Imagine that it is the last few seconds of the basketball game, and you are in a position to prove your worth.What happens next? The team depends on you to score from the free throw line. You not only miss the hoop, but you also miss your chance to score. You feel like you let yourself and the team down. You don't know what you can do to help yourself...so you don't do anything. The next game you repeat the same grand finale once again. What goes around, comes around.
Once again, imagine this scenario. You are playing golf with your friends on a beautiful day. They are seemingly joking around with you, saying that you are going to miss the putt. Your score had been, up to this time, your best of the season. But now, as you approach the green, you begin to doubt yourself, and you sabotage your efforts. Sure enough, you miss the putt by a few inches. Your friends were right. Now your concentration is off, along with your shot. Your game is not up to par, and you don't know how to improve it.
To take out your aggression over the loss, you'll hit a tree with your club...or maybe you'll suffer from heartburn while you swallow your pride until the next time.
Whatever the sport, the physical aspects of the game are important. But you know that the mental aspects are equally essential for success. For example, you must know how to swing a bat to hit a home run. But when you step up to the plate, you must have the confidence to hit and the focus to recognize the pitch. Without mental "toughness" to add to your repertoire of skills when hitting, you will not make it to first base.
Why is that?
It is a fact in competition between two equally skilled athletes, the one with the better mental skills is the one who will win. You may have noticed that difference maker in all the top athletes you have watched on TV over the years. When you are viewing the game as a spectator, part of the thrill of the game is that the players are highly skilled, but you don't know ahead of time which one will score or which one will be mentally tougher.
Note that relaxed concentration, above all other skills in sports, is the key to success. Every Olympian knows this fact. That is why they practice and incorporate mental conditioning into their performances. They want to be the best.
At the Summit Center for Ideal Performance, you can learn the same mental skills that Tiger Woods, Kurt Angle, and other champions use to win.
Our Program for Athletes
