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Locker Room Talk

Feature Mental Game Article

The Shooter's Mindset: How to Overcome Game-Time Slumps
By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.

Psychological momentum is very important to you or your team's performance. When you have momentum, you have high confidence to the 10th power. Momentum is massive confidence and a huge psychological advantage in any sport. However, I can argue the opposite is also true. When you struggle with your game, you lose valuable momentum. Thus, when you have momentum, you feel as if you can’t do anything wrong. However, when you lose momentum and feel like you’re in a mini-slump and feel as if you can’t do anything right.

When you have momentum on your side, you want to ride the wave until the end of the game or it runs out. What's more difficult for athletes and teams is when they lose momentum during a game and act as if they are in a game-time drought or mini-slump. Confidence, energy, and your performance suffers in this mindset.

Many athletes experience a mini-draught during a game more than once in their career. Overcoming a "mini-slump" during the first half of a game is tough for many athletes to cope with. A golfer may miss several short putts on the front nine. A basketball player might “lose” his shot in the first half of the game. A tennis player’s backhand goes south in the first set of the match. Or a field goal kicker can’t make a short chip shot.

Every athlete has experienced a temporary game-time slump…. How you react to these temporary performance droughts dictates your ability to change your momentum and regain your confidence. Even the top athletes experience game-time slumps. For example, pro basketball player LeBron James struggled to find his rhythm against the Milwaukee Bucks last Saturday. James missed most of his shots that night, making only 12 of 27 from the field.. And he went 15 minutes without making a single shot in the second half.

Back to your reaction… The top athletes in the world have a “shooter’s mentality.” If they miss early in the game, they don’t allow it to shake their confidence. However, other athletes can’t stand missing shots, field goals, or putts, and not performing up to their expectations. They might get frustrated, lose confidence, and stop trusting their skills. Which reaction will serve you better?

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Although James missed several shots early in the game, he didn’t allow missing to affect his confidence. He kept his composure. His team needed him to rally. He remained confident his shots would fall sooner or later. And behold, late in the fourth quarter he came out with a shooter’s mindset, scoring eleven straight points. Cleveland won the game 97-85. After the game, he said:

"I had to be aggressive. The outside shot? It wasn't flowing tonight. We had great looks. We continued to take them, and we continued to miss them. We couldn't, in the fourth quarter, continue to not make open shots or not get into the paint. So I took it upon myself to just try and get into the lane and create for myself, create opportunities for others." ~LeBron James

LeBron James is one of many top athletes that keep shooting even when they miss early. When you have a shooter’s mentality you are able to continue to trust your skills, stay calm after mistakes, and find momentum any way you can. Your confidence doesn’t pop like a balloon after a missed opportunity. You know you can still hit shots; your skills did not leave you.

How do you develop a shooters mentality and overcome a game-time draught or loss of momentum? Below are four mental game strategies to help you turn it around when you get off to a slow start and need to find momentum.

1. Great shooters keep shooting. You can’t turn your game around unless you keep shooting. You must have faith that your skills are not "lost" and it’s a matter of time before you hit the next shot, sink a short putt, or hit that open receiver in the secondary.

2. Look for momentum-changing breaks in the game. When you’re not playing your best and you’ve lost momentum, it’s easy to look for bad breaks or bad luck, which makes matters worse because it reinforces the idea that you “don’t have it today.” I want you to look for good breaks, such as the puck bounces right to you in front of the goal.

3. Avoid the “I-just-don’t-have-it-today-syndrome.” I’ve had some of my best putting rounds after three-putting the first two holes. You can’t throw in the towel early in the game expecting that the entire game will be a disaster. Instead, keep telling yourself “I’m going to turn my game around right now” – on every point or play.

4.  Continue to trust your skills or shot. I know many athletes who miss early in a game and they tighten up and over-control their shots. They think this will help them get back on track. In most cases, this approach will not work. Now is the time to trust your skills. Avoid over-coaching yourself after making a mistake, which can make matters worse. See the shot your want and allow your (well-trained) body to react to the target.

Staying composed and letting go of errors is one mental strategy you need to regain momentum. Check out The Composed Athlete in the Confident Athlete Sports Psychology CD programs - to boost your confidence, composure, focus, and trust before and during competition!

Sports Specific Mental Training Tip

"Stay Patient, Stay in the Moment, & Keep Grinding!"

Sometime it only takes one putt to spark your round. Chip Beck told me he made a 40 footer on the first hole when he shot his historic 59. As Tiger Woods says, you can never throw in the towel and give up. You have to keep grinding it out and wait for a momentum booster...

“I grinded my butt off today. I messed up by three putting a couple times. I didn't get any momentum going. That was frustrating. I finally made two birdies back to back, which was great. I finally got some kind of positive feeling going, and now we get something rolling, and what happens on the very next hole, drove it up against the face. Wow, okay. It's one of those things you've got to stay patient, stay in the moment and keep grinding. You never know what can happen. And it turned out well."

~TIGER WOODS, 2005 PGA Championship

Podcasts of the Month

The Sports Psychology Podcast of the Month!
In this sports psychology podcast, Dr. Cohn discusses the psychological concept of momentum in sports. When you have momentum on your side, you must not rock the boat and question why. Likewise, when you have no momentum going for you, you can't pack your bags early. Learn the mental game strategies to regain your momentum when you need a turn-around...

Show me the Sports Psychology Podcast of the Month!

The Golf Psychology Podcast of the Month!
In this week's golf psychology session, mental game of golf expert and author of The Mental Game of Golf and Mental Art of Putting, Dr. Cohn, helps golfers balance their life with golf. Many golfers focus 24/7 on their golf game and don't have any balance in their lives. Learn how to balance golf with other areas of your life.

Show me the Golf Psychology Podcast of the Month!

Golfers: Download a free golf psychology report and improve your preshot routine overnight!

Pro Athlete Quote of the Month

Ask Doc Cohn

"Why is my daughter playing so scared?"

Basketball Parent:

My daughter is a promising 8th grade basketball player (post) that gets reluctant to shoot because she is surrounded by a really great team with superior athletes. She should be a dominant force because she is a big, strong kid and when she plays club ball in the summer away from her school teammates she plays much more confidently. Her school coach is beginning to wonder why she is playing so “scared” this season and it is going to land her on the bench. How do I get her to play more aggressively with her school team and quit deferring to the other players?

Jump to Dr. Cohn's answer now!

Most Valuable Product (MVP)

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Dr. Patrick J. Cohn is the President and founder of Peak Performance Sports of Orlando, Florida. He earned his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Virginia in 1991, and founded Peak Performance Sports in 1994. Dr. Cohn is an author, speaker and one of the nation's leading mental game experts. His coaching programs instill confidence, composure and effective mental strategies that enable athletes and teams to reach their performance goals. Dr. Cohn has helped athletes from a variety of sports backgrounds (both amateurs and professionals) identify and develop the mindset needed to achieve peak performance. World-class golfers, runners, shooters and auto racers, as well as motocross, tennis, baseball, softball, football and hockey players, are among those who have benefited from his mental game coaching and training.

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NEW! The Confident Athlete Series by Peak Performance Sports brings you the latest cutting-edge mental training strategies in a practical step-by-step 14-day achievement plan. Each program consists of 2 Audio CDs and an easy to follow workbook to help you apply the mental strategies. Perfect for any competitive athlete or team coach! Read more... Buy All 4 Programs and Get "The Relaxed Athlete" FREE! (**Plus Free Shipping!**)

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