How to Achieve Peak Sport Performance Through Mental Skills Training Part 1

Dr. Kenneth Ravizza discusses the idea of achieving peak sport performance through mental training.

When you're going well, what are you doing. When you're playing at your best? I think, on many course in sports psychology is when you're going well, what are you doing, when you're going poorly what are you doing? If you contrast those two, you can learn a lot. I found one of my best techniques working with professional athletes was when the pitcher went out and he pitched really well, I may come in the next day and I would sit down with him. I would have a tape recorder and I would just ask them, "Hey! What was that like when you really performed well?" and I record it and then maybe three weeks later, when he is not performing well. I will say, "Hey! I have got someone that wants to talk to you" and I replay the tape to him and it's amazing, the number of times I would have athletes say, "Jesus! Listen to the confidence in my voice. Ken, I'm not doing three of those things that I mentioned down that interview. Hey! Thanks Ken", and here I am. I did nothing but locate the tape and play it for the player. But the key point is, when we're going well, what are we doing? There are some things that carry through in top level performance like, being in the present moment, totally absorbed in what we're doing. Having a relaxed concentration or controlled intensity, a crystal clear clarity of thought, sometimes even not thinking at all, a real feeling of doing things, just doing it and not trying to do it. But this idea of being in the zone in some of my early research on peak experience in sport; the key question is though, that I have found were not at that level all the time. At this point of stage in my career, I think, the zone is overrated because we're not there enough, we're not in flow states that often, maybe 20% of the time. The key question becomes this, that I ask the athletes, 'Are you that bad that you now need your A game to perform well? But, the key becomes learning how to deal with your performance when it's not going great. Having something to go to because confidence is fragile. I'm talking with athletes a lot about learning to be more comfortable, being uncomfortable. I see Tennis players before they play working on their strokes. They want to feel great. They want to feel the perfect swing. Hey! The key becomes, if you have 60%, use a 100% of that 60%. As coach John Wooden would always say, focus on what you can do, not what you can't do.