Many athletes train all year around. Yes, sport seasons are turning
into year-long pursuits. When I played football, hockey, and
lacrosse year around in high school, the seasons were short and
snappy.

I went from one sport to the next with a few other pick up games in
between. It was never dull or boring. Today, more young athletes are
specializing in one sport. Athletes spend the entire year training
for one major competition.

In some sports, such as skating or gymnastics, athletes spend months
of training for one major competition in the year. Skaters spend 95%
of practice time in training.

Athletes are encouraged to be in a technical or practice mindset year
around. Most of the skaters I have worked with do this anyway. They
spent six months of training before having one competition!

This is just a reality in competitive sports. Athletes have a harder
time performing well in competition when they are in a practice
mindset 95% of the year. This can be challenging for athletes who
aren't even perfectionists. They are then thrown into battle at the
end of a long season of training.

Isn't dedicated training supposed to be what makes champions? Yes,
but too much training - and not enough playing - makes it difficult
to transition into the performer mindset. When competition time
comes around, these athletes are still practicing and actually not
fully prepared to compete.

In very technical sports such as golf, perfectionists become enamored
with their golf swing or technique. They often lose sight of the real
reason they started to train in the first place - so they can perform
well on the course.

Perfectionistic golfers spend most of their practice time on the
practice tee working to improve mechanics of the swing and very
little time playing on the course.

Working on mechanics 95% of the time maybe good for the swing, but
is not the best program for scoring. These golfers look like stars
in practice, but under perform on the course.

This reminds me of when I worked with an LPGA Tour Player at one of her
tournaments a few years ago. It took about 3 hours of work together
on the practice range to get her to stop practicing and perform as an
athlete again instead of a robot.

She simply could not stop thinking about mechanics - as if it was a
crutch for her to hit good shot.

Her instructor brainwashed her into thinking that playing well was
only about good mechanics. And she was told to think about making a
perfect swing on every shot - that was the priority. After our work,
she scored her best finish of the season that tournament - top 5.

Please don't misinterpret me... Solid mechanics are essential to good
performance. But thinking too much about technique when you perform
in competition causes most athletes to overanalyze, judge performance,
and not play up to potential.

One goal of "The Fearless Athlete" CD/workbook program - besides
helping you perform fearlessly in competition - is to learn how to
play on "instinct," perform like an athlete, and perform without
excess tension in competition. All of these will help your true
athletic ability to shine.

In order to realize your full potential in sports, the final icing
on the cake is to learn mental strategies that help you apply your
skills. The top athletes understand that you must perform like an
athlete in flow during competition and not be a mechanized robot.

Want to learn all my secrets for applying your practice skills to
competition and performing with a fearless mindset? Check out my
latest addition to The Confident Athlete Workbook Series, "The
Fearless Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Unbeatable Trust."

Copies have been flying off the shelf ever since we launched the
program about one month ago. Grab your personal copy today before the
sale ends!

Read more about "The Fearless Athlete" here:

http://www.peaksports.com/the_fearless_athlete.php

Your Mental Game Coach,

Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.,
Master Mental Game Coach

p.s. Want two days of mind-expanding mental toughness strategies with the top Sports Psychology experts in the country? Enroll yourself or your entire team or coaching staff in the Peaksports Mental Training Bootcamp. I will throw in "The Fearless Athlete" and 365 days of Online Mental Training along with many other freebies to boot:

http://www.peaksports.com/2007_Bootcamp.php

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© 2007 Peak Performance Sports
Instilling Confidence for a Competitive Edge
Mental Game Coaching for Athletes
888-742-7225/407-909-1700 (local)
www.peaksports.com

Peak Performance Sports

7380 Sand Lake Road, #5012
Orlando, Florida
32819
US