, the application phase of mental coaching starts. This is where I help you apply what you learned in the sessions to your sport performance. We apply your mental skills to practice, preshot or preperformance preparation, warm-up routines, and post-performance assessments. I often go with you to your sport environment and help you integrate mental skills into your regular practice and performance routines. Finally, the follow up phase of coaching helps you apply what you have learned on a consistent basis. I have found that the best results come from a long-term application of mental training as you need to apply the information, day after day. The best option is to be followed over several months. In fact, I structure my programs this way. I help my students stay committed to good thinking and a positive attitude until good thinking become second nature and the dominate habit. Good luck and please contact me if you have any questions. Contact Information: For more information about sports psychology or mental coaching, email Dr. Cohn at PatrickjCohn@peaksports.com. call 888-742-7225, or visit http://www.peaksports.com. To read more mental game articles by Dr. Cohn, visit www.peaksports.com and click on Success Tips & Resources.

16 Peak Performance Sports offers a variety of mental game programs including one-on-one programs in Orlando, virtual or phone coaching, teleclasses, and mental game assessments. For more information, visit www.peaksports.com and click on Programs & Seminars.

17 Other Publications by Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D. From Peak Performance Sports To order books & audios, visit www.peaksports.com or call 888-742-7225 Going Low: How to Break Your Individual Golf Scoring Barrier by Thinking Like a Pro After shooting a great front nine, do you blow up on the back nine? Drawing heavily from the experience of top tour pros career low rounds and his work, Cohn provides specific mental tools that will guide you, lesson by lesson, toward fulfilling your fantasy personal best round. You will learn how to harness the power or momentum and play beyond your comfort zone. 170 Pages.. $14.95 US Peak Performance Golf: How Good Golfers Become Great Ones For serious students of the game who are struggling to improve their overall performance, this unique guide teaches intermediate to better golfers how to get the most out of their abilities, prepare their best for competition, and lower their scores. Dr. Cohn teaches you how to develop a plan for practice, reaching for your dreams, take care of your body, eat healthy foods for golf, improve physical fitness, prepare your mind for play, and improve practice habits. Contemporary Books. 221 Pages.. $16.95 US The Mental Game of Golf: A Guide to Peak Performance (Book) Written by Dr. Patrick J. Cohn, noted consultant to Tour pros, The Mental Game of Golf teaches golfers how to master their mental game and play with greater confidence and composure. It also helps golfers learn how to find the zone more often. It combines the author s work, research, and tips from Tour pros to illustrate the mental skills and routines needed to play your best. Peak Performance Sports, 888-742-7225 or www.peaksports.com. 169 pages $16.95 US

18 The Mental Art of Putting: Using Your Mind to Putt Your Best (Book) Written by Dr. Patrick J. Cohn and Robert Winters, M.A., it s the first book that helps players master the mental side of putting. Based on their work and research with 20 of the greatest putters on Tour, this book helps you be confident, focused, and fearless on the green. You are provided with the keys to scoring better on the greens by developing powerful preshot routines and warm-up routines. Peak Performance Sports, 888-742-7225 or www.peaksports.com. 139 Pages $16.95 US Think To Win: How to Manage Your Mind on the Golf Course (Audio CD) Read by author and mental game coach, Dr. Patrick J. Cohn, this two tape audio program teaches golfers how to avoid self-sabotage and take their practice game to the course. This unique instruction program gives golfers field-tested practical strategies to help transfer their skills to the course, practice better, find the zone, and play with confidence, composure, and consistency. Peak Performance Sports, 888-742-7225 or www.peaksports.com 1 Audio CD; 110 minutes $18.95 US Great Putting Right Now! Mental Keys to Confident Putting (Audio) Narrated by authors Dr. Patrick J. Cohn and Robert Winters, MA., two leading experts in putting psychology, this audio tape teaches you how to create a great putting attitude right away, putt with more confidence and a fearless attitude. Learn how to putt and think like a great putter and use the power of choice to be more confident and focused. Perfect for golfers who are streaky putters or players who struggle with putting! Peak Performance Sports, 888-742-7225 or www.peaksports.com. 1 Audio Tape: 74 minutes.. $12.00 US

19 Make Your Most Confident Stroke: A Guide to a One-Putt Mindset (Video) Dr. Patrick J. Cohn along with PGA Tour Player Grant Waite provide you the secrets to being confident, focused, and free on the greens. They show you how to develop a confident putting routine so you can focus on the task and make more putts. Drills for developing touch to eliminate three-putting are also included. Peak Performance Sports, 888-742-7225 or www.peaksports.com. 1 Video, 37 minutes. $19.95 US Focus! Mental Strategies for Zone Concentration Just recently released, this e-book approaches the concept of focus for performance enhancement. Dr. Cohn shares with you the fundamental principles of how focus plays a critical role to finding the zone. Perfect for athletes and corporate professionals alike, this publication offers strategies to refine concentration to conquer distractions, identifying the cues that are relevant to successful execution, and overcome obsessive tendencies that hinder focus. Peak Performance Sports. 1 E-book, 57 pages. $12.95 US Confidence! Mental Strategies to Think Like a Champion Do you doubt your skills before competition? Without confidence, you have doubt, indecision and fear. Dr. Cohn helps you identify beliefs that hurt confidence and how to get into a confident state of mind every time you compete. Self-confidence is THE NUMBER ONE ASSET that separates great athletes from mediocre ones. Dr. Cohn gives you 13 confidence boosters to help you play your best in competition. Peak Performance Sports. 1 E-book, 60 pages... $12.95 US To order books & audios, visit www.peaksports.com or call 888-742-7225

Join the Most comprehensive Sports Psychology & Mental Training Online Membership Site! PeakSports.com Membership is a private, members-only, sports psychology resource for serious athletes who want to improve performance via mental training. Stay on the cutting edge of your performance or game with a membership from the sports psychology authority, PeakSports.com! When is Sports Psychology Useful? 20 Designed to help athletes, coaches, mental game professionals, and parents of aspiring athletes, PeakSports.com membership is packed with mental training and sports psychology tips to supercharge the performance of any athlete or team. As a member, you will Acquire insights into peak performance by listening to interviews with high profile, championship athletes and coaches discussing their mental approach to sports and success. Receive free personalized answers to your mental game questions from sports psychology expert, Dr. Patrick Cohn via email (premium membership only). Uncover special performance-enhancing strategies not available elsewhere on the PeakSports.com website. Receive Dr. Cohn s Peak Performance e-book series FREE (a combined 75$ value)! Preview and sample new products and programs before anyone else. Access our database of over 300 pages on sports psychology, mental game coaching, confidence, focus, composure, and more! Listen to audio interviews with other mental game coaches and sports psychologists on how they enhance performance of their students. Interact with other members on your mental game challenges and success stories in our member s only forum. Plus You ll learn how mental game coaching can be your secret weapon both in practice and in competition with an e-learning course available only to PeakSports.com members. Upon joining, you get a full return on your membership investment within the first few days, by downloading our free e-books, getting our virtual mental training via email, and by receiving answers to your email questions from Dr. Cohn himself with our premium annual membership! Join this month and receive a FREE mental game evaluation from Dr. Cohn ($75.00 value) to kickoff your mental training! Plus... Get five FREE E-books Ready to Download!

21 Join today and receive five FREE E-books valued at $85! E-books are available for immediate download as soon as you become a member: 1. Focus! Mental Strategies for Zone Concentration ($12.95 value) 2. Confidence! Mental Strategies to Think Like a Champion ($12.95 value) 3. Drive for Success! Goal Achievement Program for Golfers ($49.00 value) 4. Mental Routines: Preshot Strategies to Think and Perform Like a Pro ($12.95) 5. When is Sports Psychology Useful? (free) Visit: http://www.peaksports.com/membership