Why adolescent athletes listen when someone other than mom or dad give advice. At times when I have explained to parents what their athlete and I have discussed post session, and outlined the root cause to a particular hurdle the athlete may be facing, a few parents have sighed, some rolled their eyes, and then exclaimed with frustration: "...but thats exactly what I said to her, two weeks ago!' The parents with the open mind will then allow me to explain. Those who are unable to put the needs of the child before their own switch off before I have had a chance to say what I will outline in this article. If you are one of those parents who feel you may have jumped too soon at thinking outside support for your athlete is unnecessary, I hope that by my sharing today in this article, you will at least take a moment to pause and reflect. As adults we all know adolescence is an incredibly challenging time for both child and parent. For the child there is no other time for the human body, aside from the first 3 years of life, where you will experience as much significant physical change. On top of this the brain is not fully wired to the frontal lobe, hormones are beginning to fire and for some adolescents an adult body appears way before they even feel comfortable to embrace it. Add the feverish social and emotional changes that arrive as we transition to high school and it is incredibly overwhelming for anyone yet alone a child. And thats really who they are despite moving into double figures. During this time understanding the range of different emotions one may feel can be extremely difficult and at times painful or embarrassing. When you are feeling this way the easiest person to share information with is someone who is either your peer ( but then this doesn't work because they may feel the same as you or have no idea! ) OR a person you have zero emotional connection to. A random person for example! Thats often how I describe myself. I am just a random professional that has come into your life to help your athlete and facilitate a high level of support. Let me explain the importance of the "randomness". When then is very little to no emotional connection, and we are talking deep emotional connection, where you are not concerned with how the person will react, what they will say if your reveal something shocking, if they will judge you, then you are more likely to speak freely. More likely to feel less inhibition. When an emotional connection to a person exists, pain, fears and insecurities are likely to be amplified , even if the fears are irrational and unsubstantiated. They feel this intensity because they are fearful that what they share will be felt by you via the deep empathy and love you have for them. There is also the fear you wont understand and or completely misinterpret them and therefore get angry, even though we know this is highly improbable. Remember we are trying to reason with an adolescent brain that is not fully wired so its like trying to connect to wifi in a hurricane. There is a very high chance you'll lose connection, won't get a connection at all and sit in radio silence for days. A safe, private, place to share for adolescents can help steer them through these emotions and respect the wishes, which ultimately, underlining the desire to win and perform at their best, is to preserve and improve their relationship with mom and dad and everyone else around them. Yes thats right! Teens do not hate you or the world, they are just trying to work it out and want to do so on their own...albeit with a little bit of help from a random person on the side. Thats where I come in! Believe it or not, while we may not feel it right now, Mom and Dad, are the most important humans to an athlete. While some athletes may not be able to express it or their current behavior may not support this statement, at the heart of almost every adolescent is immense devotion to their parent. Protecting this relationship, even if it may be dysfunctional , goes without saying and I lay witness to this by the ferocity at which an athlete will go to protect it. As someone who is deeply passionate about adolescent athletes, I see this challenging time in a young person's life as an opportunity for parents to utilize the services of people dedicated to supporting them. I am proud to be that random helper! This is not a reflection of our parenting failures. This is a reflection of care necessary during adolescence. Coach B ( Parent of 4 Teenagers too)

The answer: Trepidation - a nervous or fearful feeling of uncertain agitation. It comes from the Latin verb trepidare which means to tremble. I often see this in the eyes of my athletes when they are viewing an event or a moment with greater significance than perhaps they ought to. This is only natural due to the accumulation of practice that has brought us to this present moment. Being with my athletes to absorb their fear by changing the mood and keeping it light is what I like to do most but that’s not always possible if they are traveling or we are apart. So how does one diffuse this feeling and just have a Ava go :-) ? 🥑 Focus on 3 things only: 1. Preparation - you can’t build a house on sand. If you haven’t laid the foundation then expect your performance to collapse, if you have completed the work then relax, we have something to build from. Each performance adds a layer of performance experience. This equates to skill you can not get in practice. So you are a better athlete just from taking part, regardless of the result. Now remember some events are NOT scheduled as “a priority” and coach will have told you this prior, so treat it as such! Shrug your shoulders and if today is just another training day in the office then enjoy it. If it’s a win great, if not. Next. 2. Who are you? Did you forget? Do you need to go look in the mirror and see the athlete who has brought you to this moment. Acknowledge that great human inside of that physical body. Your body is not dipping out on you so why is your mind having second thoughts ? You are team. Trust yourself. Back yourself. The body and mind work together in unison let both stay focused on executing the skills you practiced. The end product will be the result of teamwork between the two. 3. This is suppose to be fun! Fear is for scary movies and creepy dark alleys not for sporting events in the middle of the day. That tremble you feel (we all feel it fyi) is a good feeling! It’s your engine revving. You are ready to race! You are ready to play! You are ready to compete! We have one life. It’s short and the life of an athlete is even shorter. Don’t waste moments be fearful. Enjoy every opportunity and have a go or you will look back on your sporting career with regret wishing you did. Coach B

Mental Imagery/ Visualization in sport is a tool that athletes have been using since the early 1900 ( Smith,D.1990). It can be used to improve confidence, skill mastery and can help to reduce stress and anxiety. Getting started without a sport psychologist by your side talking you through each step is possible if you take the time to prepare your own script prior to starting your meditation. Ask yourself these questions and write down your answers in a journal for reflection before you start. Review your answers. Next find yourself a quiet place to visualize. We want you to be comfortable but not too comfortable. Lying on hard flat surface so you can feel each muscle in your body is ideal. We do not want you to fall asleep. Walking meditation in nature without distractions is also ideal. Mental Imagery Script - writing the script first Recall a time where you had an outstanding performance. What were the environmental conditions? - weather, surface, light, wind, temperature What thoughts did you have before and during the event? What emotions did you feel ? Remember strong emotions allow us to store our memory in long term memory. How did my body feel? -before, during and after. What are some obstacles that could possibly get in the way of my next performance? How will you manage to overcome these obstacles? Are there any key words coach wants you to connect with a skill? Remember 3 key words. Bring your awareness to your breath and try to slow your breathing down. I like to breath in for 4 and out for 7, so my exhale is longer and I am fully expired. I then take my next big inhale through my nose again, filling my chest from the pit of stomach to the top of my chest and then breath out through my mouth slowly like I'm breathing out through a straw. Ready for Imagery Now close your eyes and take yourself through your performance from start to finish. Play it through your mind like a movie. Go back and change it if you loose your focus or something disrupts you -it takes practice. See yourself and your athletic technique/ form. Be particular about details. If you are a swimmer for example, see your fingers entering the water, your elbow high, your feet breaking the water when you kick. In your mind you will hear your breathing, you will feel your body working hard. Do not focus on your opponent -you can not control them, they are just there. Focus on you and your output - can you work harder, go faster? You can hear the crowd but they are not your focus either, that is just background noise. Enjoy your mental imagery movie. Daydream. Daydreaming needs to be a scheduled session. Try to repeat this exercise several times a week. Enjoy the outcome, did you get the result you were hoping for? If not start again! Repeat this imagery exercise until you are happy with your mental performance. How are you feeling now? I hope you feel AMAZING! You have just prepared your mind for a winning performance. Now you are ready to perform without thinking! Coach B ps. If you want to take you Mental Imagery to the next level :-) ....check in with me and I'll share an advanced level of imagery I use with athletes who use my ANR program.

The male sports star is an idol young athletes aspire to be. They hold their older peers in high regard for their athletic successes, ability, and the perceived glamour that social media is portraying. Male athletes are specifically admired for their strength and image and less about who they are as people (Stoyle et el.2021). In general, the machoism behavior often exhibited by male athletes is celebrated and those who choose a sport that does not express masculine traits are commonly trivialized. It is due to this emasculated projection of the male athlete that young males in sports are conditioned to disregard injury, normalize pain, and become conditioned to remaining strong and stoic, despite how they may be feeling. (Souter et al.2018) “Male athletes can be viewed as superhuman, and the impact of their emotional wellbeing is frequently overlooked.” (Souter, Lewis, Serant.2018. para 3). It is the goal of this paper to disprove the hypothesis that adolescent male athletes are not susceptible to developing social and emotional problems in the future because of the way they are currently conditioned in sports and viewed as male athletes. In this review, the need for Mental Performance Coaches at the High School level is proposed as a form of proactive care and a gateway to encourage adolescence towards future sports psychology support in college, proactive measures towards improved self-care and prevention of suicide in young men by encouraging balance in their formative years. Literature Review Despite ongoing strenuous attempts to create equality between men and women in sports, notably with the creation of Title 1X in the college system, women still lack the coverage and support in both the media and financially to even come close to the average male professional athlete. This constant media focus on the struggle for equality in sport for women has overshadowed the silent damage that is occurring to young male collegiate and professional athletes who are encouraged to normalize violence with scant regard for one’s health (Messner et al.2007). According to Hurley et al. (2016) the constant stigma towards mental health is ever present in male athletes and the current form of mental health education is inadequate due to poor literacy rates in boys(para.4). Owing to societal masculine norms, young men are less like to access psychology support offered at colleges, speak out or seek help which in turn delays treatment. (Hurley et al.2016). Boys don’t cry. Boys use sport as an outlet to express themselves and manage mental anguish. While this response may be therapeutically impactful while the athlete is still playing sports, they are often unable to replace this coping mechanism during injury and retirement (Hurley et al. 2016.para.3). Researchers are aware of the impact of concussions, the male athlete’s inability to seek help, and the post traumatic conditions that may occur from subsequent head injuries in college and professional sports but to date little has been proposed of how we get ahead of this trajectory or how we can introduce proactive treatment to encourage male athletes to disclose information pertaining from the stress of sports (Hutchison et al. 2018, para 1). Limitations Mental Health. In order to examine the effect of sport on a male athlete’s mental health, research has predominately focused on the current reactive system that addresses the conditions once it arises, the athlete is already depressed or later from what has been shared by former athletes in retirement. McLoughlin et al.(2023) provides recent research which outlines that the demands of sport on athletes are often detrimental to their mental health (para. 5). Researchers and sport psychologists have focused on providing coping mechanisms via stress management for athletes but little research to date has addressed the need for proactive self-care education for athletes in adolescence. Suicide Prevention. As Rao et al.( 2015 ) outlines in a report on the suicide risk of NCAA collegiate athletes, the male athlete population is at the most risk with the footballers being the most susceptible to mental health conditions (para.9).Due to the high achieving nature of an athlete and the masculine image projected in the media, this consequently results in a higher prevalence of mental health conditions that go undetected due to the reluctance of these athletes to seek help (Montero et al.2022). If young male athletes were conditioned to seek mental health support, the same way they are conditions to train for sport perhaps these figures could be significantly different. Adolescence is where the support must start. Athlete identity foreclosure is an important variable in sports psychology. Research has shown that this fact is most pronounced during late adolescence (Brewer &Petitpas.2017). While young men do experience some positive association with being an athlete via friendship, team connection and confidence through performance goals, the need for further research to define the negative and maladaptive behaviors of this population is necessary to determine just how significant the impact of competitive sport is on risk taking behaviors and substance abuse in late adolescence to earlier adulthood (Brewer &Petitpas.2017). One of the most at risk populations in regard to athlete identity foreclosure are young black male athletes (Beamon.2023). According to the NCAA statistics, less than 2% of high school athletes progress to D1 colleges and less than 1% of collegiate athletes progress to the professional ranks (Rao et al.2015). According to Beamon (2023) due to the enormous amounts of time college athletes spend on their sport and with fellow athletes, often living, eating, training, and traveling together, little room is left to create any other form of identity. Male African American athletes are the least likely in this student athlete population to identify with anything other than being an athlete (Beamon, 2023). This issue can contribute to a decline in mental health post collegiate career (Beamon.2023). With this knowledge in hand, the need to develop proactive education to prepare and support adolescent athletes with the view to achieve balance prior to the commencement of collegiate or professional sports should be seen as an essential preventative possible life saving measure. Support for young male athletes. Aggression, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem is prevalent amongst male athletes. Gharibvand et al. (2022) outlines in his report that the need for connection with family is essential for encouraging healthy relationships in and out of sport and improves self-efficacy (p.546). If an adolescence male athlete, who is already in the stage of striving for independence, is unsupported at home, sports may become his only place of refuge. This issue is an additional responsibility for the club, high school and volunteer youth coaches who may not be well equipped to support or direct the necessary care required for these athletes. With adolescent athletes retreating into silence or pushing through pain due to limited team resources at the high school level, the adolescent may choose to use sport as form of escapism. Concluding limitations. The issues surrounding male athletes need to be addressed in their infancy, during the formative years when the adolescent brain is developing, before peer influence takes hold and before they arrive to young adult hood and may be separated from family support. By normalizing in adolescence, the process of talking with a Mental Performance Coach about how you feel both emotionally and physically, as a way to improve performance, wellbeing and not a crutch, we could create a new generation of male athletes and reduce the negative effects of colligate and professional sports. There is already evidence supporting the need for further development of male athlete mental health care at the colligate level as researched by Grundy et al. (2021) so why are we not discussing issues now in high school with upper classmen who may aspire to one day be a colligate and professional athletes? It is the goal through additional research at the Colligate level and raising awareness of the de-stigmatization of men expressing emotions, education of mental health conditions in athletic retirement and that a proactive support system during adolescence so that athlete success can be achieved before athletes become champions, retire, or succumb to the enormous mental pressure that comes with elite sport. By changing the approach of how male high school athlete see and process their feelings and emotions, we can impact the culture of how men address the mental health challenges they may face later in life as Colligate or professional athletes. Methods The purpose of this section. of the paper is to present the methods that will be used to conduct the study, including participants, procedures, materials, and design. The aim of this research is to identify the needs specific to male athletes in competitive sports, the unique consequences that may arise for the male athletes under duress and develop a proactive to system to achieve support, care and delivery to a population that is underrepresented in mental health and wellbeing. Participants. This research is aimed to contribute towards creating a proactive system for adolescent male athletes before they reach college. This research proposal could also be reproduced to help female student athletes. In order to do this, the participants required for the study will be upper classmen in high school aged from 15 to 18 years. It is known that competitive sports begin at the age of around 5 or 6 years old and by the age of 15 years, we have seasoned athletes who experienced 10 years of a variety of different stressors and influences (Maffuli,2000). It is considered that athletes in the middle of adolescence face a very challenging period and understanding what they feel during this period in regard to competitive sport will help determine what affects their mental health and wellbeing (Brewer & Petitpas,2017). This information will be useful in the implementation of adolescent athlete support and readiness for collegiate sport. The research project will take about 12 months in order to gather information from a wide variety of male high school athletes from different demographics across California. A ten-question questionnaire will be used to assess how sport has impacted the male athlete up to the point (high school junior and senior year) and what concerns the athlete may have as they move toward young adulthood and into collegiate sport. The anonymous paper questionnaire will be delivered in the setting of a substitute practice session for high school teams and the language used in the questions will be age appropriate to accommodate the current level of executive function occupied in an adolescent brain. As the participants are minors, it will be necessary to seek consent from the guardians of the participant and this response will be requested via the school athletic director in formal letter prior to the study taking place. The participants will take the questionnaire voluntarily and will have the opportunity to recant their submission if the athlete feels they do not understand what is asked of them or feel uncomfortable with the subject material. Parents and guardians will be extensively briefed on the nature of what information is being sought and the researcher will be available to answer questions prior to the commencement of the study. It would also be useful to speak to the school population at each school prior to the delivery of the opportunity to complete the questionnaire to advise the group that this event is their choice to attend but by doing so they can contribute to improved future wellbeing of male athletes. Apparatus, Materials, and Instruments. This particular study is interested in learning if there are specific challenges for male adolescent athletes. The questionnaire will be conducted in person will be using self-reporting system on a paper questionnaire in a private setting supervised by the coach and the researcher. In line with HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and FERPA (Family Education Rights Privacy Act) the athlete will not be able to complete the questionnaire unless the coach has received the signed written consent from the parent or guardian(see Appendix). The questions that is being asked will be based on a scale of strongly agree, agree, disagree to strongly disagree and with the option of prefer not to answer. While a name is not required the sport and the race the athlete is. This response hopes to identify if some sports present more risk to male athletes than others. Procedure Once the questionnaire has been completed the results will be tabled according to sport and race with school remaining undisclosed to protect the identity of those who took part. If a particular race was affected more than another, this response will be included. The identity of those who take part and what schools they attend will be identified only as California based high schools. The confidential results will be distributed to parents, the athletic director, and head coach. Design. What will be used in this study is a quantitative vertical within- subjects experimental ratio design to seek answers from a specific group of the sporting population, male high school athletes aged between 15-18 years of age. The reason for this is because the factors in a within-subjects design do not have to counteract the noise that may occur between conditions or due to individual differences. There would not be any confounding effects as the participants are the same age, contributing voluntarily from different high school sports teams and all participants would face the same conditions and the same questionnaire conducted by the same researcher. The age and race of the participant would be factored into the result as well as the sport. To ensure this understanding and give validity to the answers received by adolescents, it would be necessary to repeat the same study several times and compare responses from the first questionnaire to the last (Sharma, 2022). According to IRB (Independent Review Board) this research is hoping to obtain an exemption as it is a self-reported survey, and it is not invasive and of minimal risk. The objective of why the research is necessary will be outlined to the parent of the subject to ensure minor consent ( Apendix). To protect the ethics and wellbeing of the interviewed subjects, a positive psychology session would take place with all participants following the research to ensure they were aware of exactly why and where the answers they provided would be used. This event would also be an opportunity for the participants to retract their submission if they did not feel comfortable, to ensure a high level of comfortability in the procedures (Ghele,2013). Conclusion Rao (2015) explains that male athletes identified in a report from the NCAA have a significantly higher rate of suicide compared with female athletes with football being the sport that presents the biggest risk. We are aware that black male students are most likely to connect with their identity of being an athlete and thus present the greatest risk in retirement (Beamon, 2023). While this paper has focused on the needs of male athletes, the proposed solution of support by the implementation of proactive measures by a Performance Coach in high school settings to educate and encourage help seeking behaviors, could also be accessed by female athletes. The current student athlete reactive mental health care system of waiting until the athlete is depressed, or their performance deteriorates and then provide intervention, does not promote an environment that empowers a young adult athlete to take care of themselves in college. The system contributes to an environment of shame and weakness where athletes may hide conditions or problems for fear of losing their position in the team or respect of teammates. By obtaining impactful information from athletes in high school, it may be possible to get an accurate read on the negative impact of sports on adolescent athletes, prior to the athlete leaving the supportive home environment and develop the necessary coping skills. It is the goal of this research proposal to create a proactive system that provides young athletes in high school care, support, and normalcy around seeking help for problems that may arise from being in a competitive sport environment. If this response is achieved, it is proposed that as the athlete ages, he/or she will use the current available mental health facilities that are provided by universities and the risk to the population of male athletes will be significantly reduced. References Cox, R. (2011). Sport psychology: Concepts and applications (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. BEAMON, K. “I’m a Baller”: Athletic Identity Foreclosure among African American Former Student-Athletes. Journal of African American Studies, [s. l.], v. 16, n. 2, p. 195–208, 2012. Disponível em: https://search-ebscohost-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.43526687&site=eds-live&scope=site. Acesso em: 2 jul. 2023. Brewer BW, Petitpas AJ. Athletic identity foreclosure. Current Opinion in Psychology. 2017; 16:118-122. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.05.004 Disordered Eating, Eating Attitudes, and Reasons for Exercise among Male High School Cross Country Runners. (2014). Sport Journal, 1. https://thesportjournal.org/article/disordered-eating-eating-attitudes-and-reasons-for-exercise-among-male-high-school-cross-country-runners/ Gharibvand, A. H., Makvandi, B., & Heidari, A. (2022). Relationship of Competitive Anxiety and Mindfulness with Sports Self-Efficacy of Male Athletes Mediated by Family Cohesion. Journal of New Studies in Sport Management, 3(3), 544–553. https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=160856408&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s8333196&groupid=main&profile=eds1 Grundy, Kadie; Smith-Goodwin, Erika; and Walker, Jennifer (2021) "Male Student Athlete's Perceived of Mental Health Illness and Awareness," Journal of Sports Medicine and Allied Health Sciences: Official Journal of the Ohio Athletic Trainers Association: Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 9.DOI: https://doi.org/10.25035/jsmahs.07.01.09 Available at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/jsmahs/vol7/iss1/9 Hurley, D., Vella, S., Allen, M., Okely, A., & Swann, C. (2016). A mental health literacy program for parents to promote mental health and wellbeing among adolescent male athletes. JOURNAL OF SPORT & EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY, 38, S30. Hutchison, M. G., Di Battista, A. P., McCoskey, J., & Watling, S. E. (2018). Systematic review of mental health measures associated with concussive and sub concussive head trauma in former athletes. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 132(Part A), 55–61. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2017.11.006 Stoyel H, Delderfield R, Shanmuganathan-Felton V, Stoyel A, Serpell L. A Qualitative Exploration of Sport and Social Pressures on Elite Athletes in Relation to Disordered Eating. Front Psychol. 2021 Apr 23; 12:633490. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.633490. PMID: 33967900; PMCID: PMC8103200. Maxwell, J. C. (2013). 17 indisputable laws of teamwork. HarperCollins Leadership. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=dDCBLbNk-9AC&oi=fnd&pg=PR8&dq=Maxwell,+J.+C.+(2013).+17+indisputable+laws+of+teamwork.+HarperCollins+Leadership.&ots=p_Idy5tGNk&sig=woGyoMtWsjTWrSdWemcUjz2K0hQ#v=onepage&q&f=false Messner, Michael A.. Out of Play : Critical Essays on Gender and Sport, State University of New York Press, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/lib/gcu/detail.action?docID=3407428. McLoughlin, E., Arnold, R., Cavallerio, F., Fletcher, D., & Moore, L. J. (2023). A creative nonfiction story of male elite athletes’ experiences of lifetime stressor exposure, performance, and help-seeking behaviors. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/spy0000319.supp (Supplemental) Montero A, Stevens D, Adams R, Drummond M. Sleep and Mental Health Issues in Current and Former Athletes: A Mini Review. Front Psychol. 2022 Apr 7; 13:868614. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.868614. PMID: 35465516; PMCID: PMC9023010. Rao, A. L., Asif, I. M., Drezner, J. A., Toresdahl, B. G., & Harmon, K. G. (2015). Suicide in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Athletes: A 9-Year Analysis of the NCAA Resolutions Database. Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach, 7(5), 452–457. https://thesportjournal.org/article/the-impact-of-the-hipaa-privacy-rule-on-collegiate-sport-professionals/ Souter G, Lewis R, Serrant L. Men, Mental Health, and Elite Sport: A Narrative Review. Sports Med Open. 2018 Dec 19;4(1):57. doi: 10.1186/s40798-018-0175-7. PMID: 30569248; PMCID: PMC6300449. Tamburrini, C., Tännsjö, T., & Tannsjo, T. (Eds.). (2000). Values in sport : Elitism, nationalism, gender equality and the scientific manufacturing of winners. CRC Press LLC. Ueda, Y., Sawamoto, M., Kobayashi, T., Myojin, C., Sakamoto, C., Hayami, N., Watanabe, H., & Hongu, N. (2021). Nutrition education programmed changes food intake and baseball performance in high-school students. Health Education Journal, 80(4), 387–400. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/0017896920974061 Vella, S. A., Benson, A., Sutcliffe, J., McLaren, C., Swann, C., Schweickle, M. J., Miller, A., & Bruner, M. (2021). Self-determined motivation, social identification, and the mental health of adolescent male team sport participants. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 33(4), 452–466. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/10413200.2019.1705432

How can we can we help our athletes retain the information we teach them ? All coaches, physical or mental, are always looking for maximal retention of the information we deliver to our athletes. In individual or group settings the specific type of delivery of the information will determine how it is stored and later retrieved during performance. Memory plays are huge a role in how information is received, interpreted and later accessed by the athlete. But Coach does not have time to become a neuroscientist ! So to ensure the information is being heard and received efficiently, simply follow these 3 steps: Ask you athletes first for focused attention. Setting the right tone and emotion in your voice. Deliver a visual image of the task you are asking your athlete to do - remember today's youth have become visual creatures. They need to see it not just hear it. Then before they perform the task, ask the athlete to take this image and mentally rehearse it in their own mind, as they stand before you, do it a few times to reinforce your instruction. Is the image clear in their own mind ? Are there any questions ? Do they need to walk through again from 1. ie: what is being asked of them ? Are you both seeing the same vision or is it different ? If the athlete executes correctly when they go perform the task the vision has been shared. If the athletes fails to execute correctly go back to step 1. walk through it again. This time add a joke, add a different emotion to the explanation to help the athlete relax and this will trigger the episodic area of the brain that involves emotion that can help reinforcement of retaining information. If athlete is not engaged or interested the information may not be absorbed and will go in one ear and out the other ! Distracted youth in today's busy world of technology is a real factor as attention is limited. Remember...every athlete learns differently but simplifying the steps to aid retention will not only help the athlete but will support you in ensuring your athletes hear the instructions the way you want them received. Coach B

When we really break down how we prepare for competition there really is very little room for surprises. Take a look at all the areas you need to address to ensure you have success. What building blocks are missing for you? Are you inconsistent with your training ? Are you overlooking your nutrition or neglecting your sleep? Balance relates to managing our school work or jobs or relationships. Any external stress that can contribute on top of the physical stress our body already has to process. How we perform is built upon the foundation of how we train and how we prepare our body afterwards. If you fail to address all the areas that can contribute to a successful performance then your performance will be below what you could possibly deliver. Find the formula that works for you and build a successful performance !

To understand how to manage the complexity of the different types of fatigue that can impact the performance of an athlete one has to first appreciate the enormous changes that occur to the student athlete body and brain during the period from adolescence to young adulthood. Not only is the student athlete entering a time of huge physical and emotional growth as they steer towards adulthood but they are also impacted by external stressors from rigorous academic workloads, new social dynamics, travel stress (if driving themselves), decreased levels of serotonin and to top it off, a new daily athletic routine that leaves very little room for downtime or recovery. The accumulative effect on the athlete both physically and mentally is metaphorically equivalent to leaving the car engine running all day and all night every day ! Your student athlete will eventually run out of gas ! Unless carefully monitored, planned, structured and supported the athlete will be left feeling depleted, the coach left feeling exasperated perhaps even resorting to increasing his/her training load and the parents left flustered at the poor academic results exclaiming their child is now a "lazy teenager ! ". But this is not the case ! The teenager is just completely enervated ! And here's why..... On top of an unstructured or vague planing from the student athlete, if the High School or College Coach has not periodically trained in the right zones, allocated rest or very light aerobic days into the weekly, monthly and seasonal training program to allow adaptation of the rigorous training and back to back competition load combined with the academic load, student athletes are at high risk of not only feeling physically fatigued but mentally expired. The two common types of fatigue, aside from physical fatigue that your athlete may experience are Central Nervous Fatigue and Peripheral Fatigue. Here's what it may look like or present in your athlete (but not limited to): Central Nervous System Fatigue (CNS) - is where there is a decreased ability to fire the muscles at the normal desired rate and may also causes cognitive impairment that will affect mood and behavior ability to concentrate. Peripheral fatigue - reduction in force and strength, creating feelings of weakness, shortness of breath, overall general lethargy. Athletes with one or both may be delivering the same sustained effort but the output and results are massively reduced. Over time he/she may continue to decline increasing susceptibility to illness or injury due to poor biomechanics. While this continues they may complain of aches and pains, mental fog, feeling flat and an inability to finish tasks. The good news is all of the above is AVOIDABLE through periodization and supplementation of my program ANR - Athlete Neuroplasticity Reset which is focused on balancing the elite athlete. By training your athlete in the correct zones and implementation of periods of structured active rest you can not only avoid but even predict declines in health or signs of overtraining. Remember more is not always better. The athlete requires balance to accommodate the stress that is coming from non physical factors as much as it needed to adapt to the physical stress. This requires the coach to have a big picture view of the overall student athlete program - or to work with someone who can ! Athletes can also help themselves (ANR) by taking responsibility of their own "active rest" away from school and athletic responsibilities. If you or your team would like help in structuring ways to balance your periodization and find new ways to implement active rest contact Coach B to not only enhance your performance but prevent burn out and long term cognitive impairment.

As an athlete I was always trying to compete as much as possible. Always asking my coach "can I race this weekend and next weekend, oh and by the way can I skip this practice and do a race mid week too ? ". Of course my coach would roll her eyes and say "Belinda No, it's not within the periodization plan and you'll burn out, or get injured and you wont peak when we need you to." She was no fool. She knew what I was up to. My response upon hearing this would be to sulk or grumble. Maybe throw my water bottle. In my youth I was not the easiest athlete to work with. No surprise there really. So why is it you think I wanted to race every weekend ? The answer is because it was easier ! When you train correctly as an athlete and prepare for competition the way a great coach should prepare you by training in the right heart rate zones at every practice to achieve optimal performance, competition becomes something of a pleasure. A joy. Almost a relief from the brutal execution and hardship you go through during practice to increase your ability to tolerate intensity to achieve a new level of performance. If you are not doing this both physically and mentally every time you turn up to practice ( on the hard days that is, recovery and aerobic are meant to be just that) then how on earth do you expect to move your performance forward. You can not wait for that to just happen on game day or competition day. All the work, all the thinking, all the focus , must be completed before the event so when you arrive there your body performs almost on auto pilot because it has experienced before in. practice (possibly harder) and because of this it is so much more enjoyable. This is why I only wanted to race and not train or practice. The training was brutal, the racing was pleasure. Get the work done first, grind, fine tune the process, then let the magic happen !

Emotions are something we feel, a response to our environment, to a situation or a reaction perhaps to something someone said. Memories ignite emotions too. For the athlete balancing emotions for the purpose of performance is determined by how you choose to respond to your environment & what you allow your mind to focus on. This is independent from mental health which concerns your mental capacity to be able to interpret, understand and cope the stress of competition. With emotional health the feelings may be strong but there is the ability to regain a level of control by choice. Being an elite athlete brings with it a stressful , intense world which is what we spend hours training for and at the very heart of athletic competition. Within Mental health conditions however, emotional control can be severely diminished due to cognitive impairment which may require medical diagnosis, intervention & treatment removing that choice or ability from the athlete to regain control until the impairment is treated. For the outsider observing a sporting event  it is reckless to throw the mental health umbrella over a set of circumstances as the reason athletes experience  emotional disturbances. The media is quick to announce the need for mental health support when maybe what is most needed is direction and skills in emotional regulation. These throw away blanket statements are confusing for the athletes and undermine the level of seriousness mental health conditions impact an individual. A person with a mental health condition is deeply disadvantaged and limited in their ability to self correct. The mere ability to process thoughts is overwhelming & the whole body feels the condition due to an Impairment within the mind. This is not the same as being emotionally unbalanced. If you are feeling your emotions are interfering with your performance it may be time to learn skills to redirect and channel your energy. It can be simple as limiting your focus and removing associations which stimulate feelings unproductive for performance. Labeling athletes incorrectly with mental health terms is not only contributing to clouding an athletes understanding of how to process what they feel but it limits their capacity to help themselves. On top of this it is also deeply disrespectful to those individuals who live with life long mental health conditions where exercise in itself is an enormous feat. Normalize psychological support for athletes without creating false association with serious medical conditions. Coach B

PGR stands for Pre-Game Ritual while PPR stands for Pre-Performance Routine. Both are similar in nature in aiming to prepare the athlete or team together prior to performance towards a collective goal however PGR provides a platform for the athlete to express cultural, religious, or spiritual beliefs, a sight that it is becoming widely more accepted and desired by athletes in sport. The All-Blacks Rugby Team possibly have the most famous PGR called the Haka. The traditional war cry from Māori culture was historically performed by men before going into battle. The NZ team now uses this as their traditional PGR to prepare prior to competition. A Pre-Game Ritual can be classified as any type of repetitive behavior that the athlete believes will bring positive affect or ward of a negative ones (Womack, 1992). Creating PGP can be easier for the individual ( prayer, totem, lucky jersey, touching the grass,) than a group attempting to create a team dance, song or tradition, unless there is shared cultural value or identity based on region or beliefs. It is possible though to find a common connection or create one. The benefits of taking the time to establish a PGR and incorporate it within your existing PPR (Pre-Performance Routine) may just be well worth the effort. Research ( Hagen & Shack, 2017) tells us that those individuals and teams that do will see improved: ·       Alertness – focus narrowed to align the team together ·       cooperation – working together, manifesting a belief or concept. ·       cohesion – united in song and spirit ·       interpersonal relationships – cultivating a sense of togetherness ·       motivation – wanting to represent something more than themselves ·       confidence – higher power or extrinsic force ·       feeling of being locked in similar to hypnosis ·       ability to block out distractions ·       a reduction in pressure as the load is shared. Ultimately every PGR needs to be integrated with PPR to produce the best possible results for the athletes. Designing this requires the help of a sport psychologist or mental performance coach who can balance the physical and cognitive needs of the athletes and create an environment that is energizing but composed so the athletes start the competition with a sense of certainty that they are already on their way to winning. Let me help you design a PGR for your athlete or team today and fill the void that may be missing from their performance Coach B Reference: Jnr., J. E. H., & Schack, T. (2017). Integrating pre-game rituals and pre-performance routines in a culture-specific context: Implications for sport psychology consultancy. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 17(1), 18–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2017.1292301

Athletes tend to be the last person to abandon ship! The incredible level of self-regulatory control developed from years of discipline, direction, and action toward collective goals, is not a grip that releases easily. Add to this the athlete’s healthy ego, pride, and perceived sacrifice may even manifest in the young person’s mind as an accepted responsibility. They may feel they must go down with the ship so to speak (i.e., staying with a losing team, a horrible coach or ignore poor health and injury.) All for the sake of “being seen” as committed. Well, this a huge mistake! Sport is just a very small part of who you are as person and there is plenty more for you to take on. Do not for go the opportunity to excel in other areas ! Young aspiring champions easily become immersed in their life as an athlete. The wonderful world of sport brings with it identity, community, friendship, travel, a second family and the accolades from success are not half bad either, but the questions every athlete must ask themselves before they continue is this: ·      am I happy? ·      am I doing what I love? ·      does this still bring me joy? If you answered No to even just one of the above questions, it’s time to take a pause and talk through your future. Do not just reflect on your own. Athletes have a natural tendency to switch into autopilot and will just keep going. Now is the time to vocalize all the concerns you have out loud  with someone who can provide you an unbiased confidential opinion and help you gauge and understand your options, so YOU can make the best decision moving forward. Understand that it’s not that “you just quit! “ it could be that your interests are changing and this is a natural transition out of the sporting arena. OR…it could just be that a change of scenery (new team, new coach, new environment) is what is needed to reinvigorate your passion. Athletes I know it can be scary to walk away from something you have committed a huge part of your life to. You are not alone in understanding your choices. Give me a call. I can help. Coach B

So, what is the difference between goals and intentions?  Goals are in the future; Intentions are in the present moment. I often tell the athletes I work with that establishing short, mid- and long-term goals are great to have but ideally they will occur naturally and be the bi product of your intentions if the process, delivery and execution is aligned. Whether you are an individual athlete or part of team, creating individual or intentions for the whole team can help maintain daily focus and allow the team to have a joint commitment around behavior and work ethic. As outlined by Margaret Gilbert in her book on Joint Commitment (2015): “…a joint commitment requires obligation from the group to uphold collective attitudes and each member has the right to reproach a member who fails to play their part.” This works great in teams because it increases accountability and leaves little room for lazy team members to hide. Within “team intentions” is a set of terms often created by the coaches in collaboration with team captains, that will outline the shared beliefs, conditions, and mutual responsiveness to ensure each team member fully aware of what is expected of them. If you are looking for help as an individual or a team in 2024 to create the framework you need to execute your intentions to reach your goals, let's connect. HNY Coach B coachbperformance.com