Sports: Is the NFL Bad For Women’s Health?
Just prior to the Super Bowl in 1993, a news conference was held by a coalition of women’s groups informing reporters of substantial evidence that domestic violence rose significantly (as much as 40 percent) on Super Bowl Sunday. The subsequent flurry of media attention resulted in this news becoming a “fact” (you’ll see why I […]
Read MoreSports: Does March Madness Matter?
The New York Times Magazine had a cover story a few weeks ago that posed the question: Does college basketball matter? In answer to this rather existential question, I thought, well, it depends to which college basketball they are referring. Are they talking about the game that’s “all about the Benjamins,” including exorbitant coaches’ salaries […]
Read MoreSports: Demystifying Sport Psychology
Whenever I talk to athletes and coaches, I ask them what aspect of their sport seems to have the greatest impact on how they perform. Almost unanimously they say the mental part. I then ask how much time they devote to their mental preparation and their answer is almost always little or no time. Despite […]
Read MoreSports: Overcoming Frustration
Frustration may be your most significant obstacle to achieving your athletic goals. We’ve all experienced the feeling of frustration when we’re not able to do something as we pursue our goals; we feel stuck, we get uptight, and we have difficulty focusing. The best way I can describe the feeling is: AAARRGGHH!! It is a […]
Read MoreSports: The Greatest Phenom You’ve Never Heard of
Note: This post has been adopted and expanded for the broader sports audience from my previous ski-racing-specific post about Mikaela. Have you heard the name Mikaela Shiffrin? Not likely, unless you’re a big fan of alpine ski racing, a sport that only grabs America’s attention every four years during the Winter Olympics. Over the last decade, alpine ski […]
Read MoreSports: The Power of Emotions
At the top of the Prime Sport Pyramid sits emotions. It’s closest to the top of the pyramid because emotions will ultimately dictate how you perform throughout a competition. Emotions during a competition can cover the spectrum from excitement and elation to frustration, anger, and disappointment. Emotions are often strong and, most troublesome, they can […]
Read MoreSports: Focus Control
Developing focus control is essential if you’re going to ensure that your focus style (as described in the July, 2010 issue of Prime Sport Alert!) helps rather than hurts your sports performance. There are several steps in the focus-control process. First, you have to identify your focus style and understand how it impacts your sport. […]
Read MoreSports: Understanding Focus
Focus is the most misunderstood mental factor among athletes. Most athletes think of focus as concentrating on one thing for a long time. In fact, a number of years ago, former Australian Open tennis champion Hana Mandlikova said that she improved her game by staring at a tennis ball for ten minutes a day. She […]
Read MoreSports: Psych-up Techniques
Though less common, letdowns in intensity can also cause your level of performance to decline. A decrease in intensity causes all the things that enable you to perform well to disappear. Physically, you no longer have the blood flow, oxygen, and adrenaline necessary for the strength, agility, and stamina you need to perform your best. […]
Read MoreSports: Psych-down Techniques
It’s natural to feel some increase in your intensity in a competition. You’re putting yourself to the test and want to do your best. But when that increase intensity turns to anxiety that can hurt your performances, that can be a problem. But rather than just resigning yourself to feeling nervous and performing poorly, you […]
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