Why Wouldn’t You Use a Sports Routine?

It may sound like a silly question and some of you may be wondering, what is the benefit of using a routine? Top athletes use systematic routines to help them regain focus on the task at hand; hence, if they use them, there must also be beneficial to all level athletes who are considering performing more consistently. Routines are pre-arranged tasks organized for the purpose of gaining focus. Once used systematically, it helps to push …

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Sports Mental Toughness: Can You Develop It?

In a recent interview with Jack Nicklaus, he was asked if athletes are born having mental toughness. His immediate response was that athletes do not know their fullest potential until they put themselves in situations where they are demanded to perform outside their comfort zone. Athletes are continually asked to take one step further to improve their performance. A thorough preparation leading to perform to one’s best is the only guarantee to building confidence in …

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Pre-Performance Sports Routines

A pre performance routine is the “sequence of task, relevant thoughts and actions which an athlete systematically engages prior to his or her performance of a specific sport skill” (Moran 1996, p177). The objective of executing a pre-performance routine is to assist the athlete to gain full focus of the task at hand. Just prior to starting the performance, it is quite common that noises, people moving around, intrusive thoughts, and emotions become a distraction. …

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Fear of Losing in Sports?

A very well known sport psychologist, Dr. Adam Nicholls, found that “performance is impaired more by the expectation that failure will indicate one’s lack of competence than by the mere expectation of failure to complete a task.” Athletes can become much immersed in the expectation others have on them to the point that their performances become one of not wanting to fail others more than accepting one’s potential. Athletes do not want to disappoint parents …

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Learning Sports: Using Experience to Your Advantage

It is commonly said that experience is a great teacher. But, to what extent is it really? Learning Sports If experience is the only factor to help us become better athletes, then all we need to do is to continue competing and, when we get older, we will be great athletes. As you can see, this does not really make a lot of sense. In a recent NBA game played between the Los Angeles Clippers …

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