KIMIKO
HIRAI SOLDATI
OFFICIAL SITE
|
OFFICIAL SITE |
|
Don’t Protect When You Have a “Lead” by Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D. A big mental error athletes make when playing well or winning a game is to become too protective of their position or score. As soon as you realize that you are playing well or “better than expected,” you change from a mindset of playing offensively to playing defensively. When focused on your position in the run or score for the game, you create a mental obstacle that forces your to perform defensively. In this mindset, you focus on how not to avoid mistakes. You pay more attention to what not to do more than ever. The fear of screwing up a big lead makes you control your body, make jerky movements, and lose momentum. “Once you get it going, it’s definitely not the time to protect it. Go ahead and take advantage of the momentum. Go ahead and get as low as you can.” --John Huston, PGA Tour The same phenomenon happens when a golfer takes the lead of the tournament or a basketball team gets a huge lead on the opposing team. The pressure of blundering the lead makes the team change strategy and mental focus. For many athletes, playing with a big lead is the toughest. You get a lead on your opponent and sometimes let up or coast, or expect the win, and that’s when you lose the second set of the tennis match or someone passes you down the home stretch. Every week on television, you can see athletes try to hold onto their lead of a tournament or game. But when its crunch time in the last 2 minutes of the game, the pressure to “keep” the lead or hold onto the lead causes some athletes to reverse ground and lose the game. These players have changed their focus from performing to the best of their ability to trying to just hold onto their lead (or not screw up) . Mentally, they have sabotaged their own success. To remain in a leading position, you must continue to play offensively and finish off the game. The same idea holds true when you have momentum and are gaining on your opponents. You have to think the same, act the same, and play the same. Don’t change your demeanor because the circumstances the match or outcome is now closer to finality. Keep momentum on your side. Momentum can disappear quickly when you start to think ahead of the present moment. When you have momentum in sports, you have confidence and should take full advantage of it. However, you don’t need to gamble on every play or shot. When Tiger Woods in leading a tournament by two shots on Sunday afternoon, his plan is to win by four or six and bury his opponents, not hang onto his lead! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
|
