Sports Psychology Case Study
Do you or your athletes focus too much on avoiding mistakes? This happens a lot with athletes who have a fear of failure…
You might think that trying to avoid mistakes or have a mistake-free game is the way to go, but it backfires for most athletes.
When you try to avoid mistakes, you:
1. Focus more on mistakes
2. Think too much about outcomes
3. Perform tentatively with the fear
4. Over control your performance
5. Second-guess your decisions and hesitate
What you might not realize is that athletes harbor an underlying motivation when they attempt to avoid mistakes…
If you’re prone to avoiding mistakes, this means you try to avoid failure–of some kind.
Thus, the REAL fear is about NOT embarrassing yourself, not disappointing a coach or teammate, or needing respect from others.
I call this the “aftermath” of mistakes because the fear is not just about missing a shot on net or committing an error that’s scary. The real fear is about what the error might mean to you, such as criticism from teammates or the wrath of the coach when he benches you.
How do you overcome the fear of making mistakes and perform freely?
I answer this question in my new sports psychology case study video. Mike (not his real name) is a college athlete who was paralyzed by the fear of screwing up…
Learn the most important thing you (or your athletes) have to do to free up their performance and stop focusing on avoiding mistakes.
Watch the video below at my YouTube channel, Mindset For Sports:
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Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Benefit From Mistakes in Competition
- How to Refocus After Making Mistakes
- How to Use Mistakes to Improve Performance
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The Focused Athlete
It’s probably no secret that you have many opportunities to become distracted in sports. Athletes are bombarded with both internal and external distractions everyday in practice and competition. Focused athletes are able to get the most from their skills because they are more efficient with practice and more concentrated in competition. Athletes who lack focus let distractions run wild through their mind and don’t know how to adjust or refocus.
The Focused Athlete was developed for any level coach, parent, or junior to professional athlete who wants to improve performance and gain a competitive edge. It does not matter if you are a fledgling junior athlete; or a seasoned professional, plagued with distractions; or you just wanting to learn how to improve concentration…
“The Focused Athlete” is a complete system to teach you how to focus like a champion and harness the power of a zone focus every time you step on the playing field, court, track, or course in practice and games!