Mental Game Strategies to Find Momentum
What is momentum in sports?
When an athlete talks about momentum, they are describing the mental phenomena of being on a roll or having a higher level of confidence…
Unfortunately, when an athlete attributes failure to a lack of momentum, they often doom themselves to a bad performance before it is even finished.
For example, how many times have you made the conclusion, “I just don’t have it today,” even before a game is finished? When this happens, you are mentally ‘mailing it in.’
When you concede before its over, your goal is no longer to try to re-group; it merely is to put an end to your misery as fast as you can and get in your car as quickly as possible.
Warning signs of negative momentum include thoughts such as:
- “I can’t get into a rhythm.”
- “I don’t have it today.”
- “My shot is off today”
- “I’m having an off day.”
- “I can’t get anything going.”
The only way to find momentum is to pump the brakes and re-group.
LPGA Paula Creamer fell into the negative momentum trap at the 2017 Shoprite Classic.
Creamer was tied for the lead heading into the last round, in position for her first victory since 2014.
After a few bad holes, Creamer was unable to re-group and regain her form of the previous day where she played the best golf of her season.
CREAMER: “We just couldn’t get a rhythm. And especially with some of these pins and with the wind and everything, it’s all happening so fast and you kind of can’t regroup. I didn’t do a very good job of that.”
The interesting part of Creamer’s comment was that she puts partial blame on the wind for the negative momentum even though all the golfers played under the same conditions.
This negative momentum can trap any athlete in any sport…
For example, a baseball player may conclude, “I can’t catch up to the fastball today.” …Or a tennis player may think, “I can’t win a game today.” …Or the basketball player who says to himself, “I can’t make a shot this game.”
If you are not aware of these internal scripts, this negativity will take hold of your mind.
Also, you must be proactive in order to reverse the momentum. Remember, nothing changes if nothing changes.
4 Steps to Find Momentum When It’s Lost:
Step 1: Recognize when your internal dialogue starts trending towards the negative.
Step 2: Hit the brakes. You need to interrupt the negative momentum or hit the pause button. This could be as simple as saying the word, “Stop!” or visualizing yourself hitting a pause button.
Step #3: Calm yourself physically and mentally. Take a couple of deep breaths or shake out your muscles.
Step #4: Regroup and start over on the next play, point, or shot. Feed yourself some positive statements or call to mind positive images where you were on top of your game.
Also, look for reasons to get on the momentum train. Good breaks, successful plays or calls that go your way can change your momentum.
And make sure you are focusing on the process by using the Focused Athlete program:
Improve Concentration in Sports!
If you’re an athlete who is frequently distracted, loses focus in competition, or wants to learn more about how to focus better under pressure, The Focused Athlete is for you!
Concentration and the ability to focus under adversity is what championship athletes do best.
It only takes one distraction to enter your mind for you to lose a critical point, miss a putt, or lose a second off your lap time. You cannot afford to let distractions run wild in your mind and cause you to make errors at critical times in the game!
The Focused Athlete is a complete system to teach you how to focus like a champion and harness the power of a zone focus every tie you step on the playing field, court, track or course in practice and games!
This workbook and CD program consists of 2 audio CDs that include 14 days of focus boosting exercises and a simple to follow workbook that guides you through each of the 14 days, helps you apply strategies, and customizes the exercises to your personal focus challenges.
Discover:
- How to quickly identify distractions that sabotage your concentration and how to quickly refocus after distractions.
- How to use pregame routines to help you harness the power of zone concentration before competition.
- How to use preshot routines before shots or serves to help you be more task-focused instead of worrying about results.
Learn more about one of our most popular CD programs in The Confident Athlete Series…
The Focused Athlete: A 14-Day Plan For Superior Concentration
What are customers saying about our mental game program?
“I have just completed ‘The Confident Athlete and The Focused Athlete’ programs. What a major difference your programs have made to me. I was thinking I wasn’t good enough and almost gave the game up. Your web site was recommended to me by another athlete (a shooter) and was the best thing that happened to my mental game. I started to get excited for the first time in a long while and the program was so much fun to do. These programs really work and I would have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone, (although I don’t want my fellow competitors to know about them).” Thank you so very much for providing a Mental Training Program, which is the best I have come across, having tried many other tapes, books, etc.”
~Peter, New Zealand
“The workbook/CD programs in ‘The Confident Athlete Series ’ are very good. My swimmer has responded very favorably to them. In fact, her father purchased all three programs. You have done a great job consolidating and simplifying the myriad of ideas in sports psychology.”
~Nick Baker, Peak Performance Swim Camp
Boost Your Self-Confidence And Focus With Expert Mental Game Coaching!
If you’re a top performer during practice but find yourself under-performing in competition, the most likely culprit holding you back is your mental game.
Master mental game coach Dr. Patrick Cohn can help you overcome your mental game issues with one-on-one personal mental game 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 mental game coaching students, parents and coaches saying?
“Your program helped me to regain focus and confidence. Our sport is all mental. I am very proud the last two races of the year. I was able to get back to enjoying what I loved to do-RACE. Your program gave me the competitive edge that I needed to win races. Thanks so much again.”
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~Burney Lamar, NASCAR Driver
Download Our FREE Mental Toughness Report!
Download your FREE Mental Toughness Report and discover if you are making one or more of theses ‘costly’ mental game mistakes before competition.
You’ll:
- Discover if those pregame jitters are positive or negative.
- Identify mistakes in your per-competition mental preparation.
- Learn the important pregame mental skills to perform your best.
- Learn how your mental game might sabotage your success in sports.
Download The FREE Mental Toughness Report:
You will also receive regular updates of more mental toughness tips to boost your performance in sports!
What are mental coaching students, parents and coaches saying?
“After your session, Mason had a game. He had the best game so far! He hustled, shot, no goals but two assists but he was cool with it because his focus was on shooting and not scoring (finally), defended well with his hands – finally put it all together. It was fun to watch and you could tell he felt really good about it.”
~Kelly, Lacrosse mom
“The sessions have been so helpful. Dawson has been playing really well and more importantly feeling great about it all.”
~Kecia Muller, Lacrosse Parent