This past weekend I was playing in our local Fall League game with my long standing team, Tsunami. I have to say that it's the first game I came away completely mentally, f'ed over. Not like "oh I am mentally exhausted" but to quote Dylan's and I new favorite Order of the Stick Cartoon "My brain feels like a psion . . . did psiony stuff". To explain how mentally I am tilted by the game it has been over 2 days since the game and I am still wondering what happened.
I had 5 turn overs in a point, now that is not to say that I've never had that many in a single point, or had more, but for some reason I made the worst mental adjustments and choices during that point and I hit a wall. Anyone who knows me as an ultimate player/coach knows I am a cheer-leader and a talker. No matter where I am on the field or off my voice can be heard and it's one of my biggest assets. However, on Saturday I hit a mental wall. I couldn't cheer, I couldn't get enthused about what we were doing and I realized that often times I am alone in talking to teammates on and off the field. I was simply stunned how silent the game seemed when I wasn't talking, it amazed me. How do people play a team oriented sport without communication?
I think the more alarming fact of my mental shutdown was that I had been working specifically on my mental preparedness for Ultimate in general. I have begun observing more video footage of top players each day before practice and games, putting myself in a top player mindset. I have been striving to arrive at games 30mins or more in advance to make sure my body is fully warmed up prior to games. I have also been selecting pump up music to listen to on drives to practice/games to better set myself for the work and toil that a physical activity demands. That being said it was not enough this time around.
How do we combat the mental turmoil that we face in every day life? How do teams take themselves from a soul-crushing loss to win in the following game-to-go? I recently order a book by Travis Steffen called Peak Performance Poker which I am hoping can help me with life goals not just in my poker education, but Ultimate, and work too. Travis is a recent addition to the DeucesCracked Coaching Team. Tina Booth recently had an article in the USA Ultimate Magazine talking about the dynasty of the Amherst Program and the mental training she puts her players through. She talks of working with a sports psychologist Dr. Alan Goldberg on "mental toughness", through the visualization of top plays prior to games and practices. I am hoping I can use more of these tools to work on my mental toughness but I ask you, how do you cope with defeats and loss in games/life/ultimate/poker/what you are passionate about?
6 comments:
cool Rusty, I didn't know you had a blog! What does 'flying cards and plastic' mean? I assume it's ultimate related?
xoxo
Lina
http://www.thewildercoast.com
Mental toughness can become hardness. Hardness - brittleness. Brittle things fail when jilted from there static position. Personally I put fun and enjoyment at the top of my list and try to mix it up often. Beginner's mind is often as powerful as trying to think like a pro.
Lina,
Flying cards = poker, flying plastic = Ultimate
Blue,
While I can agree with your philosophy I don't think you quite get what I am attempting to do by strengthening my mental state while playing. While winning and losing are just stats the emotional toll cannot be ignored no matter what level you play at. Anyone who says they don't care about how they perform is most likely just telling you it's not a top priority, and while fun and enjoyment are high priorities for me my game development has been stagnant for many a year and I'd like to change that, this requires me to put more study.focus into how I play and treat the game.
-Rusty
There was a lot of "whoops" going on. Definitely too much. I had more than my share of it, I must admit.
One's own mental preparedness is important (I need to psyche myself up), it's tough to control, and team mates' performance has a role.
is there a way to coach a team out of a string of losses? How much will hearing players' "needs" and sense of their own best talents/most dreaded situations help? What's the best way to improve eyes and voices from the from the line?
Whoa.
And there's more. I'm with you Rusty.
As both a relatively weak player and a coach, myself, the mental work is taxing.
i wasn't talking about 'not caring about how you perform' (JLMFT) but more about only caring about that and losing sight of why you play at all.
you are much farther along the ultimate path than i am so i'll defer.
Hi Rusty,
I think this post is interesting and I'll share with you some of my experience on the topic... please keep in mind that my current surroundings are definitely influencing this comment ;)
I have a tough time preparing mentally for ultimate almost all of the time. However, there are definitely days when I show up and I am just so completely in the zone and feel great in every way. I don't know how to achieve this, it just happens sometimes. It'd be great if I knew the source of that feeling and could access it at will.
I think a lot of the times when I can't get into the game or be really sharp it's because I'm feeling shitty in the rest of my life. Depressed, overwhelmed, etc. I'm sure you know what I mean since we've discussed it plenty before. :)
Lately I am trying to get more into personal improvement during practice and worry less about the team I'm playing with working well as a unit. This is also because right now I'm not in a leadership role whatsoever and don't need to worry much about the team unit... I really have no say in anything which is frustrating after having been in a decision making role for so long... and with a team that respects me and values my opinion. My current situation is less than ideal in so many ways.
And now I'm off to play some shitty Madrid ultimate... hopefully I can get excited about playing. Except I know I can't.
Hugs!
Sarah
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