General Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Dr. Alex Diaz Consulting

Successful Strategies When Playing a Weaker Opponent

Athletes that play against weaker opponents tend to become overly confident and fall into the trap of counting victory too soon. Players and coaches quite commonly prepare to compete against weaker opponents under that strong assumption that success is a forgone conclusion. Unfortunately, we all know by personal experience or by watching top athletes’ performance how such a mental approach ends up biting them back. In a recent squash match, a physically strong player stepped …

Mindfulness to Achieve Peak Performance

If I could mange distractions during my sports performance, I’d be able to achieve my peak potential! Distraction and losing focus are very common experiences that athletes find challenging to manage. For example: A tennis player lost the last four games and, during the changeover, he starts having uncontrollable negative thoughts. Elizabeth is bound to shoot her best round of golf and, as she is about to tee off, she pays too much attention to …

Coming Back from a Sports Injury

Sports injuries can be devastated for any athlete. Hopes and dreams to achieve big goals can disappear in just a second. Immediately after the injury, some athletes may fall in a negative thinking spiral that affects not only any hope to coming back, but also a psychological damage that further delays the healing process. It is right after injury takes place that immediate psychological support can provide a huge favorable outcome. Research has found that …

A Sports Lesson about Tenacity and Focus

This past weekend, we witnessed an unprecedented come from behind win by the U.S Women’s golf team as they defeated the European side despite the huge odds against them. Needing to win 8 ½ points out of 12 being disputed, they faced the highly favorite European team with total focus and determination. In the early morning on the last day of play, Sunday, an unfortunate sportsmanship incident prevented the U.S. team from possibly earning a …

Serena Williams’ Lesson: Coping with Sports Pressures

This past Saturday, Serena experienced a loss that will be remembered as one of the major defeats in the history of Gran Slam tennis championship. Roberta Vinci, an unseeded Italian player with limited success in prior Gran Slam matches, shocked everyone after coming victorious in a thrilling semi-final 3-set match. Vinci overcame the 300-1 odds to defeat the 21-Grand Slam Champion who was pursuing history as a win in the US Open would have placed …

False Confidence in Sports

Players practice for a long time hoping that their improved skills will be transferred onto the court or course. We see golf players spending hours on the driving range hitting ball after ball; or, basketball players practicing one free throw after another. With repetition, they notice an improvement on their shot skills. They leave the range or the court feeling over confident and looking forward to their chance to show their sharper skill. When they …

Sports Concussion: What You Need to Know

Reports show that the potential long term effects of recurring concussions lead to cognitive and neurological disability. Concussion is attracting more attention as of late as the numbers keep increasing yearly. Data indicates that 350,000 sport-related cases were reported in 2012; almost a third of these cases took place during practice. Although football is the leading sport with reported concussions (47%), athletes practicing soccer, lacrosse, basketball, cheerleading and baseball are equally experiencing concerning numbers. Although …

Visualization: Why and How to do it.

Visualization is one of the most common mental strategies used by top athletes to help them achieve their top performance. Visualization, also called imagery, intends to mentally rehearse the performance-like atmosphere by using the athlete’s five senses to pretend he is performing in real time. It is known that pretending to be executing a performance while in training by imagining its success becomes registered in the brain as if it were taking place in real …

How to Build Sports Confidence!

All the roads lead to the same outcome. Highly confident athletes are more likely to be successful. Numerous studies have been done to study the traits commonly shared by highly achieving athletes and the common denominator is confidence. The question is, how do we build confidence? According to Jean Williams, there are four areas we need to pay attention to: interaction of thoughts and performance; cultivation of self-awareness; optimism; reaching for excellence. It is crucial …

How Do Top Athletes Achieve Success?

We have seen top athletes achieving fantastic goals while others who possess equal physical and technical talents fall short of becoming successful. Is it nature or nurture? This is a million dollar question whose answer will be forever debated. What most coaches agree on, however, is that elite athletes have developed a rigorous process that helps them remain focused at the time when they need to perform. One of the main characteristics elite athletes share …