There are several aspects to developing the winning mental strength and the discussion is quite interesting and it can become quite deep and intense. For an introduction to this segment of SquashSkills.com I can confidently say that we can all agree that our "mental game" has let us down on more than a few occasions. And we can also agree that it has been the reason why we have won in tight spots. If not points, but also games, matches and even championships. All champions regardless of sport will attest to the importance, value and power of the mind and the mental game.
The question now becomes, "how do we develop these skills to fine tune the mind so we can stay calm under pressure, be more focussed, less apt to distraction, etc....?"
We have to look a little deeper to find out the answers.
Our mind is made of several sections and what we will discus in these tips will be primarily the conscious and subconscious mind and how they affect almost everything we do, say and behave in general.
We know that the subconscious mind actually controls 96-98% of all our actions.
So we know that is the part of the mind that we have to focus on.
But we actually cannot ignore the conscious mind either.
I'll get back to that reason in some later articles.
So here is the goal. Everyone has had that feeling I am sure one time or another when we feel so amazing that we get that "runners high". Like everything is going right. Well that's the mental state we want to have in our game. Our brain is actually in a specific state. And we now know how to get into that state almost at will. Therefore in the most optimal mental state to perform at your best on court.
Many players and coaches also talk about visualization. Well, we've taken this part of the mental training program to the next level and beyond. And in our program we actually provide you the opportunity to invest in this advanced system of visualization (which actually cost over US$100,000 to develop). Don't worry you won't pay anything near that price of course. That's like saying the most recent Ferrari cost $3 million to develop and you have to pay $3 million. It's going to be available to SquashSkills.com subscribers for a fraction of the price. Stay tuned for that. It will make all the difference in your game and life in general. You can also find out more about our proven and successful group/team and one-on-one mental training programs.
We will discover the limiting beliefs and where they came from - which have been holding you back for so long from training and playing better, winning against people you know you can and should be beating and even why you get injured at the "wrong" time every time. So much of this is mental and when we sit back to analyze it for a moment we know right away that this has happened to almost every subscriber reading this article right now. Well it doesn't have to be that way any more. We know ways to safely re-porgram your DNA for success.
Here are a few simple techniques to get your mind in a positive state immediately and many top players actually do this sub-consciouly (unless they have been trained by someone like myself or a professional sports psychologist). For e.g.. do you ever notice when top players walk around the court between rallies and wipe their hand on the glass or side wall? Well they are doing 2 of a possible 6 things which provide immediate positive brain chemistry. This chemistry helps them to relax and stay positive for the next rally. 1: they switch the racquet from their dominant hand (the hand they play with) to their non-dominant hand. And 2: they usually wipe up and look at the wall or their hand while wiping. While looking upward you can only think of positive things. And conversely looking down you can only think of negative things. (These are both occurring at a deep subconscious level). Go ahead and try it at home. There are 4 other techniques that we will discus in later editions that you can use right away to help with your mental focus on the court.
Like this quote by Ali states, the mental game is what creates the outcome far before you ever enter the court. If you follow our articles and take consistent action you will definitely learn how to control your mental game at a much higher level so that your success is not just a possibility it will become a reality.
With grateful appreciation,
Maxim P. Weithers
Life Happyenss Consultant
Ask about our group/team and one-on-one mental training program, "Beyond Sports Psychology."
"The Mind Controls the Body, Not the Other Way Around."
MPW.
My Story. Who is Maxim P. Weithers and why should you listen to me?
I am a former PSA player exposed to serious squash quite late at age 14. I love the game and it's a passion of mine. My best win was a 3-0 win over Jaimie Hickox world #16 in a PSA San Francisco event. I was Canadian Junior Champion (so I love working with kids and youth because I can always remember the hard work and mental preparation I went through). I also worked with Jonathan Power and Jahangir and Rahmat Khan in Wembley, London. Working with world champions like these you learn a few things. I am a certified level III coach from Canada and certified referee. I won 3 Caribbean Championships and 4 national North American titles. I can now appreciate the mental part of the game as I can relate what I have learned to what they were doing at the time. However, in 2005 I had a serious car accident that totaled my car. I was t-boned at an intersection. At that time my life literally flashed before me. And I had to do some soul searching to see what I was really doing with my life and what my true purpose was. I began a journey into discovery and found myself surrounded by the likes of some of the foremost mentors on the planet. The likes of Bob Proctor and John Assaraf (my current business coach and personal mentor. Yes, even a coach has to have a coach). Both of these men are from the global phenomenon movie/documentary and book "The Secret." Along with many others coaches, mentors, sports psychologist, neuro-research scientists - I have since developed my own keen sense of mixing the scientific research with ancient wisdom and combined it into a proven successful and powerful program for helping athletes to improve an additional 10-25% or more in their specific sport. In recent years I worked with the Colombian national junior boys and girls team who placed a world best last year (2012) in Qatar, and the PSA Colombian #1 Miguel Angel Rodriguez who won the Pan Am Gold Medal in 2011 using my program without dropping a single game. He also went from a slump of 34 in the world to 23 in a matter of 3 months. Here is a quote from Miguel after winning the 2010 PSA Bogota Open, "I just wanted to thank some people who made this happen! "It was a big week for me, playing at home is always special and really wanted to thank my dad Angel Rodriguez who helped me during all my entire career so far, my coach Sardar Ali Khan who is helping me to rise my level every day, without him can not do what am doing.
