I would but if you cant no one can i look terrible it

•“I would but…”; if you can’t no-one can.
•“I look terrible”, “it was just luck” – accept complements
•“I will when…” Be proactive: TNT today not tomorrow
•If you think you can’t you are right!
•If you think you can you will!
•Look for athletes who: walked slumped, eyes down, don’t look you in the eyes, always stay at the
back, never volunteer.
- “I look terrible…” – Have your athletes accept compliments, not deflect them (makes the person
giving them feel terrible) à two people will feel good

— Positive Emotional control – Anxiety
● Signs of anxiety:
Fidgets, Hypersensitive, Talks more/less than usual, Nauseous, Withdraws, Cold clammy hands,
Needs to urinate a lot, has a headache, Difficulty sleeping, dry mouth
- Not arousal; tightens the mind and don’t have the freedom to react (creates a haze in the mind)
Under-Aroused
Tired, Listless, Feel heavy, Feel rushed, Can’t concentrate
- Decision making is slowed
- Can you lift a level of arousal in athletes? Certainly you can, but need to be careful about which
method
— Positive Emotional control - fear
● Fear of physical harm
● Fear of failure
● Fear of success
- What makes fear worse?
How to control fear:
Preparation: four stages of skill learning -
1. Initiation
2. Acquisition
3. Consolidation
4. Refinement
Confidence, Reduced Pressure
- Fear of physical harm need to have a conversation with athlete about where the source of fear is; if
it is this kind of fear, should not force the athlete to play (if they got hurt, that’s essentially your fault)
- Fear of failure à don’t feel confident enough in their skill level to be competing; encourage athletes
to do instinctively what they need to do
- Don’t be mad at your athletes just because they made a mistake (will ingrain the fear of failure);
everyone makes mistakes! It’s what happens after the mistake that matters
- Some of afraid of failing their team
- More afraid of raising expectations for people
- Makes athletes realize that all they can do is their best (there are no outcomes or “bar” set)
- Anytime an aspect of competition is elevated, the fear moves up along with it (at the beginning of
competition, need to make fear to be at the lowest point possible)
- Make sure you’re only asking athletes to perform skills that have been consolidated
— Positive Emotional control – Ideal performance state
- Carrying no baggage or fear
- Emptied your mind
The flow experience:
● Empty your mind – play instinctively
○ Sweat lodge

● Optimal Performance State
○ Different for all athletes
○ Different for various skills
How to get there:
● Teach meditation, centering, absolute focus in the moment.
● Track emotional state vs performance
● Music? Food? sex? – routines?
- Emptying the mind; e.g. Barry had rugby players with experience playing 7-8 years just passing the
ball back and forth along the line à one group’s players let the pressure get to them, started arguing
with each other although they all took part in dropping the ball
- Make sure athletes are relaxed and their minds are clear of anxiety; getting rid of them being
pressured by thinking about winning and losing
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