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Category: Focus

It Doesn’t Take a Lifetime

Sport Psychology can help an athlete transcend from good to great in both sport and life for a lifetime, but it doesn’t take a lifetime for an athlete to use the skills learned from sport psychology to improve.  In fact, many athletes notice a difference after just a few sessions.  The before-and-after portraits of sport psychology success stories can conjure the perception that these mental skills apply only to performances years down the road.  Quite the opposite is true.  While athletes have goals in the near and distant term, sport psychology sessions target tangible skills that athletes are encouraged to rehearse quickly, often as soon as the next practice, to improve performance.  The accumulation of these skills can indeed take time, but the objective of each session, and each skill, is to elevate performance and mental wellness in the here and now.

Charting the Course Read Full Article

“This Should Be Fun:” How the Minnesota Cycling Association Is Using Sport Psychology to Help Student-Athletes on Race Day

Dew glistens atop the grass on a Saturday morning at Xcel Energy Mountain Bike Park in Shakopee. While most are asleep, Dr. Erin Ayala and Alex Wulbecker-Smith are in mid-season form…setting up four cherry-glossed canopy tents and fifteen vibrant pseudo-recliners that rival a La-Z-Boy chair and inflatable pool seat crossover.  Simple, yet meaningful beyond what one would ever know.  It’s the first weekend of the Minnesota Cycling Association’s fall mountain bike league. With a middle school race on Saturday and high school race on Sunday, around 1,200 racers will hit the course south of the Twin Cities metro. Hit copy paste for nine race weekends throughout the fall spanning the entire state, featuring over 3...

This week’s question: How can your child compete comfortably in pressure situations?

  All athletes face it: those times when the going gets tough or stakes are high and routine shots, plays, or actions become easier said than done.  It’s especially frustrating when those shots, throws, or actions are ones that the athlete has completed thousands of times in practice or in previous competitions.  It’s a crippling feeling; muscles become tight, myriad what if’s swarm the mind, and quick movements turn to molasses.  To put it simply, the athlete is unable to play freely and pressure is often the cause.  Athletes of a...