Mental Tuesday
One little thought: I'm reading a book on mental training for athletes (they let pretend-athletes read it, too... in fact, we probably need it more) and it's making me realize how negative my thoughts were on Sunday. Every rush, every shot, I was thinking, "Don't let this one in."
Talk about the the wrong thing for a goalie to be saying to herself! (Why don't I realize this in the moment?)
Tonight, my goal is to replace any negative thoughts with, "Gimme your best shot."
I know it's seems corny to have to think like this, but when you're an overthinker like me, you have to have a plan for dealing with it. And that phrase will shut down the overthinking, make me want to play at the top of my crease, make me want to challenge and be aggressive.
And with that.... it's nap time!
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4 comments:
What book are you reading? I read one called Hockey Tough by Dr. Saul Miller that was pretty good.
It's actually an ebook called "The Athlete's Well" put together by Shaun Smith, who's a mental training coach (and a goalie). He's helped me a ton dealing with the mental pitfalls of the position. http://www.absolutementaltraining.com/Mental_Training_Products.html
I have Hockey Tough, too, but it didn't speak to me very well. Too prescriptive or something? I dunno.
So ... this page came up on my RSS feed from my newly installed Google Desktop and made me rethink this in a new way. Do you happen to listen to any special pre-game music on your way to your games?
I've got some CDs I've made for this purpose. If/when you get a chance, give 'Boom' by P.O.D (the Crystal Method remix) or 'Ready or Not' (Ben Grosse Combat Mix) by Manbreak a listen and let me know what you think. Find something that gets you pumped up!
One thing I've discovered and am trying to trust is that being "pumped up" before I play doesn't work for me. I've done better just listening to my favorite radio stations with familiar songs.
But it's something I was talking about with another goalie today... pre-game routines. I really don't have one. I kind of haven't wanted one because I didn't want to get in a trap of "needing" something external before I play. There are just too many varying circumstances.
Internal stuff though, I think I need some kind of routine. It's something I'm pondering this week. As I told my other friend, I was hoping a routine would come to me organically, but that doesn't seem to have happened.
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