By Deron Sorrell

Poise is an emotional peace which is seemingly inconsistent with the challenge at hand. Poise is developed rather than learned. Poise permits practice to render expected results.  Poise is nearly invisible at its strongest, but obvious to all when absent.

Poise does not improve our physical skill, but rather is the state of mind with which a performance is offered. Poise is understood by few. Poise is leased by many but owned by none. Poise is relative. Everybody has a little, but few have enough. Poise is not always passive. Poise is ready to fight, but always within the rules. Poise provides us with the ability to remain focused on our objective rather than aimlessly gazing at distractions. As our temptation to become distracted intensifies, our needed amount of poise increases. It is impossible to have too much poise.

Poise is readiness. Poise is not a fancy word for composure. Poise may choose to avoid conflict, but does not equate with passive play. Poise is more concerned with winning a game than with merely avoiding a fight. Poise is capable of an aggressive play. Poise does not conflict with intense play. Poise is capable of being physical. Poise does not preclude giving your all. Poise allows us to execute the demands of the game while maintaining an awareness of the rules and a genuine respect for the competition.

Poise lessens the impact of pressure. Poise is the buffer which prevents pressure from damaging our performance.  Poise removes all competition except the other team. Our preparation and strategy will prepare us for a particular opponent. Poise can either be a key component to winning or a major cause of defeat.

Poise is always needed. There is not a good time to be without poise. Everybody is aware that poise is needed on occasion, but few realize that it is called upon constantly.  Poise must be a great strength in order for teams to achieve greatness.

There is little, if any, correlation between talent and poise. We all can develop poise if it is perceived as important and worthwhile to do so.

Poise provides us with the opportunity to do our best.  Without poise, distractions will serve to detract from our performance. You and your teammates must develop poise in order to make any sincere effort toward achieving meaningful objectives. Anything other than our best is not acceptable. Poise is a necessary component to any pursuit within a competitive environment.

The following post was written by Coach Dawn Redd.

Coaches ask for a simple, but very hard, thing from our athletes: complete focus for a couple of hours each day. I think this is a difficult mental task for our players to manage…I also think it requires practice. I don’t know if it’s fair of us to ask our players to do these things without giving them the space to practice these mental skills. Here are fourteen ways our athletes can break “focus” down and take control of their mental headspace:

14 powerful ways our teams can build their mental strength

1. Perspective.  A great mental challenge of being on a team is putting the team’s goals first…even when those goals are in opposition to a player’s personal aspirations.
2. Readiness for change. Athletes and coaches have to be nimble, flexible, and adaptable…that’s the only way to beat a savvy opponent.
3. Detachment.  This is a call to not take things personally, but to focus on what they can accomplish, not any perceived slights from the coaching staff.
4. Strength under stress. This one is the name of the game, right? Competition is stressful and, ideally, we’ve equipped our athletes with the tools to manage themselves so that they can shine under the bright lights.
5. Preparation for challenges. No season is without twists and turns, use the good times to prepare for the inevitable downturn.
6. The right attitude toward setbacks. I want my athletes to embrace their personal setbacks, because that means they’ve tried to get better. If they never experience frustration/failure/setbacks, then they’re not pushing hard enough.
7. Self-validation. Many times, I tell my players that only they know how hard they’re working. I can come up with tough workouts, but it’s up to them to make them as challenging as possible. Working hard is a mental exercise and it’s their opportunity to push when perhaps they could get away with not pushing.
8. Patience. Every player on every team at every school wants to win on the first day of practice. Special players and teams have the patience to work every day over the course of a long season.
9. Control.  Is your athlete grumpy because you corrected them in practice? Are they disappointed they’re not playing with the first team? It’s our job as their coach to remind them that they, and only they, are in charge of the attitude they present at practice.
10. Endurance in the face of failure. Quite honestly, our athletes’ goal should be to fail every day. I want my players operating at the outer edges of their ability—where failure is more likely—because I want them to challenge themselves to do what they didn’t think they could do.
11. Unwavering positivity. We have to encourage our players to be a positive light on the team. There is always a Negative Nelly on the team, hopefully our athletes will have the guts to stop them in their tracks.
12. Tenacity.  Never give up. Come in early, stay late…be relentless about getting better.
13. A strong inner compass. This is a great locker room skill. When others may be grumbling, this athlete challenges themselves to do the right thing and support the direction the coach is taking the program.
14. Uncompromising standards. The standard is the standard, regardless of how hot it is, or how many injured players your team has, or how well other teams are doing. Our athletes shouldn’t bring the standard down, but rather rise up to the standard.

What if we challenged our teams to do a few of these each day? What if, when presented with a mental challenge, we reminded our athletes that this was getting them mentally tougher for a future opponent? What if we posted this up wherever we practice so that our teams have a powerful reminder of what is required of them…beyond the skill they’re trying to master? What if we framed our disappointment with their lack of engagement/focus/whatever with an opportunity to be mentally better than our opponent?

Check out this Inc. article, which served as inspiration for this post.

Are you tired of walking into practice and seeing lackluster effort from your players?  Have you had it with trying to get your female athletes to care about the team as much as you do??

Click here to find out more about Coach Dawn’s eBook: Motivating Female Athletes

Comes with a FREE PowerPoint presentation called Guarantee Your Success: Using John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success To Increase Your Team’s Cohesion.

About the Author of this Post

Dawn Redd-Kelly is the head volleyball coach at Beloit College.  Her volleyball teams have earned the best winning percentage in school history.  She has coached at the high school, club, Division I and III levels…taking my first collegiate head coaching job at age 24 with the University of Rochester.  She played volleyball at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Coach Dawn Says: “I believe in the power of sport to teach winning and losing with grace, to inspire its participants to excel, and to create a common goal for the greater good.”

Every coach would like their players to perform better in the clutch. One of the things we must first recognize that performing in pressure situation is a skill that can be practiced.

As coaches we can help them if we embrace some of the many things that we have learned in the field of sports psychology.

In the video below, Renowned sport performance expert Chris Stankovich reveals proven techniques and strategies to help players stay tough and deliver in the clutch.

The clip below deals with arousal regulation (helping players stay calm in stressful situations). For more ideas about help your athletes perform in clutch moments click the link Winning the Mental Moments: Developing Team Toughness in the Clutch!

The YouTube video has sound, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site ( many schools block access to YouTube)

According to 30 year NCAA Division-I Coach and nationally recognized leader in Applied Sport Psychology, Dr. Rick McGuire, Focus is a fundamental skill of sports and like other fundamental skills it can and must be taught to athletes.

In the video clips below Dr McGuire talks about Concentration and it role in improving focus.

He gives you a routine to teach athletes to keep their attention on the things that matter in their sport.

This clip is from a dvd about improving focus in athletes. For more information regarding the dvd click the link Teaching Your Athletes the Skill of Focus

The YouTube video has sound, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site.

Courtesy of Coaches Network

By Kevin Bryant

I have attended the Oregon Athletic Directors Association annual conference every year since 1999. This past spring, there was a first: A break-out session led by a sports psychologist. At these outstanding annual meetings, we’ve learned lessons on a broad spectrum of topics, but never before had attendees been introduced to mental skills training.

Implementing sports psychology into high school sports has been slow for several reasons. First, mental training can seem like a “mystical” area, so we do not have much confidence in it. Second, many coaches feel that spending practice time on techniques and tactics offers greater payoff.

But I believe the time has come to invest in mental skills training (MST) at the high school level.

Consider this quote by inventor Charles Kettering: “There exist limitless opportunities in every industry. Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier.” Sport psychology is a frontier that can provide limitless opportunity in our “industry” for life-long impact and influence. It is a program for those of us looking to establish a lasting legacy and to invest our best in the lives of coaches and student-athletes.

WHAT IT OFFERS
The overarching goal of a basic MST program is to help athletes become self-directed in their approach to sport and life, which leads them to be their best competitive and academic selves. Many coaches work hard to motivate their players each and every day. With MST, athletes learn how to motivate themselves, based on their unique personalities and goals. This will impact both individual and team performance.

Author and veteran tennis coach Ronald Woods sums up the objective nicely: “Place the responsibility directly on the players so that they realize that they can control their own destiny and future development,” he wrote in “The Mental Side of High School Tennis,” an article published in the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.

The empowerment Woods speaks of easily carries over to academic goals, making for stronger student-athletes overall. “When athletic programs offer both physical and mental skills training, they provide a better argument that participation in competitive sport can also be a valuable educational experience,” wrote Weinberg and Williams in Applied Sports Psychology. Students can use the mental techniques they learn in class, at work, or in negotiating their next steps in life, and these skills will last long after their competitive sports careers are over.

For the here and now, MST leads to effective goal-setting, better focus on the task at hand, and an ability to adjust to adverse situations. This can be just what a teenager needs, as they struggle with uncertainty, immaturity, and a lack of self-confidence during the often difficult high school years.

But of course, the benefits do not manifest overnight. Coaches must spend time teaching mental skills just as they do physical ones. The most effective plan for implementation includes four stages: education, acquisition of skills, implementation, and evaluation.

EDUCATION FIRST
The best way to integrate MST into a high school athletic department is to start with the coaches. Ideally, an athletic director can conduct a training session in the late spring so that each coach has the summer to put a program in place for his or her specific teams in the upcoming year.

From there coaches can introduce MST to student-athletes. Initial steps should include sending a letter home to parents that describes the training and holding a few sessions with student-athletes. Depending on the school culture, a meeting with parents might also be a good idea.

At the first meeting with athletes, coaches should educate by outlining the four key mental skills. They include the following:

Goal setting provides direction, increases motivation, directs attention, and raises self-confidence. Athletes can be taught about the different types of goals—season-long vs. weekly, individual vs. team, practice vs. competitive, process vs. outcome.

Imagery helps athletes create a blueprint for performing a skill. This may include body position, sequencing, timing, and specific movements. Incorporating as many senses as possible makes it easier to create a more vivid image.

Energy management allows athletes to perform at their best emotionally. They learn to manage emotions during competition and gain a sense of control over a situation. This can ensure that energy is directed toward becoming focused and not wasted on corralling one’s feelings. It can also lessen anxiety and apprehension and boost positive expectations.

An interesting aspect of energy management is learning to suppress the judgmental impulse. We spend a lot of effort on evaluating ourselves and our surroundings. During competition, this can be counter-productive, taking an athlete’s focus away from the task at hand.

Self-talk assists athletes in reaching their ideal mental state. It entails finding cue words to help players focus and keep a positive outlook. We all have to deal with “the critic” in our heads, and self-talk gives us responses to the negative statements we have about ourselves.

Another aspect of the education phase is to administer an initial assessment of the student-athletes’ mental skills through the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI). Its questions delve into the following areas:

• Coping with adversity

• Coachability

• Concentration

• Confidence and achievement motivation

• Goal setting and mental preparation

• Peaking under pressure

• Freedom from worry.

Each athlete’s test results provide baseline data on his or her mental skills. By answering the assessment’s questions and then self-scoring, the athletes gain an understanding of their weaknesses in mental skills and why such skills are necessary. (See “Resources” on page 49.)

CLASSROOM PRACTICE
The next part of the program is the acquisition phase—team sessions revolving around the development of the four key skills. I suggest conducting four 30-minute meetings, with each focusing on one skill. The best way to teach these techniques is to keep things simple and use examples that your student-athletes will understand.

Consider starting with something to catch their attention. For instance, to introduce the session on energy management to a tennis team, a coach could show a short clip of the final few points of the 2010 Wimbledon match between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut, which lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes over three days (the final score was 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(7-9), 7-6(7-3), 70-68 for a total of 183 games). After viewing this video, ask the athletes, “So why might energy management be important in tennis?”

From there, coaches can lead athletes through a discussion on the emotions they feel when they find themselves at certain junctures in a match. For example, have the players think about what they feel when they are up 5-2 in the third set. Then have them think about being down 2-5 in the third set. Prompts can include:

• What is going through your mind?

• How do you overcome the anxiety that accompanies being down 2-5?

• What strategies focus you on the task at hand and not the score?

• How can you suppress the impulse to be judgmental?

Lesson plans should differ depending on the sport and maturity level of participants. The coach should also gauge how fast or slow to present the information based on the particular make-up of the team. (See “Lesson Plan” on page 46 for a sample.)

MST INTO PLAY
The implementation phase is where the skills learned are put to use. Coaches should prompt athletes to do this with quick reminders before practices and games. But it will ultimately come down to each athlete incorporating the techniques moment to moment.

It can help to take 30 minutes weekly for discussion. This can be scheduled as part of practice or accomplished whenever there are down times such as during bus rides or a weather delay. Having honest discussions as a team about the challenges and successes related to exercising basic mental skills will result in growth, just like discussing proper technique in sports skills enhances physical performance.

The final stage of an MST program is the evaluation phase, in which coaches monitor progress through several avenues. One is by having athletes complete feedback forms after the initial education sessions, at the mid-point of the season, and as the season comes to a close.

A second tool is weekly comment and observation sheets where athletes share how the program is working for them and what specific help they need to become more proficient in the use of mental skills. Keeping a log of thoughts, successes, and failures will allow athletes and coaches to gain awareness and to improve. (See “Resources,” below, for access to a sample player log.)

The goal of this basic MST program is for high school athletes to acquire the mental skills necessary for success in their sport and in life. Further, the program will help our young people become more self-activated, invested in their personal growth, and effective on any field of play.