To Keeping Your Mental Focus

Tell me if this has ever happened to you...You've prepared and practiced for hours before game day. You've done all the exercises and training you know how to do. This game is the most important one of the season. You're ready to roll.You arrive on the court...and suddenly you break out in a sweat. Nothing in your life has ever been so important as THIS GAME.But the more you think about it, the more you realize that there's so much riding on this that you don't know if you've practiced enough after all. If only there was one more day to put in some time and effort.As the game starts, you miss shot after shot. You trip on your shoelaces. You fumble the ball. No matter what you try, you just can't get into the zone.The coach shakes his head at you in disgust, and by the time the game is over, you're banging your head with frustration. What went wrong?Unfortunately, this is all too common on the performance field. Learning to keep a cool head and a collected game may be the most important skill you develop for game day.And there are actually professionals who have studied this very field-the field of sports psychology-extensively. No other experts know better what to do to address those issues-game day issues.Here's one tip...Never forget that practicing and performing are two different things. On game day, forget about judging how it's going. Technical judgements are over by this time-it's time to keep your focus on what's important, and that's the game. If you're having trouble focusing, look at something that has no judgment associated with it: the spin of the basketball, the color of your jersey; until you're able to get back into the flow.The Jump Manual just came out with some awesome interviews, including Patrick Cohn's expert advice after being 20 years in the field, and (sh, it's a secret) just recently, the great Timothy Gallwey's advice on playing the Inner Game. These folks will let YOU know how to overcome the most challenging frontier we as athletes have to face, our own brain.