How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Seite 429

Here's how self-talk works. Pete Sampras, whom I mentioned earlier,
tended to let anger trap him as a child, and he allowed it to lead to
negative tension on the court. To combat this tendency, Sampras says
positive things to himself, such as, "I need to get out of this mind-set," "I
need to let go of that last point and stay focused on the present," and "I
need to stay focused on the present and prepare for the next point."
When Sampras does that, he stays fresher, he is less easily distracted,
and his mind is more receptive to being able to focus on the game.
Such positive talk and affirmation may help an athlete stay in the
present, completely focused on the task at hand. These mental skills
may allow an athlete to perform at peak output, while blocking out
images or thoughts from previous unsuccessful events. Ideally, the
ultimate goal of affirmation and self-talk skill development may be to
help the athlete's actions become automatic, yet intuitive. Allowing the
athlete to feel and sense his way through a competition is the path to a
peak performance. Most athletes at any level of sport rarely go through
a competitive event without some degree of thought or feeling.
Therefore, it's best to try and make those thoughts and feelings positive
ones.
It is important for coaches to teach competitors how to recognize and
control those thoughts. It's not the thinking itself that leads to poor
performance, but rather, misguided or inappropriate thinking. These
are concepts that noted sport psychologist Jean Williams, PhD, has
written about and discussed extensively in her work with college and
Olympic athletes. She recommends that athletes learn positive self-talk
and affirmations so that they can correct bad habits, prepare for
performance, focus attention, build confidence and competence, and
create a positive constructive mood.
The ultimate goal of teaching self-talk and positive affirmations is to
have the ath