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Mentality that Makes or Breaks

By Michael Shanks

The ideal sports player would completely separate himself from his egotistical self and personality, and simply push his body to its utmost limits. Achieving such a goal will never be possible for us to achieve, so people train and strive for achieving a state very close to that ideal. Interestingly, robot engineers and scientists claim that robots will be able to ‘’’beat’’’ the world cup champions by the year 2050. http://www.robocup.org/ Personally, I find such a claim to be very scary and daunting: the day when robots beat humans in our most cherished art form (see art form).

However, we will never be robots, so we can only hope to train our minds to act strikingly like one (while not sacrificing our creativity), in the effort to put 100% of our focus into the game, and the game alone. When we distance ourselves from our personal thoughts, we can focus our entire mind on the task at hand. Doing so is often times referred to as being in “the zone”. One enters a state of Zen-like meditation in which mood, distraction and other stressors simply have no place in the consciousness. You are free to execute skills just as you have trained to execute them.

Like I mentioned, when I began playing with players at new levels of skill that I had not previously seen, I played being very conscious of my every action. I had a fear of failing, and a fear of making the wrong decision, which debilitated me in many ways. Essentially, what it boiled down to was being self-conscious on the field. I lost my edge, because every movement was thought out within the analytical brain, as opposed to the instinctual and reflexive brain that I have trained over the years. I also did not take chances, causing me to play very conservatively.

A great site that describes what “the zone” is, and how to train oneself to reach it. Positive thinking: Negative thoughts can get in the way of concentration and confidence. Mantras such as "Don't miss this shot" or "Don't strike out" may only cause you to do the exact thing you were trying to avoid. Instead, remind yourself that you can do it. Repeat positive phrases to yourself as you play. If you make an error, consider it a simple reminder that your focus is off. Concentrate on what you're doing right and the changes you can make to improve your performance.

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