Articles on Mental Skills in Sports
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Latest additions to this list of articles
Higher Power? (by M. Zauderer)
"It's all in her head," Toronto Sun, 1/8/10
"Pittsburgh Pirates trying to outthink opposition," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/10/10
"How Richards learned to flush her fears away," CTVOlympics.ca, 1/7/10
Seize the Moment in Your Race (by M. Zauderer)
"New Tampa Bay Bucs kicker keeps head from drifting too high, too low," St. Pete Times, 11/21/09
"Coaches can shape young athletes' definition of success," ScienceDaily, 11/17/09
"Still hurting, Orlando's Nelson making his way back," NBA.com, 11/2/09
The 5 Core Skills of Mentally Fit Athletes, by M. Zauderer
These articles cover the 5 core skills -- in this case, applied to cycling, but if you're not a cyclist, it will likely be straightforward for you to apply the material to your sport. Click on the title to see the article.
(***Note that in all of my articles, words in blue are links to other resources. Check 'em out!***)
Overview • Goal-Setting • Positive Self-Talk • Managing Emotions • Concentration • Communication
Advanced Skills of Mentally Fit Athletes, by M. Zauderer
Again, the skills in these articles are applied to cycling, but the skills clearly apply to many sports.
Increasing Your Tolerance for Suffering • Recovering from Injury • Sustaining Motivation • Handling Pressure
Beating the Winter Blues • Self-Interest and Cooperation • Assessing Your Mental Fitness
Recovering from Crashes, Part 1 • Recovering from Crashes, Part 2
Putting Failure in its Place • Moving Forward by Letting Go, Part 1 • Moving Forward by Letting Go, Part 2
Integral Elements of the 5 Core Skills, by M. Zauderer
These articles cover the "building blocks" of the core skills.
Breathing Techniques • Self-Awareness • Managing Your Will to Succeed • Building Self-Confidence
Setting and Challenging Limits • Comparing Yourself With Others
Other Articles by M. Zauderer
The Power of Cyclotherapy • Integrating Body and Mind • The Mind of a Mentally Fit Pro Cyclist
Coaching Core Mental Skills with Teen Cyclists • More Minds of Mentally Fit Pros
How Good Do You Need to Be? • How Bad Do You Need to Be? • Choosing to Compete
Beginner's Mind, Part 1 • Beginner's Mind, Part 2 • Seize the Moment in Your Race
Higher Power?
Articles in which Marvin is quoted
"Going the distance, and then some," The Chronicle-Herald, 4/15/09
"Rage against the machines," Marin Independent-Journal, 8/22/08
"Finding focus," Men's Journal, 2/08
"When an athlete is hobbled," Washington Post, 9/25/07
"Sports psychologist helps athletes overcome anxieties," Marin Independent-Journal, 2/19/07
"Marin's group bike rides liven up the miles," Marin Independent-Journal, 2/13/07
Other Useful Articles
These articles give you a sense for the many ways in which sport psychology is used by amateur and professional athletes.
What is Mental Skills Training, Why is it Important, and How Does it Work?
U.S. Olympic Committee's "Top Ten" Guiding Principles for Mental Training
"Pittsburgh Pirates trying to outthink opposition," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/10/10
"Coping with fame is no slam dunk," Boston Globe, 9/13/09
"Case study: Paralympics," The Times, 4/23/09
"Mental toughness is a good start," Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/4/09
"Mental toughness: Preparation directs life learning on, off field," Suburban Journals, 1/2/09
"Grieg coaches several Paralympians in Beijing," The Windsor Star, 8/27/08
"Sport psychologists help Olympians cope," Ctv.ca, 8/9/08
"Israel's first medalist outlines her secrets for Olympic success," Jerusalem Post, 8/8/08
"Sport psychologist aims to release the potential within the Royals," Kansas City Star, 7/26/08
"Ducks forced to replace heart of the program," The Register-Guard, 6/18/08
"How to get your head in the game," Dallas Morning-News, 6/10/08
"Sport psychologist stresses mental game," Daily Collegian, 4/2/08
"Research and tests identify psychological traits of superstar athletes," Mississippi Sun-Herald, 3/12/08
"He helps athletes keep their heads on straight," Sacramento Bee, 3/7/08
"Athletes psych up for Games," People's Daily Online, China, 2/25/08
"Doctor gives athletes and teams head start," Vancouver Province, 12/14/07
"Psyching out a slump," Washington Times, 11/6/07
"Pressure is a tiger some seek," Albany Times-Union, 7/4/07
"Mental muscle-building," Jerusalem Post, 4/1/07
"What it takes to be great," Fortune Magazine, 4/19/06
Anger
"A bit of talk therapy helps Rockets' Artest transform," New York Times, 5/9/09
Anxiety/Nerves/Pressure/Stress
"How Richards learned to flush her fears away," CTVOlympics.ca, 1/7/10
"Understanding the anxious mind," New York Times, 10/4/09
"Swimmers use mental preparations to offset prerace jitters," New York Times, 7/25/09
"Anxiety at the Plate," New York Times, 7/13/09
"Stressed-out players going on DL for anxiety," Newsday.com, 7/11/09
"Players, teams, learning to treat anxiety," MLB.com, 6/24/09
"Training the mind prevents athletes choking," Canada.com, 4/30/09
"Survey shows prepping for game time causes more stress than going to the dentist," CNNMoney.com, 1/6/09
"Before hustling to finish, relaxed is a good way to start," New York Times, 10/1/08
"The secret curse of expert archers," New York Times, 8/1/08
"When athletes choke on the taste of victory," Globe and Mail, 7/22/08
Depression/Other Illnesses & Disorders
"Running for their lives," Toronto Star, 10/2/09
"Exercise helps fight depression," Los Angeles Times, 8/3/09
"Inside lineman's helmet, doubts and depression," New York Times, 5/13/09
"Physical activity improves mood for people with serious mental illness," Science Daily, 1/14/09
Endurance
"Pushing past the pain of exertion," New York Times, 10/29/09
"Jog to the beat: Music increases exercise endurance by 15%," Science Daily, 10/1/08
Grief/Death/Loss
"Still hurting, Orlando's Nelson making his way back," NBA.com, 11/2/09
Leadership
"Success: Winners and Losers," Psychology Today, 3/1/09
Motivation
"Encouragement improves your game better than criticism, claim scientists," The Telegraph, 5/1/09
"Ravens use an old motivational ploy: lack of respect," Los Angeles Times, 1/6/09
Recovering from Injury
"It's all in her head," Toronto Sun, 1/8/10
"Finding inner strength," New York Times, 5/6/08
Visualization
"New Tampa Bay Bucs kicker keeps head from drifting too high, too low," St. Pete Times, 11/21/09
"Mind games," Newsweek, 9/25/00
Overtraining/Burnout
"Crash and burnout," New York Times, 3/2/08
Mental Skills in Baseball
"Pittsburgh Pirates trying to outthink opposition," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/10/10
"Anxiety at the Plate," New York Times, 7/13/09
"Stressed-out players going on DL for anxiety," Newsday.com, 7/11/09
"Professional baseball faces loaded issue: Mental Health," Wall Street Journal, 7/1/09
"Players, teams, learning to treat anxiety," MLB.com, 6/24/09
"Go 2 Guy: Cerebral coach helps Mariners get a hold of themselves," SeattlePi.com, 6/23/09
"Tourists playing head games," Asheville Citizen-Times, 6/17/09
"Now batting: Flyers add sport psychologist to lineup," Chicago Daily Herald, 4/24/09
"Royals add sport psychologist," MLB.com, 7/17/08
"Dodgers hire sport psychologist to help with players' mental skills," The Press-Enterprise, 4/29/08
"Pitching with purpose," NY Times, 4/1/08
Mental Skills in Basketball
"Psychologist helps put Raptors' minds at ease," Toronto Star, 1/30/09
"Too much Rod Benson: It's more than the shoes," Yahoo NBA Experts Blog, 12/17/07
"Webster's finally winning head games," The Oregonian, 7/15/07
"It takes more than basketball skills," Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/17/07
Mental Skills for Coaches
"Make mental training part of physical training," US Olympic Committee, 10/08
Mental Skills in Cycling
"Speed, head-first," Bicycling.com
"Tibco tales: Don't call me nice," PezCyclingNews.com, 10/10/08
Proper way to fall can save you in a bike crash," Marin Independent-Journal, 8/30/08
"Hard road to the Olympics: The Svein Tuft Story," BCSportsBeat.ca, 7/19/08
"Expert advice from Jonathan Vaughters -- The Climb," New York Times.com, 6/6/08
"Steegmans psyched after double victory," CyclingNews.com, 3/12/08
"The doping dilemma," Michael Shermer, Scientific American, 3/08
Mental Skills in Endurance Sports
"Inside the endurance athlete's mind," Forbes, 9/22/08
Mental Skills in Golf
"Wilson benefits from words of wisdom," Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel, 7/12/09
"Psycho-babble or psycho-truth," GolfChannel.com, 4/22/09
"Mind games? Tiger wins those, too," The Star-Ledger, 4/10/08
"Winning focus," San Diego Union-Tribune, 4/9/08
"This champion has a fist full of wedges," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4/7/08
"Masters champion's success is a team effort," Augusta.com, 4/6/08
"Tiger Woods entering a zone where few athletes have ever traveled," NY Daily News, 3/18/08
"Tiger's biggest club is his mental strength," USA Today, 2/10/04
"Behind Tiger's mental toughness," Golf Digest, 10/2000
Mental Skills in Hockey
"Talking about the psychology of winning," MapleLeafs.com, 1/27/09
"This game is played in the head," Edmonton Journal, 2/26/08
Mental Skills in Running
"Confidence key for Goucher," UniversalSports.com, 2/25/09
"Shrink rap," Runner's World, 11/08
"Runners high demonstrated," Science Daily, 3/6/08
"I'm not really running, I'm not really running," New York Times, 12/6/07
Mental Skills in Softball
"Chisholm takes it one pitch at a time," Corvallis Gazette-Times, 3/12/08
Mental Skills in Swimming
"Swimmers use mental preparations to offset prerace jitters," New York Times, 7/25/09
"Driven and decidated, Torres inspires awe from ex-teammates," New York Times, 8/8/08
Mental Skills in Tennis
"Women's tennis relies on performance coach," CSTV.com, 4/4/08
Mental Skills in Triathlon
"Before triathlon, psychologists calm athletes' fears," New York Times, 7/23/07
Mental Skills for Teens/Kids
"Coaches can shape young athletes' definition of success," ScienceDaily, 11/17/09
"Running for their lives," Toronto Star, 10/2/09
"Young athletes try new coach -- the psychologist," New York Times, 8/5/07
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