Undivided attention is key to success

Hello everyone!

            Have you ever had trouble getting focused when you’re about to do something like workout?  Sometimes the hardest part for athletes is to get their mind 100% into something.  Usually their thoughts are still racing from events earlier in the day and they aren’t giving all of their effort into the task at hand.

            This can be frustrating for the athlete because you can’t put in the work that you want to. Luckily we’re going to go over some basic techniques that you can do on your own to help you gain an undivided attention to the task at hand!

            Sometimes regaining your focus is as easy as getting away from everyone and anything around you for 15 minutes and just relaxing.  Before you’re next workout or practice try going somewhere you are comfortable, close your eyes and think and vision what your about to do and pair that with slow, steady breathing.  By doing so you’re priming yourself to think only of the task you will be facing. 

            Another technique is to use something to symbolize all the distractions you have.  For instance when you are changing out of the clothes you wore all day treat them as a symbol of your distractions.  Once your change out of them allow all of the day’s activities to leave your mind for a while and become consumed by your task at hand.  You can also do this with a single piece of clothing (headband, wristband, etc.) that, once you put it on, you are in game mode ready to give your undivided attention and dominate.

            Also try using music to get you focused or develop a routine that is easy enough to follow that will clear your mind.

Don’t be afraid to try all these techniques or even make up your own!

“Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance” – Samuel Johnson

Mental Strength: An Introduction!

Hello to everyone reading this!

First off I’d like to say thank you for taking time out of your day to read these blog posts.  My name is Chris Cannizzaro and I’ll be interning at Cheer360 this summer.  My internship focuses on mental strength. 

For those of you who aren’t familiar with what mental strength is let me give you a quick synopsis.  Mental strength is being able to maintain your focus towards a goal set in front of you.  It allows you to block out distractions, regain your focus if you lost it momentarily, and to overall perform better at any task you do. 

           Throughout my blog posts I’m going to identify and discuss some specific techniques used by professional athletes such as the use of imagery and goal setting to mention a few.

Before we go into any of those the one thing you must have for any of those techniques to work is a positive attitude.  Without a positive attitude you can be handed the world on a silver platter and you still won’t be successful.

            Each of my blogposts are going to have a quote at the bottom, I want everyone to think about the quote and how you can apply it to your everyday life!

“Always do your best.  What you plant now, you will harvest later.” – Og Mandino

What's On Your iPod?

Music has become more and more of a staple for athletes in today’s society, and rightfully so. Music has the ability to effect our mood, attitude and can positively or negatively impact our performance. The selection of music an athlete chooses to listen to before a big competition can either delay the feelings of fatigue or push us to increase work capacity. Here are a few tips on what kind of music to select to listen to before walking out on the mat this competition season.

A parents guide to tryouts and what to do if your child doesn't make the team.

If your child has not already went through the tryout process for this years team I am sure it is quickly approaching. With this impending loom of “will I” or “won’t I” make this team there are some important guidelines to follow as the parent of an aspiring athlete.

When your child decides he or she wants to tryout for a team the biggest thing to remember is that ENCOURAGEMENT is key! You want your athlete to know that you support them in whatever they choose to do. Support them by being their biggest fan, not a second coach. The last thing your athlete wants or needs is someone to tell them that they are doing things wrong. Don’t be a PUSHER- a pusher parent makes their child feel like that have to tryout for a particular sport because the parent loves it or played it at some point in their life. Just because you loved participating in a sport does not mean that your child will as well.

So now your child going into tryouts confident and eager to please the coach. They put in 100% of their energy and effort, give it all that they have got and they don’t make the team. What now? What do you do as a parent in this situation? The way that you react is crucial so be sure to remember the following.

1. Let your child EXPERIENCE THEIR FEELINGS- While I know you want to take the pain and hurt away from your child at that exact moment that they tell you, let them have their feelings. In order to grow from this experience they must work through how they are feeling to move past it.
2. LISTEN DON’T SPEAK when your child wants to talk about what happened- Let your child explain how they are feelings and how tryouts went from their perspective. You do not want to put words in their mouth by letting your feelings about tryouts overshadow theirs.
3. BE EMPATHETIC- Telling your child that you are sorry that they are feeling sad and disappointed and that you are there for them if they want to talk is the best thing to do. This is not the time to give advice on what they should have or could have done.
4. TURN A NEGATIVE INTO A POSITIVE- While your child may not have received the news that they wanted to hear, it is your job to help them understand that not making a team does not make him or her a failure. Everyone fails, it is a large part of the learning process. Use this negative experience to form a positive one. When your child is ready find out what skills they need to work on to improve their chances of making the team next year, or maybe this allows an opportunity to explore a different sport that they may have never tried.

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program. 

We all fall down sometimes, it's what happens next that matters

We have all been there, you practice everyday to perfect the smallest of details in a routine and in the blink of an eye a stunt can fall, a tumbling pass can land on your knees, or a move can be slightly off beat. After you step off the mat its easy to start blaming yourself for things that went wrong but its important to change your negative thoughts and look for a positive in your performance.

As a competitive athlete you need to understand that failure is a normal and regular process, especially in the sport of cheerleading. The skills that you perform are difficult without a doubt, and with difficulty comes the real possibility of failure. But if you never take a risk you will never improve. Failure is a great form of feedback to help an athlete understand what they need to work on for future performances.

After a poor performance it is OK to be upset, that is natural. However what you do next can determine whether your future performances will be the same or better. Take the time to evaluate everything that you did on the mat, both the negatives and the positives (yes, I said positives. I strongly believe that there is always at least one positive in every performance but it is your job to find it). After you self evaluate it is time to put together a plan for how you will work towards improving the negatives.

Answer the following questions when putting together your action plan:

1. What skill do I need to improve on?

2. What are the steps I need to take to improve this skill?

3. What will I do every week to work towards improving this skill?

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program. 

How to Create Effective Personal Goals

With a new season quickly approaching your head is filled with big hopes and dreams of what you want to personally accomplish. The skies the limit for your goals and you are giddy with the idea of being the best you have ever been. This excitement of all the possibilities that could be is great, however if you do not follow a few simple steps for setting goals you may find yourself loosing steam mid-season.  Here are Coach Kristen’s suggestions to help keep your eye on the prize throughout the entire season.

1. Break your goals down into three categories:
1. Dream Goals: long term goal, 2-4 years from now.
2. Individual Season Goals: personal goals to accomplish by the end of the season.
3. Short Term Goals: something you want to accomplish within the next few weeks.

2. When you write down your goals answer the following questions:
1. How long will it take to reach this goal?
2. What is my first step in achieving this goal?
3. What results may or may not occur due to this goal?
4. What are the steps that are required to meet this goal?

3. Your goals should be “SMART”:
1. S- Specific
2. M- Meaningful
3. A- Attainable
4. R- Rewarding
5. T- Trackable

4. Evaluate your goals often: goal setting is only effective if you constantly evaluate where you are in relation to achieving your goal. Setting goals at the beginning of the season and then never looking at them again is as ineffective as never creating goals in the first place. Every week you should go over your goals, what you are doing to achieve your goals and altering your plan of action to achieve your goals as necessary.

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program. 

The Value in a Training Diary

For most athletes the hours, days and months seem to fly by when you are in season. Before you know it you are at your last game or competition and can’t really remember everything you did to get to this point. Whether the outcome of that game or competition is what you had expected or not wouldn’t it be great to look back and be able to analyze the path that got to you to that point?

One of my biggest suggestions for any athlete who is looking to improve their performance is to keep a training diary. Keeping a training diary is probably one of the most useful, yet overlooked secrets in sport! This can be done in so many ways, you just need to find which one works best for you. Get a notebook and keep it in your sport bag to write in immediately following a practice or competition, create a virtual notebook on your computer to write in when you get home, or download a training diary app from your smart phone to have wherever you go!

Coach Kristen has developed a training diary template that can be found and printed out by clicking HERE! Take the time after each practice game or competition to answer these questions and add anything else you feel is important. Make sure to look back periodically and evaluate your training either alone or share your diary with your coach and ask for his or her suggestions. Because remember…you cant figure out where you are going without knowing where you have been first!

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program. 

Do I Need Mental Game Coaching? (Assessment Included!)

The truth is every athlete from beginner to professional can benefit from working on their mental game. If an athlete wants to be the best they can possibly be they must not only train their physical game but their mental game as well.

Mental Game Assessment

Here is a list of statements, put a check next to all that apply to you.

~You do not have well-defined goals or goal specificity. You lack direction.

~You perform better in practice than during competition.

~You are so self-conscious; you worry about what others think about your game.

~You maintain many self-doubts about your sport before or during competitions.

~You worry about letting others down by not performing up to others expectations.

~You are too self-conscious and worried about how others may perceive you.

~You suffer from anxiety, worry, or excess tension when in competition.

~Pre-game jitters do not go away after the first few minutes into the competition.

~You are motivated by fear of failure and it affects your performance in competition.

~You have a fear of success and sabotage yourself when you are winning.

~You are not sure why you play your sport or let others be your source of motivation.

~You are motivated by external rewards, recognition, or praise.

~You attach your self-worth to how well you perform in sports.

~You lose focus or have mental lapses during critical times of the game.

~You go through the motions physically without mental focus or intensity.

~You are not excited enough or are too excited to perform your best in competition.

~You are distracted by things that go on around you in your environment.

~You have doubts or negative thoughts before, during, or after competition.

~Post-injury you cannot perform the way you did pre-injury even when 100% physically. When performing well you may sabotage your performance with a comfort zone (protect your lead) or expectations that limit your ability to press forward.

~You become easily frustrated because of high expectations.

~You cannot perform with freedom or trust in times of adversity or pressure.

~You focus too much on your mechanics or technique when competing.

~You do not concentrate in the here and now or focus only on execution.

~You think of too much about consequences of your performance, good or bad.

~You over analyze mistakes (technique) and thus think too much about technique.

~You suffer from low self-confidence or self-esteem.

~You limit your performance with negative self-labels such as “I am a choker” or “I can’t do this skill.”

~You have trouble forgetting or letting go of bad past performances.

~Your anger or frustration gets in the way of peak performance.

~You are frequently disappointed with your performance and wish it was better.

~You have a burning desire to be the best ever at your sport or just want to know how to improve your mental game.

If you have checked off 3 or more of the boxes above you are a good candidate for Mental Game Coaching.

Just like your physical skills take the time to acknowledge the mental skills that you are weak in and create a plan with your Mental Game Coach to help take your performance to the next level. 

*Are you interested in working on your mental game one-on-one? Did you know Cheer360 offers individual mental game coaching which can be done at the Cheer360 facility OR by Skype in the comfort of your own home! Contact us for more information.*

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program. 

Visualization: If You Can See It You Can Do It!

Did you know that your brain cannot tell the difference between an imagined and a real action? That’s right! With this being said, as an athlete visualization is a very important and useful skill.  They say practice makes perfect so when your body is tired from physically practicing a skill use some visualization to continue working on your game!

Follow these tips when working on visualization:

1. Practice, Practice, Practice!- spend 10-15 minutes each day working on your visualization.  I suggest using the time right before you go to sleep to focus on your mental training.  Make sure its quiet and you have little to no distractions.  Also, do not get discouraged if you loose focus or become distracted.  Visualization just like anything you do takes time and practice.

2.  Use All of Your Senses- The best visualization is very detailed and feels as if it is really happening.  Take the time to set the stage for the skill you are visualizing.  What do you see?, what sounds do you hear?, how do you feel?, are there any distinct smells? 

3. Change Your Perspective- Visualization can be done in two different ways (associated and disassociated).  Associated is when you are looking out from your body, this is the most common way to visualize.  Disassociated is when you are watching yourself complete a skill.  By watching yourself you can see how a movement should be broken down.  This can be helpful if you are struggling with a particular skill.  To get the full benefit from your visualization be sure to use both associated and disassociated.

Start a visualization routine today to optimize your performance!

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program. 

Will You Be Mentally Prepared Like Overall #1 NFL Draft Pick Eric Fisher?

If you did not know the NFL 2013 Draft started last Thursday and ended on Saturday.  As I sat watching these young NFL hopefuls wait patiently to hear their name called, I couldn’t help but think about how the selection process of any sport, regardless of level, is a nerve-wracking experience.  However, with both physical and mental preparation this selection process can be a less stressful experience. 

I came across a great article  from www.sportpsychologyfootball.com on Eric Fisher who was the overall #1 draft pick going to the Kansas City Chiefs.  Fisher is an outstanding athlete who pushed himself physically everyday.  But what is even more interesting is that he also took the time to work on his mental toughness which helped him to keep focus on his goal of one day playing in the NFL.  Fisher explains that his “mental preparation for football provided the ability to maintain focus on goals and improvement.  This mental focus allowed for great success both in the weight room, and on the football field.”

Soon tryouts will be upon us and just like Eric Fisher you will be waiting patiently to hear if you have been selected for your team.  Take the time to build up your mental toughness so you will be 100% prepared for the tryout process.  The coaches and judges like to see a confident athlete standing before them. 

If you are looking to increase your confidence and become more mentally prepared before tryouts Cheer360 can help!  Don’t let your nerves get the best of you when it matters the most, start a mental training regimen today!

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program.