Anger Management Sports Psychology

Sports Motivation Clinic, Chicago

Anger toward your opponent.
The WAR Mentality

     Do you play angry? Do you hate your opponents guts? Would you bite his (or her) ear off, if you had the chance? Are you a blood thirsty warrior when you take the field? Do you play MAD? If any of these apply to you, you are a real DOPE!
     Probably not your fault, everybody before your time thought foaming at the mouth and lightning bolts coming out of your eyes was the way to prepare for the game. They were wrong!

     The war analogy has been part of sports from the beginning, some sports more than others. If you play the vicious sport of volleyball, the KILL is the thing. Preparing like you were going into battle, seemed like a good way to get the players psyched up for the big game. Well, you might be surprised to know, that playing angry is not the mindset you want to bring onto the field. How do I know that? History!
     I know, what good is history? It happened before I was born, who cares? My program is not for the terminally stupid, I can't help them. But if you want to play better, you need to play smarter. You need to know how to train your mind for competition and hopefully, you'll also want to learn why you are doing it. That's where history comes in.

Ancient History:
     The Spartan Soldier was one of history's finest warriors. One Spartan soldier was worth a handful of the enemy. They were around back in 600 BC, where modern Greece is today and were the best for 250 years. The part you need to know is, they prepared for war by telling stories of past glories and singing songs to calm their nerves. Fighting angry was prohibited. They knew back then, that split second decisions can be clouded by anger and in a real battle situation, can mean the difference between life or death. Even if you see one of your comrades die before your eyes, you need the discipline to not let anger take over your thinking or you might end up dead too.

 Modern History:
Our modern day special forces believe this too. They train to fight with a clear head, emotions under control. They know that fighting from anger can get you killed. Whether you are a Greek warrior or a modern day sports competitor the message is the same. Anger has no place in war or on the competition field.

Anger toward yourself.

     When you screw-up, do you get mad at yourself? How mad? Does it change how you play from that point on? Do you play better when you get mad at yourself? Never! Self-anger is one of the most common reactions in sports and one of the most debilitating.
     I don't recall any sports stories where self-anger saved the day. No athlete is quoted as saying, "All I had to do is get mad at myself and I played like a champion". What usually happens is you get mad at yourself and you are finished. Sound familiar?

     Learning to control your anger is one of the hardest skills to learn. We all have the capacity for anger, it comes as part of standard mental equipment the day you were born. There is good news, anger issues can be channeled and planned for ahead of time. No matter how severe your anger problems are you can learn how to get a handle on them.
      Anger is energy and every athlete needs to learn how to control and focus their energy. Real Warriors train to harness their emotions to stay alive. Athletes can learn to harness their emotions to play at the top of the game.
 Call today to setup an appointment, 708-824-9057

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