You may or may not have come across the concept of Mindfulness before. You might have heard about sports coaches encouraging their athletes to adopt mindfulness practices, or maybe you’ve heard about athletes learning and practicing meditation as part of their training. But what exactly is this thing called Mindfulness, and can it really improve sporting performance?
I love the NBA and, for me, the first round of the playoffs is all about expectations. Some teams have high expectations for themselves, while other teams have expectations placed upon them. Either way, these expectations can weigh heavy upon teams, and sometimes, on individual players. Some were able to shed this weight of expectation and perform to the best of their ability. Others felt the full weight of expectation upon them and their performances suffered as a result. So how do we deal with the weight of expectation?
The build-up, the money, the media circus surrounding the “fight of the century” were all potential distractions, so how might the pound for pound kings have kept their focus for the biggest fight of their lives?
The Seattle Seahawks could have won their second straight Superbowl. They should have won their second straight. They should have beaten the New England Patriots in Feb, 2015, but instead they had to walk off the field, close, but cigar-less. They could have won, but for a decision that had pretty much everyone who was watching saying “what the… wait… why would you… but you have… just… oh my goodness what have you done!?”
Well that’s it! The 2014 NBA Finals are over and it was the San Antonio Spurs who put last year’s defeat emphatically behind them, and prevented the Miami Heat from winning their third straight Championship, or “threepeating” if you will.
I don’t think anyone expected the Spurs to win in 5 Games and I certainly don’t think anyone expected the Heat to roll over without much of a fight. At the very least, I didn’t expect it, but I admit that I was hoping that the Spurs brand of TEAM FIRST basketball would be effective enough to get them past Miami. And it really, really was!
If the theme of Game 1 was ‘beating the heat’, the theme of Game 2 was definitely ‘keeping cool’. But this time, it wasn’t a broken air conditioning system that was causing players’ temperatures to rise. It was another one of those damn uncontrollables – the refs.
It’s been a while since my last post on here. I’ve been largely trying to avoid the internet while the NBA Playoffs have been happening. People seem unable to resist posting results on social media sites and, since I can no longer stay up until 5am and function adequately the next day, I’ve been recording games to watch when I get home from work the following day.
Most… probably all athletes who’ve achieved anything approaching success will have set goals along the way, but why do we ordinary mortals find it so tough to set and stick to the goals we set for ourselves.
So I’ve been doing some consultancy work in boxing for a while now, and it’s safe to say that it’s a sport that’s unlike any of the sports that I’ve worked in before. It’s a brutal sport, there’s no getting away from it. The aim is to punch your opponent until he/she can’t punch you back any more.
However, it’s also a sport that requires not only immense physical strength and stamina, but also discipline and control, and the ability to think tactically and strategically while under pressure. So in some ways, I suppose it’s not that dissimilar to other sports after all.
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