SportExcel Training Tip: Away Game Performance

Own the Coaching Zone: Carrying the team with passion

A university coach recently described to me how a parent had invited a mental peak performance instructor to work with four select athletes.  The coach was concerned that the seminar had been closed to the majority of the team, and wondered what impact this would have on the team.

Based on what he described, I told him that any program directed solely at young athletes would have a marginal impact.  Most of the information would be lost in about 48 hours, simply because the most important component of education was missing for the athletes—the coaches.

Only working with the young athletes is generally ineffective.  In my nearly 20 years of experience in this field, I’ve been frustrated by this time and again.  The reason is twofold:

1)      Coaches need to reinforce the concepts and strategies that are being taught, and,
2)      Coaches need to have their own set of leadership strategies that will develop their coaching skill-set and set the tone (of the Zone.)

Elite athletes need coaches to be working on the same page as they are.  For example, I teach athletes very effective ways of visualizing, and it is important for the coach to reinforce it.  I also teach athletes how to overcome the effects of negative people, but experience tells me that immature athletes find it very difficult to overcome a negative coach.  So, whether we are speaking of game skills or mental skills, coaches are crucial in the learning process.  They need to own the coaching Zone so that they can emotionally carry the team.

Whether you are a coach, team leader, trainer, manager or water boy, high performance strategies can play a huge role in keeping your team in the Zone.  Even parents have been known to sit in on my high performance training sessions, as initially encouraged by an Olympic Development Team Coach in Pennsylvania.

As a high performance trainer, once I get an athlete to buy into the high performance program, their change in performance is usually amazing.  And when I get the coach to buy in, the end result is pure magic.  Working with only the athlete is akin to building a structure without a foundation. By including the coach—and giving them specific strategies—I can develop an assistant who will reinforce the strategies for me when my workshop is over.

So, if you are a parent or coach seeking a high performance trainer, it is a good policy to ask:  Who will you include in the workshop?  And what strategies will we be learning to support our young athletes?  Because we want to own the Zone, too!

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Beyond Winning - Setting outcomes for Competition

Read our latest article on 2011 Goals and Outcomes for your sport:
Beyond Winning:  http://hubpages.com/t/1d3b23

People are the Problem

Check out our latest article on peak performance strategies for staying in the Zone.
http://hubpages.com/hub/People-are-the-Problem

If I Stay in the Zone my Child / Athlete Will

Check out our latest article on how to stay in the zone with your child / athlete posted on Hub Pages: http://hubpages.com/t/16d08a

Karate Kids Ban Bullies

With the remake of the Karate Kid movie about to be released, martial arts clubs are jumping on the bandwagon by touting the martial arts as a cure for bullying. And they should, because, by and large, children and adults benefit immensely from the self-confidence and self-esteem they get from the martial arts. However, as a karate instructor, I find that bullying usually stops before my students have the skill-set to adequately defend themselves. So what is going on?




Karate kids begin to transform, walking tall and displaying that confidence outwardly in posture. Their tone of voice grows commanding and their awareness of their surroundings becomes acute, and they hold their heads high. As well, most clubs have forms or patterns where students perform in front of their peers and gain confidence. And they have freestyle, point sparring where they learn to face an opponent confidently.



Once “karate kids” learn the posture of self-esteem and confidence, bullies often leave them alone. Bullies make that judgment in a split second by how one walks and talks. However, not all kids who are bullied have the time to take a martial art, especially if they are involved in highly competitive sports on club or travelling teams. But it is very easy for them to get the benefit of self-esteem and confidence, without having to pretend to be brave and “put on a happy face.”



Athletes in all sports can learn that same kind of posture in two ways:



1) By modeling or copying the posture of pros or Olympians in their sport or
2) By perceiving themselves as powerful in the face of the bully. It generally takes me two to three hours to help an athlete to stand up to a bully, and I’m talking only mental strategies here, not karate ones. Some examples are:



• The baseball batter facing down the imposing pitcher (or vise visa).
• The hockey player learning to keep his or her head up.
• The football quarterback calmly making the play in the face of a big defensive line.
• The coach dealing with aggressive parents.
• The athlete dealing with an aggressive coach.                                                                                                                


As a karate instructor, judging from the pleasure I get from it, the sport is not to be missed. But if your child’s time is committed, the projection of confidence can be applied to any sport, even potentially hard hitting ones like football and hockey. As for the Karate Kid, it is not really karate, but I’ll enjoy it anyways.