Sochi, Sports, Stress and Success

Two important mental aspects of Olympic athletes are commitment and coping.  Olympic athletes have to make a total
commitment to their sport and their training.
That becomes the priority in their life resulting in making sacrifices
in other areas such as their education, relationships, and family.  So, they have to make some tough
decisions.  Olympic athletes develop
coping plans for when things don’t go as planned.  For example, a swimmer has a mental game plan
for coping with their goggles falling off or missing a turn.  Similarly, runners have a mental game plan
for coping with being passed in the middle of the race.

2)
How does one remain relaxed, happy and focused
before a competition? Personally speaking, I become so intense that the fun
escapes me.

This varies by athlete, as many are not feeling “happy” before
competition but rather anxious.  It’s
important to know that feeling anxious or nervous before competition is okay
and normal.  The key is how you interpret those feelings.  Specifically, you want to remind yourself
that those feelings are “okay and normal” and it is your body’s way of
preparing to take action.  The joints are
getting loosened up.  The blood is being
pumped to your arms and legs.  You want
to focus on what you love about what you are doing, what you want to do in
competition, and on your past successes.
I work with athletes to develop a Pre-Competition Mental Game Plan and
have them rehearse it before they ever get to the competition so they know
exactly what to focus on when they arrive at the competition site.  AND, they have a clear plan on how to interpret
the anxious feelings they KNOW are going to come.  Some recent research has suggested that
viewing it as I described above may be more helpful than trying to calm
yourself down.

3)
What mantra should an athlete latch onto before
an important competition?

First of all, when working with an athlete, we discuss that there is no
one “important competition”.  When you
view one competition as more important than another, you are creating
unnecessary pressure on yourself.
Whether it is for a local competition or a national championship, the
goal is to perform your skills as best you can.
Second, mantras depend on the sport and the athlete, as I want to make
it specific to what we (the athlete and myself) are working on.  However, it should be something simple and
clear.  Some examples include “Let’s see
what you can do” for perfectionists (as opposed to “You have to do well” or
“You have to be perfect”); “relax, reach, and throw” (the water) for free-style
swimmers; “Stay within myself and run my race plan” for runners; “Trust my
swing” for golfers.

4)
What’s the best way to memorize dressage tests
and hunter jumper courses to avoid forgetfulness?

The best way is to practice under pressure situations.  If you can know the test or course before you
get to the competition site, then you should practice it repeatedly under
competition situations such as having judges there (they can be friends or
family), a crowd (family, friends, or imagine one), have a visual clock/timer,
and the test or course.  You should go through
warm-ups as well just like you would prior to the test/course.  If you can’t simulate it in a practice
situation, then visualize it from warm-up to finish.  If you don’t know the test/course prior, then
break-it down into chunks when you are memorizing it:  part 1, part 2, part 3, etc.  Visualize yourself in part 1 repeatedly, then
visualize part 2, etc. If you have time, visualize part 1 plus part 2 and build
from there.  Just minutes before you
actually compete you should remind yourself to “trust it and go”.  Trust yourself and go for it rather than
worrying about mistakes.

5)
Someone once said, “Some days, you’re the bug;
some days, you’re the windshield.” What’s your advice for surviving the “bug
days” at a competition?

I think of it as A, B, and C game days.
Every athlete has C game days when their timing is way off, it’s very
difficult to focus, and “nothing seems to be going right”.  When athletes ask me, “How do I prevent ever
having C game days?”  I half jokingly
tell them, “My best advice to guarantee you won’t have C game days is to stop
playing your sport.” Many athletes feel sorry for themselves and say things
like, “Why am I playing so horrible after all the practice I put in?  It’s not fair.”  As a former athlete, I can relate and I empathize.  However, I then discuss how worrying about
“fairness” leads you away from the reality of the situation.  Next, we talk about having a C Game Day Plan.  We discuss what specifically happens on C
game days, how to recognize it, and creating a plan to respond to it.  We focus on the fundamentals of the sport in
the plan and on keeping things simple.

6)
What’s the most effective way to conquer fear
and return to a sport after being injured?

It’s important to change the images of what you see.  All injured athletes that I’ve worked with
that have re-entry fears see themselves re-injuring themselves in their
mind.  You have to work at changing the
images to see what you want to have happen instead of what you don’t.  There is often more in-depth work with
re-entry fears such as a discussion of commitment to breaking through the fear
as well as a need to “get back on the horse” so to say, to go back into the
environment where the injury occurred to work through it.

7)
What is the toughest sport mentally and physically?