The Secret to Success in Sports
Do you believe that you will perform twice as good if you trained twice as long?
The “more is better” mentality is thrust upon young athletes at a very early age.
Parents and coaches try to get to get kids to specialize in one sport at early ages.
Parents feel they need to get their child going in a sport early so they are not left behind by other athletes.
These young athletes grasp tightly to that ideal as they progress forward in their sport, so they train longer and longer.
Young athletes often train longer than collegiate athletes who are mandated to train no longer than 20 hours a week.
Even when young athletes hit a performance lull, they hit the gym longer, get more private instruction and practice even more when they get home.
Does this sound like the path your athletic career has taken? Have you become twice as good in your sport?
The reality is that hard work helps you improve to a point. Too much physical training, or over-training, leads to mental exhaustion, frustration, staleness and a decline in performance.
When athletes spend an inordinate amount of time training in one sport from an early age, they lose their passion, become “burnt out” and often quit their sport even before college.
So what is the key to improved performance if doubling down on physical training is not beneficial?
The most effective way to improve performance without burning out is to supplement your physical hard work with mental training.
The Mayo Clinic Center in downtown Minneapolis recently held a seminar to bring in experts to talk to high school kids about what it really means to be a “healthy” athlete. One major topic of interest was over-specialization and the stress caused by focusing on one sport from an early age.
Exercise expert Ben Maronde emphasized the importance of balance instead of over-specialization and over-training.
MARONDE: “What I want them to take away is the value of a strong foundation and a solid base of movement skills. I think far too often we have athletes these days who come through and they get the sports-specific skills pushed on them at an early age.”
Sport Psychologist Dr. Justin Anderson talked about the benefits of training mind and body.
ANDERSON: “I think a lot of [athletes] don’t understand what are the triggers to their stressors. How do they manage the stress, how do they deal with it — and there’s a lot of stress out there. What these kids want to know is how to get better — now. What they are [taught here] is take care of your mind and your body.”
If you agree that stress and over-training have adversely affected your performance, then commit to developing your mental game.
Mental training will keep your enthusiasm up, help you stay motivated and improve your performance without suffering through the detrimental effects of over-training.
Tip for improving your mental game:
Your coach has helped you develop a training plan to develop your body for physical competition. Seek out the expert advice of a Mental Game Coach to help you get mentally prepared for competition.
A psychological skills training program (goal setting, imagery, stress management, confidence building and focusing) will help you reap greater rewards within your sport.
Boost Your Self-Confidence With Mental Game Coaching!
Master mental game coach, Dr. Patrick Cohn, can help you or your athlete(s), ages 12 and up, overcome mental game issues with personal coaching.
You can work with Dr. Patrick Cohn himself in Orlando, Florida or via Skype, FaceTime, or telephone. Call us toll free at 888-742-7225 or contact us for more information about the different coaching programs we offer!
What are our students saying?
“Maggie had such a great weekend. As always, after she works with you she just seems more grounded and focused. She’s less likely to look around and get distracted during her match. She’s more focused on one point at a time. Also, as a parent, I’ve learned to encourage her process goals and not outcomes. Consequently, she played well and won her first doubles match, upsetting a seeded team in a really really close match!”
~Katherine Johnson Cannata, Maggie’s mother
For All Athletes – Learn Confidence-Boosting Techniques!
D you have a negative self-image of yourself as an athlete that stifles confidence?
No matter ow positive you try to be, are you unable to shake the doubt that rushes into your head when you size up your competition?
Have you labeled yourself as a loser, poor closer, or mediocre athlete and these labels keep you stuck in a rut of self-pity and indecision?
If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, check out The Confident Athlete!
The Confident Athlete CD and workbook program is a 14-day plan for ultimate self-confidence. This program is ideal for any athlete or coach that wants to discover proven confidence-boosting techniques guaranteed to drastically build self-confidence and improve sports performance.
Learn more about one of our most popular CD programs in The Confident Athlete Series…
The Confident Athlete: A 14-Day Plan For Ultimate Self-Confidence
Check out all of the products in The Confident Athlete Series!
What are customers saying?
“We love ‘The Confident Athlete.’ My 10-year-old daughter is an equitation rider and show jumper. We started your program as soon as we received it and got to lesson 6 just before a major competition. Natalie came 4th in the children’s open equitation and 3rd in the children’s show jumping champs. An amazing achievement on which many people commented… As a parent, it has been great for me as I now am more capable of assisting her in her mental preparation. Thanks so much!”
~Beth MacLarty, Sports Parent
“I am a ASP world qualifying professional surfer and after beginning the ‘The Confident Athlete’ I had an almost instant change in attitude about my own surfing ability and my mindset going into competition. By using the Confident Athlete strategies, my confidence has done a complete 180 degrees. I won a local pro/am a few weeks back, and just had my best result of the year in one the last big events on the world circuit this last week in Brazil! It is my secret weapon!”
~Shaun Burrell, Professional Surfer (Listen to his success story)
For Young Athletes and Parents – Learn More About How to Help Kids Improve Confidence Quickly!
We’ve got a great program for you called “The Confident Sports Kid: A 7-Day Plan for Building Ultimate Self-Confidence.”
The Confident Sports Kid is a 7-day program for sports parents and kids to boost young athlete’s performance, happiness and success… in sports and life!
The Confident Sports Kid is two programs in one. There’s a manual and CD for parents/coaches, and a workbook/CD for young athletes.
Packed with mental strategies that you and your kids can start using immediately, this program teaches your athletes how to identify confidence busters, proactively deal with them, manage expectations that undermine confidence, and mentally prepare to stay confident when faced with adversity.
What’s more, our program teaches you, as sports parents and coaches, how you may be hurting your kids’ confidence and gives you instructions for changing your behavior in ways that will improve your athletes’ performance, confidence and enjoyment.
Learn more about one of our most popular CD programs in The Confident Sports Kid Series…
The Confident Sports Kid: A 7-Day Plan for Building Ultimate Self-Confidence
Check out all of our products in The Confident Sports Kid Series!
What are parents and coaches saying about our program?
“I appreciate the advice to parents as to how to help your child become more mentally resilient to bullying in sports. The specific advice and scenarios are extremely helpful for any child on a team and very helpful in guiding parents, coaches and administrators in how to deal with bullying in sports. I cannot thank you enough for your input, and I am so reassured to know that there are people like you who are writing articles and doing interviews on such timely and important matters.”
~Julie Goot
“I recently bought your program for kids who are perfectionist, “Sports Parents Top Dilemma . I must say that the difference in my son was miraculous. Also, since my son read the program and did so well, I see his old self (fear of failure) coming back little by little. Do you have any other resources’ that I could get for him? He loves to read and has requested more. He even wants to go into the field of sports psychology. I am so thankful that I found your program. It has made such a huge impact on our family.”
~Sports Parent
For Mental Coaches – Add More Value To Your Mental Training Programs!
This workbook series was designed for coaches and mental coaches to use with their athletes.
The Athlete’s Mental Edge workbooks complement your existing mental training program. Each of the 15 workbooks in the Athlete’s Mental Edge System teaches your athletes a specific mental skill to improve their performance.
For mental coaches, this system is ideal for between session education.
For sports coaches, you’ll be able to conduct 15 team seminars using the workbook system.
In the Athlete’s Mental Edge workbook system, you receive 15 easy-to-read, practical Mental Edge Workbooks on PDF, as well as 16 coaches’ game plan MP3 audio files.
Athlete’s Mental Edge Workbook System
What are coaches saying?
“I am impressed with the willingness and openness of Dr. Cohn to share all of his assets (intellectual, products, etc.) with the MGCP students. You have developed an incredible model/package for mental training. Even though we are paying for your service, you are passing on a legacy built on your contribution to the world of sports. Thank you for that.”
~Tony Melito, MGCP