Every Day Can Be a Good Day of Sports Training
One of the most frequent comments I hear from the athletes I work with is: “I had a lousy day of training.” This statement was almost always accompanied by a variety of emotions that are neither pleasant nor helpful including frustration, anger, worry, doubt, and disappointment, and, occasionally, despair. Moreover, I saw that this assertion […]
Read MoreThe Gift of Raising Ski Racers: A Must-Read
Just read a wonderful commentary about having ski racing children by former Burkie, Jesse James. If you have kids in ski racing, you’ll nod knowingly and perhaps even shed a tear (as I did). If you’re not a ski racing parent, but rather a parent of an athlete in another sport, you’ll still relate to […]
Read MoreMikaela’s 3 Gifts for the Holidays: Gift #1: Disappointment
Mikaela Shiffrin is truly a gift that keeps on giving. And during this holiday season, Mikaela (without realizing it) gave ski racers the world over three gifts from her World Cup races in Aspen. Today, I’ll talk about Gift #1: Disappointment. As most of you know, Mikaela was three gates from her first outright World […]
Read MoreLetting Go of Fear of Failure-Part IV
To close out my 2015 Prime Sport Alert! e-newsletters, I’m giving you a bonus of an in-depth four-part series on fear of failure among athletes. I recommend that you read them starting with Part 1 and progressing through to this final Part 4.
As I noted at the end of Part III, a recent email from a reader asked the obvious question, “I now understand why my child keeps getting in his own way in his racing. He has a fear of failure! So, what can I do about it?” This question led to extending my Fear of Failure series and discussing ways in which athletes can let go of their fear of failure.
Let me preface my thoughts by saying that there are entire books devoted to fear of failure and how to overcome it. Also, in severe cases, months of psychotherapy are required. My point is that, as with most things in life, there are no magic pills or quick fixes. At the same time, if you (as an athlete) or one of your children (as a parent) has a fear of failure, there are some things you and they can do to relieve the burden of fear of failure and begin to pursue success rather than avoid failure.
Read MoreThe Real Fear in Fear of Failure: Part III
In the Part I in my series, Fear of Failure, I introduced you to the epidemic presence of fear of failure in sports these days. The article describes what fear of failure is and its causes. I also describe three ways that athletes attempt to avoid failure: they quit their sport, they cause themselves to […]
Read MoreFear of Failure – Part II (Total Failure)
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 […]
Read MoreFear of Failure – Part I
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 […]
Read MorePlacebos Can Make You Better
There is a great article in The New York Times describing how placebos can enable athletes to perform better. The argument is that believing that a pill or shot will boost performance (when it really just saline) causes us to tap into a reserve of energy (mental and physical) that propels us faster and longer. […]
Read MoreIs Praise Bad for Young Athletes?
Please be prepared. I’m going to go on a bit of rant now. I just can’t hold it in any longer. I see parents doing this constantly and it’s killing me because they know not what they do and they are actually hurting their children’s personal and athletic development. What am I referring to? It’s […]
Read MoreSet Healthy Expectations for Your Ski Racer
Setting expectations for your young ski racer is an essential responsibility of parenting. Expectations tell your children what’s important to you and establish a standard toward which they can strive. But expectations can be double-edged swords. They can be a tremendous benefit to your children’s development as both ski racers and people or they can […]
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