In just one day, the Winter Olympics have given us breath-taking glimpses into the mental game, from snowboarder Jessika Jenson’s reframing to single skater Jeremy Abbott’s defeated body language. Abbott fell on his first jump in the team competition, finished seventh, and put his head between his knees and covered it with his hands. Jenson […]
When you go to a tennis match, what exactly are you watching? Or, more precisely, how much tennis are you watching? According to this article by Stu Woo of the Wall Street Journal, only about 17% of a match involves actual playing. The rest is taken up with toweling, arguing, bouncing balls, strolling, challenging, you […]
Movie titan James Cameron said, “If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.” He was only half right. There’s more to success than setting high goals. There’s also making mistakes as you pursue those goals. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not improving. You’re not […]
What can one person do? What impact can you make? You’d be surprised. Shocked, actually. Here’s a video from simple truths.com that shows what one person did in response to a challenge. If you look at the world, you can find somewhere, something, someone where you can make all the difference. When you take constructive […]
Do you know a great spot where you can relax and have a cup of coffee? You need not be tempted to feel guilty about the hours you spend there. They’re not wasted. In fact, research shows that the opposite is true. According to an article in The Atlantic, crowded coffee shops actually fire up […]
Somebody once told me that if you knew the secret to how magicians do their tricks, you would never watch magic again. It’s that boring. For instance, when a girl turns into a tiger, it’s just a simple switch with a trap door. See? Boring. The same is true with goaltending in the National Hockey […]
Years ago, as my wife and I were driving through the Southern California desert on a cross-country trip, we saw a sign that gave us chills despite the 100-plus temperatures. “Do not leave this road unless you know exactly where you are going,” it read. You didn’t need to be a genius to figure out […]
Any coach has two main jobs: to teach and to motivate. That process involves words, so we must be very careful about the exact words we use. Jack Perconte has offered a wonderful article on things to say and to not say. Among his points is that your tone and body language make all the […]
This article from US News sheds some light on what motivates children and adolescents. It compares and contrasts pupils in the United States and China. It says that up to a certain age, pupils in both countries are motivated by a desire to please their parents. Then things change. As they move into adolescence, according […]
Today we begin the end of the year awards by selecting the best quote of 2009. In terms of mind-body performance in the world of sport, nothing really compares with an observation heard during the World Luge Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., in February. “Luge is a gravity sport. You can’t do anything to make […]