 The
Secret of Champions!
Shaun Goodsell, MA
President and CEO of Mental Edge
For years I have wondered what part innate talent
plays in the success of athletes. Growing up aspiring to
be a pro athlete I thought on many occasions, "I wish I
were talented enough to be as good as others". In fact
as I have progressed in business I have also believed
that success is a by product of the genes you get and
some are lucky while the rest of us are scrapping and
clawing to rise to the success of others. While
attending the PGA Championship last month I started
thinking about the pathway these athletes took to get to
where they are. Could there be more to it then simply
genes?
Recently, I came across a book that challenges the
significance of innate talent in the success of
athletes, musicians, and business leaders. Geoff Colvin
has written a book titled "Talent is Overrated: What
Really Separates World Class Performers from Everybody
Else". Colvin makes a compelling case that THE ART OF
DELIBERATE PRACTICE is what differentiates world-class
performance from others. He then goes on to describe
this compelling concept:
"People who engage in intensive deliberate practice push
themselves slightly beyond their current limitations
physically and mentally", writes Colvin. Doing this
leads to greater perception, greater knowledge, and
greater memory of what they know. Practicing in this
manner over a long period of time leads to the brain and
body literally changing. When one learns to perceive
more they are able to focus in on vital information that
is significant when looking to creatively chart a course
of success. For example, being aware of facial
expressions in young athletes gives clues as to how they
are receiving certain points of teaching. Often times a
young athlete's ability to be coached is closely
connected to the closeness they feel to their coach. If
a coach is not picking up on these subtle cues they miss
information that is vital to their ability to influence
a young life. In the same manner, learning to read
important cues during a competitive situation gives
athletes an advantage on their competition. It is this
information that many athletes seem to miss. Intensive
deliberate practice not only improves an athlete's level
of perception but also increases their "working'
knowledge within their sport. It is as though an
athlete's knowledge base grows with each opportunity to
play and practice in this manner. This dove tails with
other performance coaches who encourage athletes to make
sure they are always in the process of learning with
each situation. Increasing their data base helps to
inform them as to how to predict and approach different
situations with greater mastery. With this increased
knowledge making decisions becomes easier and confidence
in that process is increased. Lastly, intensive
deliberate practice improves an athlete's memory of what
they have learned in past performances. When they
intentionally go into situations with this mindset their
memories of the working knowledge they have acquired
increases and they draw on this to acquire an edge on
their competition.
It turns out the mental aspect of performance is
vitally important and learning to approach our
performance opportunities with a deliberate
intensive approach gives us the secret many
champions use to create the Mental Edge!
 Starting
Strong: Building a Team Culture
Justin Johnson, Performance Coach
This past week I had the privilege to attend the
USA Hockey National Coaching Symposium in St.
Paul, MN. The symposium celebrated USA hockey
coaches by featuring some of the nations most
successful and influential coaches over the past
40 years and beyond. Over 585 coaches from
across the nation attended the conference and
were treated to presentations from the likes of
Lou Nanne, Don Lucia, John Tortorella, Brian
Burke, Ron Wilson, Mark Johnson and new Wild
coach Todd Richards to name a few. Although
numerous important topics were discussed, Todd
Richards of the Wild had some particularly
interesting and valuable insights I felt were
relevant to building a team culture. Below is a
sample of the most important points of his talk.
I encourage coaches and players to study the
importance of building your team culture. It is
a concept that is often overlooked or
oversimplified. No matter how talented you feel
your team is, your day-to-day culture is what
will determine your success not only in that
season, but in life as well.
Todd Richards, MN Wild NHL "Building Culture and
Identity" 8/14/2009
Culture defined by Todd Richards: Establishing
what is expected and then being held accountable
on a daily basis to those expectations.
Your team identity should be what your strengths
are, get players to buy into those strengths and
you will have a strong identity.
Set the tone early in your season (immediately)
what your expectations are in practice and
games, rules, schedule, etc.
Ask yourself these two questions:
What do you want from your team?
What do you want others to say about your
team?
"In the end I want to walk away from the rink
proud of how my team played" "Every player has
pride, tap into it."
Establish a leadership group of 3 or more
players, then add along the way as players
display leadership traits you want to see in
your team.
Choose your words carefully; they become part of
your language and culture -Eliminate Sarcasm!
Acknowledge and make big deals out of
milestones, successes, unselfishness-Always be
mining for gold.
Hold "Pop Quizzes" about your systems or
Jeopardy like games to create competition and
clarity.
Have players bring pictures in as a show and
tell of their life story so far and have them
share in front of the team as a team building
activity.
When asked why the Detroit Red Wings have been
so successful for so long he responded., "They
doing the little things better than anyone else,
and they've made it a point to be prepared to do
little things longer and better than you."
 Mulit-Sport
Athlete or Sport Specialization?
Brady Greco, Performance Coach
Brady@MentalEdgeNow.com
For the past decade, sport specialization has
become one of the worst trends to infect youth
and high school athletes. Recent statistics
show a vast decline in the production of
multi-sport athletes prior to reaching high
school. Not only does this hinder the overall
athleticism and coordination of a child, but it
also neglects the child of gaining valuable
opportunities and life experiences. There are
many excuses why more and more young athletes
fall victim to this epidemic, however after
assessing all the pros and cons, you may find
yourself wondering why this is even a problem to
begin with. The benefit of playing more than
one sport will positively increase your physical
and psychological long-term development as an
athlete and individual.
Coaches and parents are two of the main
scapegoats for the succession of sports
specialization. Many parents become so enmeshed
in their child's athletic performance; they
become blinded for what is best for the
long-term development of their child. This can
lead to parents pressuring their child to choose
one sport in pursuit of future rewards. Most
often these plans back-fire and the child ends
up quitting all sports due to the constant
pressure, stress, and training that go along
with concentrating on excelling in one sport.
Disturbing cases occur when children are forced
to make decisions before they have the chance to
fully develop and realize their potential in all
sports. Being that every sport has different
skills and mindsets, the developmental stages
significantly differ from sport to sport. This
means, that if an athlete peaks early in one
sport and decides to quit their involvement in
other sports, they are missing the opportunity
to develop in a sport that could be more fitted
for them in the long run. Because many young
athletes are geared to play one sport, they
often get physically and mentally drained from
being forced into a rigorous and monotonous
routine at too early of an age. In fear of
disappointing their parents and coaches, these
young athletes stick with the sport even when
they begin to resent the sport, along with their
parents. In turn, athletes who play more than
one sport receive a break both mentally and
physically and have a better chance of attaining
optimal potential. More and more coaches have
also been advocates for single sport athletes.
These coaches fear athletes will injure
themselves while participating in other sports.
Statistics show, however, there are more
injuries that occur when playing one sport due
to the repeated stress on the same joints,
muscles, and bones, resulting in higher risk of
injury.
Every sport requires different disciplines,
skills, and overall team dynamics. When young
athletes abandon the opportunity to play
multiple sports it affects every domain of their
growth and development. Multi-sport athletes
enhance motor skills, physical coordination,
perceptual abilities, and valuable life
lessons. Youth sports help create relationships
and strong bonds amongst teammates that go far
beyond the athletic field or arena. Parents and
coaches should be encouraged to create as many
options for their child to grow and prosper.
"Throwing all your eggs in one basket" at too
early of an age often leads to a sense of
failure, stress, and pressure.
|
Mind Strength. Become Exceptional.
