Category: General
Type: Tip
PERFORM LIKE A MEMBER OF THE US OLYMPIC TEAM: THE POWER OF CONCENTRATION
I had the distinct pleasure and honor to serve as the Director of Coaching for the United States Olympic Committee for almost 10 years. During that time, and for many years prior to that as a coach and in various sport performance counseling positions, I had the chance to learn from some of the best athletes and coaches in the world. As a matter of fact, as opening ceremonies in Sydney get closer, my thoughts are on an operation that I created and ran at several Olympic games for our Olympic coaches, called “The Coaches House,” or “High Performance Center.” This is a private “oasis” just for the coaches to get away from the media and families and all the other distractions, and really get focused on the next challenges facing their athletes and teams. I set up the one in Sydney prior to joining eteamz, but I can only tell you that it’s a stones throw from the village, because it’s location is a secret.
One of the primary goals of the “Coaches House” was to help our coaches with one of the most important characteristics of great Olympic athletes and coaches, the ability to focus and concentrate. Over and over again, when I would ask coaches and athletes what the single most important performance factor was when preparing for and competing at the Olympic Games the answer was, “the ability to focus, concentrate and eliminate distractions.” This is something all of us can learn and get better at, and is the focus (no pun intended) of this newsletter.
What Can You Do to Develop Olympic Level Concentration?
One of the hardest things to do, game after game, practice after practice is to stay focused. Parents and coaches can often be heard encouraging their teams and children to “concentrate”!!! Unfortunately, what this can lead to is a team full of players running around repeating the word “concentrate” in their heads over and over again. The result is some very intense focus on the word “concentrate”, but no better attention to the challenge the coach or parent was trying to help the player focus on.
Try this instead: everyday try to practice the mental skill of focusing on the challenge at hand. What does that mean? Sports is an experience, whether at practice or in a game, that comes at us one challenge at a time:
Catching a pass…or tackling a half-back
Making a free throw….or blocking out for a rebound
Passing successfully to a teammate…or covering your opponent successfully
Fielding a ball cleanly…or hitting the cut-off man
We don’t usually think of sports this way because of the flow of a game or practice. Try to practice approaching each challenge with total focus, and then be ready to do it again very quickly for the very next challenge. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted from the challenge at hand…execute as well as you can, then focus right in on the next challenge. Do not allow yourself to be distracted. After you have practiced this mental toughness skill for several weeks, it becomes second nature, and you don’t have to think about it nearly as much. If you find your focus slipping, go back to practicing the skill until you get it back. Then, the next time your parent or coach encourages you to “concentrate”, you will remember to focus on the challenge right in front of you…or maybe you won’t even hear them!!
As you watch the Olympics this month, try to watch the incredible focus and concentration demonstrated by the athletes and coaches. You will be able to see it written all over their faces. They have practiced this skill for years and that is why, despite the incredible number of distractions and the intense pressure at an Olympic Games, you will see the athletes and coaches exhibit an amazing ability to eliminate all the distractions and focus on the challenge at hand. Get started now and you too can develop this critical performance skill and take it all the way to the Olympic level some day.
Submitted by: Tom Crawford
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