Category: psychology

Toba’s heroic Olympic performance

On Floor exercise Andreas Toba, the lead off gymnast, injured his knee on his first tumbling pass.

“I knew immediately that something was wrong,” he said. “I cried like a little kid. I had hopes to make the All-around final here, but it was not to be.”

Teammate Marcel Nguyen empathised: “It really broke my heart,” he said. “I know how hard he has been fighting for this competition. He wanted to fulfil his dream here, competing and qualify for the All-around final. And then this happens.”

FIG

2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro/BRA, 5.8. - 21.8.2016
2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro/BRA, 5.8. – 21.8.2016

Andreas Toba was unable to finish his earlier floor routine after badly injuring his knee in qualifications. But not wanting to let down Team Germany, he fought through the pain to compete on pommel horse.

NBC

Click through to NBC to watch that routine.

If he’d not competed Germany would not have qualified to the Team final. Respect.

As it turned out they would have finished top 8 without that routine. But Toba did not know that at the time.

Why I Hate the F Word

Miss Val:

This past year the UCLA Gymnastics team set a goal to win the National Championship. We finished 5th.

It doesn’t equate to failure. It means we didn’t perform well enough to earn enough points to take first place.

Facts: We finished higher than we’d been ranked all year. We hit 48 for 48 routines at the NCAA championships. We stuck more landings in those two meets than we did all season. We reached the pinnacle of Coach Wooden’s pyramid of Success – Competitive Greatness: “to be able to be your best when your best is needed.” …

Why I Hate the F Word

Miss Val

coaching Robots

Nick Ruddock:

How do you want your athletes to remember their training in years to come?

How do you want them to remember the time you spent with them?

Would they have positive memories, or negative thoughts?

Are you suppressing character or allowing it to flourish?

Are you facilitating creativity or restricting it?

Do your athletes regularly laugh and smile whilst training?

Are you having fun whilst you coach?

Do you enjoy the time spent with your athletes?

Do they regularly laugh and smile whilst training?

Most importantly, does the thought of spending another ten years in your current conditions and environment scare you or excite you?

Food for thought as always …

15-Robots

Katy Perry – Rise (NBC Olympics video)

This is AWESOME. I love the Olympics. 🙂

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

related – The 5 best (and 5 worst) Olympic anthems

Japanese Men’s Olympic team

“I don’t think of it as pressure,” the record six-time all-around world champion told The Japan Times. “I don’t think about what will happen if I make a mistake — I think about how the team will benefit if I’m successful.

Uchimura

Uchimura has been named team captain in what will be his third Olympics, and Tanaka has noticed a change in his teammate.

“He has more conversations with everyone now,” said the 26-year-old Tanaka, who was part of the Japan team that claimed silver in London four years ago along with Uchimura, Kato, Yamamuro and Kazuhito Tanaka. …

“We start on the pommel horse, and if we’re successful we can ride the momentum for the rest of the competition,” he said. “That’s the apparatus that’s easiest to fall off, so if we can do well it will help us to relax as a team. …

According to Uchimura, the timing of the preliminary rounds could also give Japan problems.

“The competition starts at 10 a.m., which is early,” he said. …

Uchimura determined to lead Japan to team gold in Rio

A few clips from a recent mock meet.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Serena Williams – “I still Rise”

Serena Williams recites her favourite poem ‘I Rise’ by Maya Angelou. Fantastic.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Here was a girl who grew up in Compton, Los Angeles, with only a hazy, Disney version of what Wimbledon meant …

Serena Williams: game, set, match and a place in history
She has fought her way through prejudice to win 21 Grand Slam titles, and counting