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They don’t call them sports psychologists anymore.
They are ‘Mental Performance Coaches’ (MPC) now.
“People were getting us mixed up with psychiatrists,” says Wayne Halliwell, freshly home in Montreal after working with Canadian mogul skiers at the Pyeongchang Olympics, including Justine Dufour-Lapointe, who won a silver medal to go with her 2014 Olympic gold.
The psychiatrist label is understandable considering these counselors are referred to as sports “shrinks.” Once considered a fringe piece of the Olympic puzzle, mental performance coaches are as primary as trainers or technical coaches – Canada sent ten MPCs to South Korea, plus other coaches with sports psychology backgrounds.
Whatever the Canadians are doing is working for the most part. Heading into the final weekend of the Games, Canada is on pace to blow past its previous best medal haul of 26 in Vancouver 2010.
Yet, such is the depth of Canada’s team, these Games will be remembered as much for Olympic heartbreak and crushed dreams as for the sweeping triumphs.
To go with the baubles were Olympic bobbles – decorated short track speedskaters ran into disqualification issues (Kim Boutin saved the day with a three-medal performance); men’s figure skater Patrick Chan, a three-time world champion aimed for singles gold but never looked comfortable and missed the podium (he was part of Canada’s team gold); Rachel Homan’s curling team, which destroyed the opposition at the world championships, failed to reach the playoff round.
Why is it some athletes are able to rise up and be the best they can be in the heat of the Olympics while others visibly wilt?
Halliwell says when pressure affects an athlete’s performance he or she is letting the potential outcome, either positive or negative, come into play.
“The consequences on the negative side are: ‘I don’t want to let people down.’ On the positive side: ‘If I win, I will be an Olympic champion for life, I can get sponsors’ … you don’t want that running through your mind either.”
Bearing the weight of two decades of successful curling results surely played a hand in the outcomes for Homan’s rink and Kevin Koe’s, whose loss to the U.S. in the semifinal means Canada has failed to reach the curling finals for the first time in modern Olympic history.
To Halliwell, any athlete who feels “I better do well, I have to do well,” is likely in trouble. He advises them to blot out the past and future, leaving only the present.
Competition is fierce, of course, but if an athlete or team can look in the mirror and say they did their best, there is comfort in letting the chips fall as they may.
On the whole, Halliwell feels there is less crashing and burning than there used to be.
“I find the athletes are getting more and more prepared, not just physically and technically, but the mental and emotional preparation seems to be at a higher level,” he says.
Halliwell makes a distinction between mental and emotional preparation. If an athlete wants to be “in the moment,” that is mental focus. Savouring or embracing a situation is emotional.
Ice dance team Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir exemplified both aspects. They didn’t get distracted, nor did they fear talking about embracing their challenge to go out as Olympic champions.
“They were letting it all out there, but not thinking too much about outcomes – just expressing their talent, their emotions and the content of their program,” Halliwell says. “What they brought was not just a confidence in what they could do, but a conviction — we know we can do it.”
Olympic experience can help an athlete mentally prepare, but it cuts both ways. Halliwell worked with Alex Bilodeau and the Dufour-Lapointe sisters when they were too young to know fear and faced few expectations. Bilodeau had been 11th in Turin 2006, before rocketing to gold in 2010. By 2014, he had to face all the questions about defending his moguls title, which he did in Sochi, while dealing with the hype.
Few athletes have overcome personal tragedy better than figure skater Joannie Rochette in Vancouver. Rochette’s mother, Therese, died of a massive heart attack while in Vancouver to see Joannie skate in the Games.
With the encouragement of her coaches, including Halliwell, Rochette famously soldiered on, and skated to a bronze medal, performing not just for her mother, but “with her,” as Halliwell put it.
He advises athletes to have their “I know” list.
I know I have had great training.
I know I have great support staff.
I know I have a solid race plan.
And so on. Some of his skiers race down the hill with this list in their pockets.
It may seem corny to jaded eyes, but athletes cling to what Halliwell calls “sticky” terms. Such as “be free, be me.”
He sees an example of this in the athletic freedom expressed by hockey players like Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson, who likes to twirl his stick, habitually, prior to a faceoff. Roger Federer does likewise with his tennis racquet prior to receiving a serve.
“They’re loose, they’re free – physically free,” Halliwell says. “You also want to be free mentally.”
The freest athletes are returning home to Canada with Olympic medals.
wscanlan@postmedia.com
查看原文...
They are ‘Mental Performance Coaches’ (MPC) now.
“People were getting us mixed up with psychiatrists,” says Wayne Halliwell, freshly home in Montreal after working with Canadian mogul skiers at the Pyeongchang Olympics, including Justine Dufour-Lapointe, who won a silver medal to go with her 2014 Olympic gold.
The psychiatrist label is understandable considering these counselors are referred to as sports “shrinks.” Once considered a fringe piece of the Olympic puzzle, mental performance coaches are as primary as trainers or technical coaches – Canada sent ten MPCs to South Korea, plus other coaches with sports psychology backgrounds.
Whatever the Canadians are doing is working for the most part. Heading into the final weekend of the Games, Canada is on pace to blow past its previous best medal haul of 26 in Vancouver 2010.
Yet, such is the depth of Canada’s team, these Games will be remembered as much for Olympic heartbreak and crushed dreams as for the sweeping triumphs.
To go with the baubles were Olympic bobbles – decorated short track speedskaters ran into disqualification issues (Kim Boutin saved the day with a three-medal performance); men’s figure skater Patrick Chan, a three-time world champion aimed for singles gold but never looked comfortable and missed the podium (he was part of Canada’s team gold); Rachel Homan’s curling team, which destroyed the opposition at the world championships, failed to reach the playoff round.
Why is it some athletes are able to rise up and be the best they can be in the heat of the Olympics while others visibly wilt?
Halliwell says when pressure affects an athlete’s performance he or she is letting the potential outcome, either positive or negative, come into play.
“The consequences on the negative side are: ‘I don’t want to let people down.’ On the positive side: ‘If I win, I will be an Olympic champion for life, I can get sponsors’ … you don’t want that running through your mind either.”
Bearing the weight of two decades of successful curling results surely played a hand in the outcomes for Homan’s rink and Kevin Koe’s, whose loss to the U.S. in the semifinal means Canada has failed to reach the curling finals for the first time in modern Olympic history.
To Halliwell, any athlete who feels “I better do well, I have to do well,” is likely in trouble. He advises them to blot out the past and future, leaving only the present.
Competition is fierce, of course, but if an athlete or team can look in the mirror and say they did their best, there is comfort in letting the chips fall as they may.
On the whole, Halliwell feels there is less crashing and burning than there used to be.
“I find the athletes are getting more and more prepared, not just physically and technically, but the mental and emotional preparation seems to be at a higher level,” he says.
Halliwell makes a distinction between mental and emotional preparation. If an athlete wants to be “in the moment,” that is mental focus. Savouring or embracing a situation is emotional.
Ice dance team Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir exemplified both aspects. They didn’t get distracted, nor did they fear talking about embracing their challenge to go out as Olympic champions.
“They were letting it all out there, but not thinking too much about outcomes – just expressing their talent, their emotions and the content of their program,” Halliwell says. “What they brought was not just a confidence in what they could do, but a conviction — we know we can do it.”
Olympic experience can help an athlete mentally prepare, but it cuts both ways. Halliwell worked with Alex Bilodeau and the Dufour-Lapointe sisters when they were too young to know fear and faced few expectations. Bilodeau had been 11th in Turin 2006, before rocketing to gold in 2010. By 2014, he had to face all the questions about defending his moguls title, which he did in Sochi, while dealing with the hype.
Few athletes have overcome personal tragedy better than figure skater Joannie Rochette in Vancouver. Rochette’s mother, Therese, died of a massive heart attack while in Vancouver to see Joannie skate in the Games.
With the encouragement of her coaches, including Halliwell, Rochette famously soldiered on, and skated to a bronze medal, performing not just for her mother, but “with her,” as Halliwell put it.
He advises athletes to have their “I know” list.
I know I have had great training.
I know I have great support staff.
I know I have a solid race plan.
And so on. Some of his skiers race down the hill with this list in their pockets.
It may seem corny to jaded eyes, but athletes cling to what Halliwell calls “sticky” terms. Such as “be free, be me.”
He sees an example of this in the athletic freedom expressed by hockey players like Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson, who likes to twirl his stick, habitually, prior to a faceoff. Roger Federer does likewise with his tennis racquet prior to receiving a serve.
“They’re loose, they’re free – physically free,” Halliwell says. “You also want to be free mentally.”
The freest athletes are returning home to Canada with Olympic medals.
wscanlan@postmedia.com
查看原文...
