Mental Preparation - 3
“Control your emotion or it will control you.“ - Terry Orlick

Here we are on our third Mind Game article. How are your focus exercises going? Have you been able to shift attention effectively? (See the last issue for exercises.) Remember, consistency counts. If you haven’t practiced today, stop now. Listen to as many sounds around you. Focus on one; then another, one a time. Do this for 3-4 minutes. OK, now continue reading. Only through practice can we improve our mental game.

MYTH #3: Everyone needs to get “up” for competition.All to often we equate getting ready for competition as being “up”. There are athletes who get so “up” that they can barely function. This is called your level of emotional or mental arousal (also called activation levels). Individuals have optimal levels of arousal. Sports also have optimal levels of arousal.A weight lifter may need to be very aroused and feel the adrenaline coursing through his/her veins. This gives the physical activation necessary to perform a very aggressive act - lifting 100s of pounds. A sport or activity requiring fine muscle activity control - pistol shooting or archery - require steadiness and calmness or, a very low level of arousal. Some sports require varying levels. A distance athlete needs lower levels of arousal than a sprinter but higher than the marksman. Too high or too low an activation level interferes with performance.Taking into effect individual as well as sport-specific requirements you can see it isn’t a one-level-fits-all situation. So, the first step is to know your optimal level of arousal. Your performance history can tell you this. Here are the questions to ask yourself. Answer them in detail for several of your best and worst performances. In order to be accurate, you must fully associate with the experiences - re-live them. The more specific and detailed you envision them the more accurate the data. Superficial answers won’t do.

• What were my emotions like a day before the race? 6 hours before? 1 hour before? On the starting line? In the first miles?
• What was I saying to myself prior to the race? First miles of the race? Later in race?
• How did I feel prior to the race? (Scale of 1-10; no activation to highly activated; not worried at all to extremely worried or scared - same scale)
• How was I focused? What was I paying attention to right before the race? In first miles of the race? Later in race?
What differences did you find between your best and worst performances? More than likely you found marked differences in your levels of arousal, thought patterns, as well as self-talk. It is the thought patterns and self-talk that lead the way to arousal levels. (We’ll explore this more in the next issue.)

Your homework - should you accept this assignment - is to begin logging your thoughts and self-talk regarding competition; before, during , and after. With this, note how you felt in response to those thoughts.

Next month we’ll begin discussing ways to control arousal levels to enhance performance.