This week’s role modeling hero is Armando Galarraga, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. Last week
Galarraga lost a perfect game in the 9th inning due to an umpire’s missed call, but rather than lose his cool and blame the ump for the blunder, he has instead handled the situation with dignity and grace. Talk about terrific role modeling!How about that – a feel-good sports story rather than another “athlete in trouble” clip. Isn’t it really cool to watch Galarraga do exactly what you would want your child to do in an athletic pressure situation? No crying, no tantrum, no fighting, and no appeal. Obviously Galarraga and the rest of the world knows he deserved the perfect game, and everyone is pretty bummed out that he lost it due to an umpires missed call. Galarraga showed a very high level of mental toughness by closing the chapter on a great game and using the experience to learn from and focus on the next game. Thankfully, the media is giving us a gem for the front page, and not another arrest, drug bust, or story of infidelity.Young athletes need to see more of these types of stories, especially since they are learning how to be role models themselves. Unfortunately, the feel-good stories about athletes rarely get this much media attention, making it difficult to model healthy and successful off-field behavior.When I work with young athletes, I use these kinds of examples as teachable moments. By identifying and emphasizing Galarraga’s classy way of handling a very tough situation, kids can learn the importance of poise, control, and focus – three very important “mental toughness” variables. Rather than let his emotions get the best of him and amplify in his mind the significance of one erroneous call, Galarraga has taken a birds-eye view of his entire pitching performance that night, and will use the experience to better himself for his next start.Armando Galarraga may not be a perfect guy, but for one day he displayed some pretty awesome role modeling behavior. If he continues with this type of mindset and focuses on the next game (rather than over-focusing on what cannot be changed), I have no doubt that he will reach his full athletic potential – and possibly throw a perfect game (again) in the future.This great story is already gone from the front page, so be sure to have a conversation with a youngster about the teachable moment we just witnessed.
www.drstankovich.com
The Sport Performance Assessment (SPA) is a great sports performance teaching tool for parents, teachers, coaches, and anyone else who helps kids participating in youth and interscholastic sports. Now for the first time ever, you can have your own “on-call sport psychologist” to help with athletic performance enhancement!The SPA is a short test designed to assess an athletes mental toughness, as measured by confidence, focus, mental preparation, arousal control, and ability to handle adversity. It is designed for athletes 12 years and up, with parental involvement and guidance strongly suggested in order to maximize the value of SPA testing, results, and feedback.To get started, simply begin the assessment and fill in the open fields (name, school, sport) — next, complete the assessment by answering honestly, as there are no right or wrong answers. It is imperative that athletes answer truthfully in order to receive the appropriate skill building feedback that is automatically generated based on the users scores.After completing the SPA, scores are immediately generated that include graphs for easy-to-view score representations and comparisons. After examining the scores (colorful icons are provided for easy analysis), a professional feedback report is made available that includes specific insights about what each score means, and suggestions for improving the areas of concern. This report can also be emailed to the user, allowing for hard drive storage and printing options.As a mentor to an athlete who has completed the SPA, be sure to read over the report and work with the child to develop ways to integrate some of the ideas provided in the SPA report. While the SPA is not intended to be a substitute for individual counseling and does have limitations with respect to the quantity and depth of feedback provided, it does serve as a very useful, convenient, and effective tool to use begin learning about how to develop sport psychology mental training skills to use to enhance athletic abilities.www.drstankovich.com
Go to the Apple apps store and head to the “Sports” category – type in “
Sport Performance Assessment” (SPA) and check it out! The SPA is very affordable at just $3.99, and allows athletes to complete a quick self-assessment that immediately yields specific results showing athletic strengths and weaknesses.
It only gets better from here — once the assessment is completed, a unique report based on the users scores is generated, offering specific tips so that future scores will improve (as will athletic performance). The trend data feature is also pretty neat, as it allows for users to map up scores to each other and actually see scores improve over time.
If you are an athlete and looking to improve, hard work and practice will only take you so far —- try to SPA and learn how you can more efficiently master the intangibles that allow great athletes to consistently perform at a high level!
The Sport Performance Assessment (SPA), created by Dr. Chris Stankovich, is a user-friendly, convenient way to quickly determine your athletic mental toughness. Originally offered as a traditional paper-pencil assessment, the SPA will soon be available as an app for the iphone, allowing athletes worldwide to not only gauge their mental toughness, but also receive specific feedback reports designed to help improve scores (and athletic success).
Please click on the link below to read more about the SPA:
The app will be available for iphones and ipads in just a few weeks, and will undoubtedly help athletes of all ages and skill levels improve athletic talent & sport performance by assisting with confidence development, focus, arousal control, mental preparation, and resiliency. Never before has such a robust tool been so widely available — and so easy to use!
As soon as the SPA is available a message will be sent out to let you know how to download the app to your phone or ipod touch!!
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