I have a lot of pet peeves when it comes to young ski racers in their training and race efforts. For example, it drives me crazy to see them slip a training course, yet barely inspect it because they figure they can learn the course in the first few runs (but you can’t do that [...]
The end of a competitive season is, for every athlete, a time of reckoning in which you look back and evaluate what kind of season you had: one to be proud of or one to reflect back on with disappointment and perhaps regret. Not surprisingly, one of the primary criteria that athletes use to judge [...]
My new 12-week online mental training program will explore five important areas related to the psychology of ski racing: attitudes, obstacles, preparation, mental muscles, and tools. This article will introduce you to the first essential area—attitudes—and explain why they are so important to ski racing success. The dictionary definition of attitude is “The way you [...]
The race season is almost over. For every racer, it is a time of reckoning in which you look back and evaluate what kind of season you had: one to be proud of or one to reflect back on with disappointment and perhaps regret. One of the primary criteria that racers use to judge their [...]
A fundamental question I have been exploring in the many years that I have been working with ski racers is: What does it take to ski your fastest consistently? Of course, you have to be physically fit, technically and tactically sound, and have well-prepared equipment. And most racers and coaches would agree that an important piece of [...]
Mitchell Gunn by permission In the last article in my series on the gifts that Mikaela Shiffrin gave to ski racers for the holidays, I described how I have seen her evolve from consistent and rock-solid racer (and, of course, incredibly fast) into a risk taker on skis (who is now freakishly fast) [...]
Mitchell Gunn with permission Ski racing just doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t always go the way we want it to. Our sport can be so frustrating. To the point where it’s easy to wonder why we devote so much time and energy to it. Let’s look at why ski racing doesn’t make sense. [...]
New York magazine just published a really unsettling article on perfectionism, expanding on my own notions on the topic. Let me state this clearly: Perfectionism is REALLY BAD! It may appear to lead to great success, but, to the contrary, it often results in a lack of true success and, more importantly, it will make [...]
In my last post, Fear of Failure: Part I, I discussed the sad epidemic of fear of failure that I found to be rampant in America and that I see frequently in the young athletes with whom I work. I have discovered a new wrinkle to the fear-of-failure phenomenon that brings greater clarity to the problems [...]
Fear of failure is the single most common cause of performance difficulties for the young athletes who come to me for help. Whether they experience low confidence and extreme negativity, pre-competitive anxiety, a preoccupation with results, or severe self-criticism, in most cases, when we dig deep enough, we discover a profound fear of failure at [...]