Category: psychology

Shannon Miller inspires

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

raising confident girls

You May Be Holding Your Daughter Back With This Common Practice. Here’s How to Raise a Confident Leader

Thanks Andrea.

 

“win the workout”

Wayne Goldsmith overstates as always. But he’s correct on this point:

… a workout which engages the heart and mind of every athlete so that all activities are performed with passion, precision and perfection is a great workout. …

Engagement can be defined as the ability of a coach to create a performance environment where every athlete wants to give more than can reasonably be expected.

Motivation is the desire: the fire that drives an athlete towards a goal or achievement.

So, the key to great coaching is not sports science and it’s not actually coaching per se: it’s providing athletes with the environment and opportunity to express their engagement and motivation through their training: through the way they complete their workouts. …

It’s not the workout that wins…you have to win the workout.

Contests, games and short term objectives can make training more motivating.

Kelsey Arnold

Aly Raisman: Wear what you want

Wear whatever makes you feel happy and confident. Don’t EVER let anyone tell you how you should or shouldn’t dress. We are all entitled to wear what we want. …

Instagram

 
Some are criticizing this particular photo.

(via Mashable)

Félix Dolci motivation

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Félix’s main opponent this season was shoulder injury.

If you don’t know him — one of the top Juniors in the world — check a Floor routine from last season.

Massimo’s Coaching Commandments

That’s Dr. Joe Massimo to you. 🙂

  • Firmly establish your authority.
  • Maturely relate to your gymnasts, but not as a peer.
  • Minimize verbiage.
  • Have a sense of humor.
  • Never utilize sarcasm or negativity.
  • Be enthusiastic and encourage the same in the gym.
  • Be fair in your treatment of each gymnast.
  • Pay complete attention when working one on one.
  • Don’t tell a gymnast that their work is “good” when it isn’t.
  • Say “No” without guilt and “Yes” with out resentment.
  • Pay attention to safety factors and be a consistent spotter.
  • Don’t be afraid to say “I’m sorry” and “I don’t know”.
  • Allot time for gymnasts to socialize.
  • Provide a forum for listening to your gymnasts.
  • Continually educate yourself.
  • Delegate responsibility to your gymnasts.
  • Be personally and emotionally predictable.
  • Be a positive role model at all times.
  • Be careful not to sexualize the interaction with your gymnasts.
  • Motivate and manage team cohesiveness.
  • Direct your gymnasts’ spirits’; do not break them!
  • Have an overall positive attitude toward gymnastics and life.

(via Tony Retrosi)

Morgan Hurd profile

Morgan‘s always been tiny. Even now at the age of 15, she’s only 4-foot-5 maybe 4-6 with shoes on. …

… committed to wearing her glasses even while she was training or competing in meets. “I tried contacts,” she explained, “but they made my eyeballs dry, and when I got stuff in my eyes, I had to take them out and put them back in.” Rather than waste a couple minutes of practice time fiddling with contacts, Morgan chose to attach her glasses to the back of her head with a neoprene strap and move on.

This sort of hyper-efficiency carried over to every aspect of her life. …

One of the keys to Morgan’s rapid advancement is that her coaches not only know when to push her but also when not to push her. They’ve been very patient with Morgan, working on her form and execution instead of pressing her to perform every difficult skill in her repertoire at competitions as soon as she can do them in practice. …

Morgan Hurd On The Rise With 2020 Olympics In Sight

inspirational Blaine Wilson

Blaine Wilson was one tough competitor. Five time National Champion.

Click PLAY or watch it on Facebook.

And yes, Blaine Wilson did compete Athens.

word choices of smart athletes

Anne Josephson:

1. Sacrifice vs. Choice.
2. Pressure vs. Drive.
3. Failure vs. Setback.
4. Short-term vs. Long-term goals.
5. Criticism vs. Coaching.
6. Tragedy vs. Disappointment.
7. Difficulty vs. Challenge.
8. Competition vs. Motivation.
9. Winning vs. Celebrating.
10. Quit vs. End.

It’s Not Just Words: 10 Smart Word Choices of Smart Athletes (2014)