Staying Focused On The Court
One of the most difficult things professional players have to deal with is maintaining concentration throughout the whole match. With increasing pressure and fatigue, thoughts can wander, resulting in mistakes and lost points and games. The same thing can happen to recreational players during matches. Things may pop into your head that have nothing to […]
Read MoreMake Parents Your Allies
A source of stress and frustration for the dance teacher is often parents. This is disturbing because teachers and parents are the two groups who have the greatest impact on the young dancer. Clearly, if they are at odds, it is the dancer who will suffer. The goal then is to move teachers and parents […]
Read MoreThe Best Laid Plans: Never Say, “If All Goes Well…”
The most common question I was asked before my first Ironman was, “What time are you shooting for?” In my naiveté, I always responded, “Well, if all goes well, under X hours” (I will keep you in suspense until the end of the article before I tell you how I did). If you answer this […]
Read MoreSelf-Confidence In Tennis
Perhaps the single most important mental ingredient professional tennis players such as Jim Courier and Monica Seles need for success on the tour is self-confidence. Entering Centre Court at Wimbledon to play the finals against a hard serving, net rushing opponent can raise doubts in even the best players. But these professionals overcome uncertainty by […]
Read MoreBeating the Winter Blues: How to Stay Motivated During the Holiday Crunch
It’s late October and you’re heading into the holiday season with feelings of dread rather than cheer. You may have been pretty good about eating healthily and working out regularly, but you know that November and December are different. You’ll be busy with holiday parties which means eating more. To make matters worse, it’ll be […]
Read MoreIncorporating Mental Skills Into Daily Training
Over the past few years we have offered a variety of information on the mental aspects of dance training and performance in Dance Teacher Now. These articles described many techniques that can be used to develop dancers mentally so they may perform their best. However, it may have been unclear how these methods could be […]
Read MoreNothing is Worth Your Health or Sanity
Dance, as a vocation or avocation, requires dedication, discipline, and other difficult decisions. Dancers may face choices that can impact their immediate lives and long-term development as performers and people. “Students are left principally to their own devices to figure out what dancing is all about,” states Teri Loren, author of The Dancer’s Companion: The […]
Read MoreMigrating Articles to My Blog
Over the next several weeks, I will be migrating about 75 articles I’ve written on the topics of triathlon, tennis, endurance sports, and dance. So as not to inundate my social media followers, I will not post them on my Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts. They will appear on my RSS feed, but I will […]
Read More“Money in the Bank, Baby!”: Start Making Confidence Deposits This Summer
In one of my final post this past season, I exhorted you to buy into the notion that Next Season Starts…NOW! With the start of June having just arrived, the summer is now officially upon us. The summer is an immensely important time to pursue your ski racing goals. You can get stronger, improve your […]
Read MoreThink Twice: Are you Sure You Want to Do an Ironman?
Ironman is the ultimate in triathlon competition. It’s the standard by which triathlon is known to the world at large. When I began doing triathlons, almost every non-tri person I met would ask if I had done an Ironman (that’s all they knew), as if that is the only badge of honor in our sport. […]
Read More