The Sports Doc Chalk Talk

Bill Buckner cursed the Red Sox, and Steve Bartman caused the Cubs to fail to make the World Series, right?!

One of the most basic and fundamental qualities we universally share as human beings is the tendency to want to establish cause-effect relationships when things happen in life (AHPS).  As we go through the attribution process, we usually distill the variables down to “this caused that,” even though it is very rare in life to see one isolated thing cause something else to happen.  Take for example our current American financial crisis – people regularly point the finger to one thing (i.e. President Obama, the costs of ongoing wars, the housing fallout, etc.) as the single cause, when really our current problems are far more complex than any one person/event could have ever caused alone.

In life, there are always extraneous variables to consider when witnessing behavioral change (although we rarely consider them).  With sports this is especially true, as over-achieving teams never excel because of only one player, and under-achievers never fail due to one player’s misfortunes and lack of mental toughness.  It is in the second example (failures) that ESPN provided some things to think about last night with their provocative program “Catching Hell,” an interesting documentary that highlighted both Bill Buckner and Steve Bartman as arguably the biggest scapegoats in the history of modern-day sports.

Bill Buckner missed a ground ball in the 1986 World Series that may have been pivotal in the Red Sox getting beat by the Mets that year, and Steve Bartman reached over the wall from the stands and seemingly stole a would-be catch from Moises Alou that may have contributed to the Cubs losing to the Marlins in 2003.  Since each event, both men have been ostracized by their respective fan bases (although Buckner has recently been re-accepted by Red Sox fans – Bartman has yet to experience his redemption).  Sadly, both men have been scapegoats and unfairly judged – to the point where each has had to literally change his life as a result.

The reality is neither man solely caused their teams to lose, as there were countless factors throughout the season that can be pointed to as reasons for why each team failed.  Sure, the timing of each event caught a lot of attention, but when we think rationally we know Buckner and Bartman have been treated terribly unfairly.

Unfortunately, scapegoating is not unique to pro sports, as we have all unfairly pointed the finger at people, things, and events from time to time.  In youth sports, it’s not uncommon for one kid on the team to take unfair blame when the team struggles, as it is our human tendency to minimize cause-effect relationships down as much as we can.  Rather than see where the team failed, it’s a lot easier to point at the kid who made the final out of the game, unfortunately.

Scapegoating, while a common experience in sports, can be devastating to the scapegoat – especially if the victim is a kid.  In fact, in many instances kids quit sports altogether when they feel they are the cause of the team’s misfortunes – but that may not be the worst news. In some cases kids who become scapegoats experience depression, anxiety, reckless behavior, anger, and even suicidal ideation.  Sadly, the “loser” title is one that’s incredibly tough for kids to shake, and in worst-case scenarios it becomes their identity to the world around them.  It is in these instances where things can go terribly wrong.

Take note of how you appraise youth sports and the reasons you attribute toward your team’s failures.  Do you quickly point the blame toward one kid, or do you pause to think about all the factors contributing to the hard times your team is experiencing?  Think about the hell Buckner and Bartman have lived since their respective incidents, and make it a point to refrain from future scapegoating.  After seeing what two adults have endured by being scapegoated, we can only imagine what this is like for kids when they are pointed to as the reason for their teams failure and futility.

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Check out Sport Success 360, a great addition to all youth and interscholastic sports leagues!

I am happy to announce that Championship Productions will soon release my second video project with them in less than a year (earlier this year we released “Winning the Mental Moments,” videos designed to help athletes and coaches reach their full athletic potential). 

Staying in the Game: Combating Athlete Burnout and Staying in the Game: Combating Coach Burnout will be released later this month and will help athletes and coaches recognize and successfully respond to symptoms of fatigue, staleness, and burnout.  Both videos include the latest sport psychology theories and applications complete with hands-on mental toughness tips, strategies, and ideas coaches and athletes can use so that they not only prevent burnout from occurring, but so they can stay mentally fresh and reach their full athletic potential.

Stay tuned for more information about these videos in the coming weeks, and be sure to visit Advanced Human Performance Systems for articles and videos about burnout and other related coach and athlete issues impacting sport performance and wellness.

www.drstankovich.com

We have all seen it before — “that” parent in the stands that yells profanities, disrupts a game, or even worse aggressively acts out by fighting with other fans, coaches, or even his own child.  Of course, nobody wants to be “that” parent, but it seems as though with every year that passes there are even more parents who don’t seem to be able to control themselves at youth sports games.  This leads to the million dollar question: Why?

I’ll bet you have never met a parent in your life who intentionally goes to youth games with the goal of being a jerk.  The truth is parents do not typically go to games looking for trouble, and in the vast majority of cases when parents do “lose it,” they often regret their actions terribly the next day.

Heres another fact that may surprise you — there really aren’t many truly “bad” parents who attend games, but instead adults who temporarily lose their cool in the middle of a game and snap.  Of course, this does not justify anyone acting out (especially those who cause physical harm), but it may be a nice segue into better understanding why some parents ruin the experience for everyone when they do stupid things at games.

While this may surprise folks, the truth is we are all potential candidates to be the next adult who says or does something at a youth sports game that we later end up regretting.  The reason for this can be summarized in the following points:

• We are all human, and as humans we are apt to make mistakes – including having brief, momentary lapses of reason at youth sports games
• Think of emotions and logic being on opposite ends of a line.  While you might be in a very logical mind-state sitting at home reading this article now, it’s likely your emotions will trump logic when your kid’s game starts later today.  Youth sports can be an incredibly emotional experience, and when we get emotional we simply don’t think logically.  Of course, this doesn’t make us bad people per se, but suggests that we sometimes struggle keeping things in check when we see our child miss a play that we know she can do.  Sports are fluid and often move very fast, and so do our emotions — it is for this reason that we don’t always think logically when we are excited about what we are experiencing.
• Probably the biggest reason why parents sometimes “lose it” at games has to do with the cumulative efforts many families make so that their child can be successful at sports.  Just think about all the time, energy, and money many parents put into their child’s sports training — and then with all their hopes hanging in the balance they witness their child miss plays on the field that they know he can do!  It is in that moment that some parents simply crack, and the result is usually an off-color comment, negative body language, or even an aggressive act.

Please remember it is never appropriate to act out at youth games, and the intent of this article was to simply explain some of the things that contribute to those unfortunate times when parents lose it for a moment (not justify them).  All people are apt to make mistakes, and it is the emotional part of sport that often supersedes human logic when parents temporarily lose control.  It is also a different time today, one where some families spend unbelievable amounts of time and money devoted to sport development and training for their child.  With so much riding on their child’s athletic success, it can be especially frustrating to witness anything less than success.  The result, unfortunately, is often an unexpected loss of emotional control.

Fortunately, there are ways to safeguard against future problems — be sure to check out our expanding educational product line, including Sport Success 360, The Parents Playbook, and our audio products for parents!

www.drstankovich.com

A fight doesn’t start until somebody gets hit…

I was recently thinking about the quote above and how it applies to athletic success.  In my thinking I applied the quote to how athletes really aren’t “tested” until they face things like pressure, fear, stress, adversity, and losing.  The reality is that most athletes play well when they are happy, positive, and relaxed — but how they respond to adversity is the difference between good and great.  The degree of mental toughness (or lack thereof) will ultimately determine whether an athlete is truly special, or simply a person with great athletic potential (AHPS education).

According to sport psychology research findings, athletes who are resilient, or able to bounce back quickly from adversity, often reach their full athletic potential far more quickly than athletes who constantly struggle with stress and failure.  Since losing is an inevitable part of life, it’s important to learn positive and effective means to cope with losing so that you can more quickly “bounce back” and learn from the experience.

Developing Resiliency

Interestingly, becoming a resilient (or mentally tough) athlete is something every athlete can learn, as you don’t need to have special DNA genetics in order to improve your mental toughness.  In other words, it’s your choice as to what to do the next time you drop a ball, strike out, or miss an open shot.  Do you view these types of negative events as threats to your athletic development, or challenges to make yourself better the next time the situation happens?   I think you already know what great athletes do.

Think about it for a moment – every athlete will fail, become frustrated, and eventually lose – that’s a fact.  So the question is not whether you will come up short in sports, but instead when. It’s for that reason that you should prioritize developing your resiliency if you truly want to take your game to the next level.

There’s an old saying in life that I have always loved: It’s not how many times you get knocked down, but instead how many times you get up.  Unfortunately, feeling sorry for yourself, throwing tantrums, or taking your aggression out on others (like a referee) won’t help – but learning from those experiences will.  It is for this reason that every athlete needs to learn what I call a “bounce back” technique that will help in those moments of failure and frustration.

Developing a “Bounce-Back”

A bounce-back technique is simply something you do in the heat of a game that allows you to quickly turn things around in your mind.  For example, if you play a sport outdoors on natural grass, you might bend over and pinch a few blades of grass and throw them into the wind after a bad play as symbolism for “letting the last play go.”  Whatever you choose to develop as a bounce-back technique is up to you, but it should be relatively short, non-attention getting, and most importantly linked up in your mind to let the last bad play go!

In psychology the technique of planning to respond to negativity is called stress inoculation, and can be thought of in the same way as getting a flu shot.  In simpler terms, by thinking about how you will do when future failure occurs you will actually be preparing yourself to respond in a constructive way when you eventually come up short.  This does not mean that you should think constantly about future failure, but it does mean that you should be ready for bad days and learn how to quickly “bounce back” if you really want to one day become a champion.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself when things don’t go your way and instead throw down a challenge to learn from your mistakes- if you do I have no doubt you will one day reach your full athletic potential!

Check out our exciting line of sport performance products, including our expanding line of sport apps, only at Advanced Human Performance Systems!

www.drstankovich.com

When athletes allow anger and frustration to manifest into full-blown outbursts while playing their sport, they almost always end up playing far below their potential (The Parents Playbook).  While it is obvious that athletic performance suffers when athletes completely “lose it” (the ones who break equipment, start fights, etc.), did you know that even the smaller, more controlled anger disruptions can still negatively impact athletic potential and success?  Controlling emotions is a big part of mental toughness development, and can be the difference between success and failure if not dealt with in a healthy way.  Sport psychologists know this, and so should you.

So just how does uncontrolled anger directly impact athletic performance?  The answer is in two, inter-related ways:

• Cognitively – When an athlete becomes angry about the last missed or bad play, focus is usually the first thing to go.  In other words, rather than doing what he should be doing (focusing on the next play), he will likely instead continue to dwell on the previous bad play.  Naturally, this only compounds the problem, as it becomes that much more likely that with poor focus will come more bad plays – and more uncontrolled anger!
• Behaviorally – When we become upset and angry, our bodies respond in a number of physiological ways (i.e. increased heart rate, more rapid breathing, and constricted muscles).   When these body changes occur, the athlete is usually left to deal with a higher arousal level that will need to be controlled and tempered in order for perfect mind-body synchrony to once again develop.  In sports where precise muscle movements are paramount (like golf, pitching a baseball, or shooting free throws), the increased tension athletes feel when over-aroused can dramatically throw off the synchrony needed between the message the brain sends to the body and the ways in which the body carries out the brain’s instructions.

Many athletes deal with anger, frustration, and poor coping when it comes to sport stress (Mind of Steel).  Unfortunately, most athletes (and coaches) do not properly identify and accurately frame the problem, and end up doing what they think will help – simply practicing more. Of course, extra practice will never hurt an athlete, but it is an example of working harder rather than smarter if we are talking about controlling emotions, improving mind-body synchrony, and developing better mental toughness.

To further illustrate this point lets use the following example — if an athlete struggles in games with frustration on the basketball court, prompting her to simply “practice more” in typical practice-situations will likely not solve the problem (the most obvious reason is because it’s not a real-game situation).  Instead, the athlete will benefit far more by learning simple coping skills that can help during games, like learning how to moderate breathing, using imagery, or having a cue word to revert to when times are tough.  Learning how to respond to failure and frustration is the key, and can only be fully developed by learning skills designed to help combat negative emotions experienced in games.

Negative emotions, especially anger, can rob an athlete from reaching his or her full athletic potential.  Learning how to channel negative emotions into competitive, healthy emotions is key – and the good news is every athlete can improve in this area!

www.drstankovich.com

Check out MIND OF STEEL, the premier audio collection designed to help athletes reach their FULL athletic potential!

Now that school is underway and fall sports have begun, many families are once again invested in trying to help their son or daughter gain the attention of college coaches so that future athletic scholarship opportunities may come their way.  While only about 7% of all high school student athletes will ever play at the college level (this number includes walk-ons and partial scholarships), there are still a lucky few that will earn scholarship money through athletic accomplishments.  The following are a few quick tips to think about as your family looks into athletic scholarships:

• Play your best. Obviously the fastest way to earning a college athletic scholarship is to excel in your sport.  This is especially true for premier Division I college athletic programs, so if you aren’t exceptionally talented it may behoove you to look at DII, DIII, or NAIA options .
• Test early. For many kids these days it makes sense to take the ACT and/or SAT as early as the start of the JR. year of high school (especially if the child has taken a heavy college –prep course load to that point).  The advantage in taking these tests early (assuming the child is prepared) is that it will be one less thing hanging over his or her head, and if the score is a strong score he or she can include it in college applications and discussions with college coaches.
• Promote yourself! Most parents don’t realize that college coaches only have limited windows when they can speak directly to recruits – however, families can communicate and send information whenever they like.  Be sure to turn every stone and make it a point to promote all your athletic abilities in different ways, including traditional correspondence, Youtube video uploads, and any other social media that can help!
• Multitask and try new things.  While it may not be easy to do, it is important for kids to balance their lives as much as possible and sign up for clubs, activities, and volunteer efforts.  Student athletes who show responsibility, leadership, and discipline usually get extra-long looks when compared to their peers, so be sure to help your child round out his or her schedule.
• Keep options open. While it would be great to receive that full-ride DI scholarship, the reality is that very few student athletes are able to do this.  Therefore, it is important to keep all options open – which might include small DIII private schools who offer really great opportunities as well!

Looking to take your game to the next level?  Check out all our exciting performance enhancement products at Advanced Human Performance Systems!

www.drstankovich.com