Mental Toughness, Competitiveness, Motivation, Composure and Pressure Performance
Should you want additional information on these topics, how to incorporate these skills into your own training schedule, and essential information and tips on additional mental toughness skills such as big game preparation, bouncing back from mistakes with resiliency and toughness, building championship confidence and how to maintain your focus with the game on the line, please feel free to see the EDGE Mental Toughness DVD series page. An additional hot button for the 21st century athlete and coach is the development of greater physical power and athletic ability, namely how to jump higher, how to run faster, agility training insights and smart plyometric exercises.
Some of the following free articles also provide an introductory insight into many of these key sports performance concepts.
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Please enjoy the following recent articles. Please remember: Should you wish to use any of the articles for different media outlets or on another website, please provide full authorship credit and a link back to iceboxathlete.com.Here is a list of some reliable options to buy . There are also many other luxury replicas available here.The Rolex DayDate Replica is the most famous Rolex copy, you can buy them at daydate2.top
Coaching Mental Toughness for Youth Sports – Part 1
If you asked almost any middle school, high school, collegiate and professional coach to name the one skill or character trait that is THE MOST important to the future success of an athlete, and most benefits the team that the athlete is on, many coaches (if not most) will tell you “the most valuable attribute a player can have is Mental Toughness.”…
Part 2 of 2 – Mental Toughness for Youth Sports
In part 1 of Mental Toughness for Youth Sports we discussed when working with youth players, it is much easier and much more effective to define mental toughness in relation to key on-court/on-field and off-court/off-field BEHAVIORS. Key mental toughness behaviors are very easy to understand, simple to create a plan for, and simple to execute. In addition, behaviors can often be scored, which means that improvements can be measured and monitored.
MENTAL TOUGHNESS: A two minute drill to sharpen the MENTAL TOUGHNESS of ANY team
One of the greatest needs of almost every coach, athlete and team, is a drill or mechanism that can enhance a team’s focus, poise, and mental toughness – in a relatively short space of time. Why a relatively short space of time? Because over the past 14 years of working with over 300 University athletic programs, I know that most programs prize the development of greater mental toughness, but most programs can only dedicate a limited amount of time to their mental toughness development. Coaches often have to balance individual skill and player development, team offense and team defense (for team sports), conditioning, speed, agility, quickness and conditioning etc., within a finite amount of allowed practice time and contact hours.
How to jump higher, run faster and run longer with smarter recovery steps! – Part 1
An often-ignored component of speed training is intelligent recovery. Elite teams know that effective recovery between practices and games can result in fewer injuries, greater speed, strength, and conditioning gains, in addition to greater energy reserves and intensity for that next all-important game. Most coaches and athletes focus on how to jump higher, how to run faster, and how to run longer, by focusing on their strength training base, their power training and their overall conditioning. While these components are critical to maximize our ability to run faster and jump higher (and are well covered in the SPEED-PACKS training program and DVD), an often ignored but critical component is intelligent recovery. The recovery period is when the body actually heals, gets stronger, makes all of the critical training adaptations and thus actually improves.
How to run faster, run longer and jump higher with smarter recovery steps! – Part 2
Following the cardio flush for lactic acid, ten minutes of self-myofacial release (foam rolling) should be done on a hard foam roller from head to toe to bring muscles back to their optimal length (the term is called optimal length tension relationship in muscles) and is another critical key to recovery. Athletes need to be shown how to do this correctly. Foam rolling is like eating an orange….there is some crappy stuff to get through (i.e. the orange peel) before you get to the sweet stuff and the benefits! In a similar manner, there is often a level of healthy soreness to push through when foam rolling, but the benefits to muscle recovery and overall regeneration of the joints and connective tissue are EXCELLENT. Foam rolling truly represents a simple and underutilized secret to faster recovery and thus how to jump higher and run faster in that all-important next game or high intensity training session. The other great thing about foam rolling is that foam rollers are inexpensive (as are the programs you can buy or download to learn how to foam roll), making this important recovery protocol easy and cost-effective.
Motivation & Commitment
I have plenty of athletes who are tough and talented, but not motivated to do the extra work necessary over the Summer to come into pre-season both improved and in shape. How do you increase the motivation of athletes for the Summer when they are away from the coaching staff and the school setting?
Motivation: How to motivate and handle the talented but Difficult player on YOUR team:
I recently received this question from a coach who provided the following background info:
The most talented player on my college team is habitually late to practice and other team sessions. Though he is usually a selfless player on the court and usually treats his teammates with respect, I think his lateness sets a bad tone for the team, especially since he is a senior and is not setting a good example to the younger players. I have tried to talk to him about the level of disrespect he is actually showing his teammates, but this approach and form of motivation has not had the effect I thought it would. I know there may be many coaches out there who would suggest I bench him, cut him, or use a similar type of motivation, but the team will most likely lose a number of games this year that were otherwise winnable with him on the floor. I almost think I would be hurting the team even more by NOT playing him. I am interested in any ‘out of the box’ ideas you may have.
Composure: Critical Composure Keys to Maximizing Your Team’s Performance Under Pressure
Here is a sobering thought….In the entire history of high school and collegiate sports, the most important individual and team championship skill is often the skill that is practiced the least…namely to develop the necessary level of composure to perform extremely well under pressure. Of all the sweat, effort, energy and time that is invested in strength training and conditioning, individual and team offense / defense, and pre-game preparation; a relatively small amount of time and emphasis (if any) is placed on this all-important athletic trait. Few would argue that the ability to generate composure when it counts and perform under pressure is a critical skill that is often responsible for bringing all of these components together, and a skill that will be the deciding factor in so many games in any given season. This sobering thought is even more of a reality in the pressure filled crucible of the playoffs & post-season. Through the privilege of working with multiple teams in the NCAA tournament and numerous NCAA Final Fours for both men and women, I have learned that those teams who invest the most time and effort on their composure training and performing well under pressure, are often among the best equipped to handle the intense heat and pressure of the post-season.
Icebox Featured Success Story
“Mental toughness, poise, focus and confidence is critical for the success of my team at the University of Florida and Spencer Wood is somebody I use to help create that mental edge for my team. Spencer has worked with my team on multiple occasions both in the pre-season and to prepare for big games and he has done an outstanding job. His Icebox mental skills teaching methods have unlocked the secret on how you can effectively be at your best when it counts the most.”
Billy Donavan
NBA Head Coach
Former Head Coach University of Florida
2006 National Championship
2007 National Championship
2010 Recipient John Wooden “Legend of Coaching Award”
Icebox Featured Success Story
“Mental toughness, poise, focus and confidence is critical for the success of my team at the University of Florida and Spencer Wood is somebody I use to help create that mental edge for my team. Spencer has worked with my team on multiple occasions both in the pre-season and to prepare for big games and he has done an outstanding job. His Icebox mental skills teaching methods have unlocked the secret on how you can effectively be at your best when it counts the most.”
Billy Donavan
Former Head Coach University of Florida
2006 National Championship
2007 National Championship
2010 Recipient John Wooden “Legend of
Coaching Award”
ICEBOX FEATURED SUCCESS STORY
“Mental toughness, poise, focus and confidence is critical for the success of my team at the University of Florida and Spencer Wood is somebody I use to help create that mental edge for my team. Spencer has worked with my team on multiple occasions both in the pre-season and to prepare for big games and he has done an outstanding job. His Icebox mental skills teaching methods have unlocked the secret on how you can effectively be at your best when it counts the most.”