How do we prevent it? By learning skills (eg self talk, imagery, focus, mindfulness, coping skills, etc) to regulate our arousal & get back to that IZOF. By understanding our athlete identity, our motivations, developing pre performance routines, & increasing self-awareness. Self-regulation is key!
...difficulty. After his short program he talked about how the Olympics felt different from other world competitions he's been in, and how that surprised him. I wouldn't be shocked if he never really felt settled, and it unfortunately snowballed.
My guess is that this had been building for several days. During the team event he faltered on one of his jumps but at that point he was still okay; you could see him work it out in real time to switch the order of his jumps, adding an extra jump he didn't typically do so he wouldn't lose any...
...control what we are doing resulting in a catastrophic breakdown.
...we are *more* activated than normal leading to *better* performance UNLESS we also have a lot of cognitive anxiety (the negative thoughts). So, IF that arousal is paired with significant cognitive anxiety we shoot past the optimal level of arousal into a state where we can no longer...
...stressful or potentially threatening. Generally speaking as our arousal level inceases our performance level increases and there is a sweet spot of activation for each athlete. This is called the individual zone of optimal functioning or IZOF. The Catastrophe Model says that sometimes...
...changes- your muscles are tight which can change your biomechanics, your hearing is more acute so things sound louder, your peripheral vision narrows so you can't see as much, you are more distracted, etc. Cognitively, you have negative intrusive thoughts, you perceive every situation as more...
...arousal (how hyped you are to perform) which is what we want- this is a less intense version of the "fight response". I think of it as your body is at it's battle stations and you are ready to kick ass. When you become stressed, you experience certain negative physiological and cognitive...
to move the way he wanted. My impression was that he had an inability to regulate his level of activation/arousal to the point where he fell apart. This is best explained by the Catastrophe Model (that is it's actual name). Some background: Typically, most athletes experience a certain level of...
...information/emotion and he couldn't process it and couldn't coordinate what he wanted to do. You saw him take deep breaths before a skill (which he doesn't usually do), and furrow his brows trying to figure it out. He seemed confused as to why it wasn't working, and he just couldn't get his body
So, *why* does this happen? Buckle up for a sport psychology 🧵 on the Catastrophe Model: When I watched this happen, I thought Ilia was dealing with an acute stress response. I told my pal it looked to me like he lost the ability to connect with his body, as if his brain got flooded with...
I believe Nedeljkovic joins Hextall, Billy Smith and Mike Smith as lifetime Gordie goalies.
In his post game interview, Connor Ingram said, "There's more good days than bad days right now." So happy to see him back in an NHL crease.
Hell yeah
I'm about to go to a lecture event hosted by my college with Hunter Woodhall and Tara Davis-Woodhall and I'm trying to be cool about it and failing spectacularly.
Truly there are so many broken sticks this season???? Are the players getting annoyed at missing shots because their stick explodes? Do Bauer/CCM/Warrior need to have a summit about this epidemic of shattered sticks? Do we need to host a charity 5k about this? What's the play here?
I saw Marie-Philip Poulin speak at a conference recently and something she said stuck with me: "If you aren't willing to step up in the big moments then why did you spend all that time training?" Celebrini leans into those big moments and puts the game on his shoulders. He plays fearless hockey.
Asking someone to not buy you holiday gifts is next to impossible. You'd think I asked someone to commit a war crime.
15 innings is SO MANY innings.
I'm going to need Home Depot to calm down with the Christmas commercials. It's fucking October *ninth* for fuck's sake.
Today I came across this: "We align with [other researchers] who argued that although the [concept] is a quaint one it is arguably secondary to people's perception." QUAINT!
As a mental skills coach, I get athletes all the time who want to "not think". Unfortunately that's not a real thing that your brain is capable of! It's about thinking the right things at the right time so it *feels* like you aren't thinking & to not get distracted by unhelpful thoughts.
Someday we won't feel the need to give 2nd or 3rd or 4th chances to washed up, 37 year old perpetrators of domestic violence, but today is not that day. Apparently there are no other players on earth who are younger, more talented, or have better character.
Criminally underrated!
Hockey on my television. Nature is healing.
There will never be another Ken Dryden. One of one.
I *need* Peacock to let me start a cycling stage from the beginning while it is still going. I can't always wait for it to end to watch the replay. If you are going to make me watch ads *even though I'm paying for your service*, you gotta give me the ability to start an event from the beginning.
I guess La Vuelta doesn't want me to watch the whole race?? Why does coverage start part of the way into the stage???
Watching Alcaraz at the US Open and thinking about that banger @sallyjenx.bsky.social column about McEnroe as a commentator. So weird that it just popped into my head this evening.
Shout out to EF Easy Post for having bright pink kits that you can pick out in the peloton. #laVuelta
