admin, Author at Dr. Alex Diaz Consulting

How Do Athletes Enhance Their Self-Confidence?

If there is a common trait that all successful athletes have is that of feeling confident about their abilities. They all carry that intangible mystique that, when it matters most, it shows with no fail. Somehow, they are able to perform best when it really matters as they are able to successfully achieve in tough situations. Their seemingly effortless demeanor may be more natural for some athletes than for others; however, what most athletes have …

Are You Looking Backwards or Forward in Your Sports?

You may be confused as to what I am trying to ask, but basically athletes tend to pay too much attention to either what just happened or to what will happen next. In either situation, what they often fail to do is to stay focused on the task in front of them. Peak performance is achieved when we pay attention to the current process feeling optimism and trust in our abilities. As easy as this …

Is Having Expectations Helpful or Hurtful to Your Rerformance?

Athletes want to win every time they compete. It is in their competitive nature to work and compete hard in order to come on top and bring the prize home. Their wanting to win is often fueled by their own desires to win. They are super focused and are able to negotiate struggles that come along the way. They are very confident and come to compete expecting to win. Some people perceive them as arrogant …

How Do Elite Athletes Close Matches?

It is often said that playing from behind is easier than having the lead going into the last phase of a match. It is correctly assumed that the leader is the one who has most of the stress as he/she feels the extra emotional burden to having to win giving his/her prime position to do so. However, how many times have we witnessed a leader giving up strokes, runs, or goals toward the end of …

Happy New Year, 2016!!!!

Sports Mental Edge sincerely wishes that 2016 brings you happiness and prosperity. We will cheer for you as you embrace your dreams and accomplish your goals one step at the time. We all know that dreams are worth pursuing and, once achieved, the gratification is enormous. We also know that the road to achieve your dreams can become challenging, at times. That does not mean that they are not worth sticking with them. On the …

Intrinsic Motivation to Achieve Your Peak Performance

We compete because we want to win. The inherent aspect of competition is that of doing one’s best to achieve the ultimate goal. When we were young, we were given rewards for just participating in an event; maybe it was a ribbon or a medal. Coaches and parents were thrilled to see us happy. In the process, we unconsciously learned that getting ribbons was a very pleasant experience worth repeating. As we grew up, we …

Eating Well to Perform Well

Today’s demands to excel, sometimes at too young of an age, are putting a lot of pressure on many athletes who struggle with managing their competitive emotions and find in food one of the few things they can have control over. Eating disorder is on the rise and a lot of the understanding behind this concerning phenomena is linked to having to meet very high expectations in order to succeed. Some sports that are inclined …

Elite Athletes Build Self-Awareness to Achieve Success

We tend to think that practicing hard and pushing through rough experiences are enough to make it into the big leagues, but elite athletes are taught to understand that unless they build awareness of their thoughts, emotions and body sensations, they will fall short of achieving their true potential. To achieve peak performance, it is not only necessary to practice hard and develop consistent techniques, but also learn to become aware of moments when distractions …

Perfectionism in Sports: A Recipe That May Not Lead to Achieving Your Best

Perfectionist athletes continuously seek to accomplish extremely high standards. They work very hard to improve their techniques and spend countless of hours seeking the edge that will enable them to surpass their competitors. Even if they see progress, they will always see that more improvement is possible. They are quick to see the negative side of their performance and associate any error with mediocrity. When asked how they are doing, they quickly let us know …

Improving Team Performance

Working with team sport athletes requires a different mental approach than working with individual athletes. What really counts is how a coach makes sure that the team plays as a unit. It does not matter if a team is full of talented players. If they cannot play together, the team will not achieve success. Coaches choose to use different types of motivation, which could be a combination of positive or negative talks. Positive motivation pushes …