Do you know those mornings? The days you wake up too late, whether it be for class, practice or another meeting? The triggering sound of your alarm causes you to frown, and you’re multitasking between starting your Keurig for coffee and running to the bathroom, only to notice a lack of toilet paper. After restocking the rolls and being slightly inconvenienced, you walk back into your room to grab your coffee that has been calling your name. Yet, the low water level failed it from brewing. From that moment on, your gut knows that today will be an awful day.
We’ve all experienced this. Sometimes our lives can get the best of us. However, there may be a way we can all make this bad moment, morning, day or week happen a little less frequently. New resources from Asbury have been implemented for our benefit as students and athletes.
Our school, as well as other colleges and professional teams, recently decided to start incorporating sports psychology into athletic programs. Patrick Cohn, the president and founder of Peak Performance Sports, said that “more than half of the 30 NBA teams have performance coaches on staff working full time.”
The newly developed use of sports psychology as a direct treatment for athletes has been an aid in self-discovery. Emma Karamovic, a professional basketball player, wrote an article on her experience with this new treatment and how it has permanently affected her life. Through sports psychology, she discovered that she found the reason why she was playing sports, living life, breathing air and existing in general. She saw this as an opportunity to become the best version of herself.
“The important thing is to keep learning about yourself,” said Karamovic. “Reading relevant books to your personal goals in life, learning from people who inspire you, eliminating the time-wasters, implementing a positive and healthy mindset and the rest will sort itself out.”
Giving athletes access to mental strategies and methods such as these help them control their thoughts and actions.
Visualization is the newest form of helping athletes. This allows the athlete to put themselves in game situations beforehand to help relieve stress when the performance time arrives.
“Results suggest that imagery can be used to help control competitive anxiety levels and enhance self-confidence,” said Donovan Martin, who has worked with NFL and NBA players, Division-I collegiate and national-level prep athletes, in his article on the statistics and effectiveness of mental sports training.
This helps to give individuals methods to take control over their minds for the rest of their lives. Wouldn’t you like to learn some ways to control your temper, stress level, focus, or even your breathing?
Personally, I am taking advantage of this resource so I can improve not only my softball performance, but my overall life. Just having the ability to talk with someone about my weaknesses as well as struggles lifts a weight off my shoulders. Then I am given immediate feedback on how to deal with and overcome these stressors. Sports psychology, and psychological meetings in general, is not an overnight fix, but overtime can lead to a healthier, less stressful mindset.
Dr. Patrick J. Cohn, a leading mental game coach who consults with Tour Pros and amateurs, reported that athletes who use sports psychologists gain confidence, improve focus, and help develop team communication.
“Athletes with very high and strict expectations have trouble dealing with minor errors that are a natural part of sports,” Cohn said. “It’s important to address these expectations and also help athletes stay composed under pressure and when they commit errors or become frustrated.”
I recommend talking to a sports psychologist if you are an athlete at Asbury and even if you do not play sports, I would still recommend having those life conversations with someone else. Asbury’s Center for Counseling is free to students attending on campus and the faculty highly encourages you to stop by, especially as finals approach. We could all use a little less stress in our lives. Here is to new beginnings and more successfully brewed cups of coffee!
