Variables Impacting Athletic Performance

Almost every day sports fans read about various professional teams doing everything they can to improve their team's athletic performance. Whether it’s a manager/coaching change, a trade for a new player, or the addition of a strength & conditioning training guru, trying to figure out the "right formula" for success is every General Managers goal. Some GM's believe there is a science to sport success that can be measured through various performance markers, like Yards per Game or a Batting Average, while others feel it is more of an art when putting together the right personaliities to work together on a team. And of course, there are others that feel it's a little bit of both science and art!

So what are the most salient variables that impact athletic performance? Based on my experiences in sports, I offer the following list of the most important features for teams to consider when looking to improve athletic performance:

Athletic Skills
This is an easy one – like the saying goes “ya gotta have the horses to win.” Having talent, of course, is always going to help a team find success, but is having talent alone enough? Think about how many teams at the start of each season look great “on paper,” yet finish the season far below expectations? We see this all the time, from the pros all the way down to youth sports!

Coaching
How much does coaching play into team success (or lack thereof)? This is a question of great debate, frankly. Some people feel that getting the “right” coach is often the missing link, while others feel as though coaches often get too much credit for winning, and too much blame for losing. To the degree that the coach impacts a team’s success can certainly be debated, but most would agree that finding the right coach for a program can - and often does - make a big difference. In my opinion the fit of a coach to a team is probably more important than how successful a coach has previously been.

Mood State and Confidence
A player’s mood state and level of confidence are major factors when it comes to athletic success. An athlete may have all the skills in the world, but if he is constantly worried, nervous, and afraid to play all-out (and instead plays to avoid losing), then it really doesn’t matter how good he is "on paper." Unfortunately, not enough General Managers and front office personnel look at these factors, and instead spend a disproportionate amount of time looking for better players, rather than spending resources on developing what they already have. When players regularly feel good about the team culture, and are confident in their own abilities (as well as their teammates), then it is quite likely the team will play at a high level.

Incentives
What does the athlete have to play for when it comes to competition? Pro athletes play for lucrative salaries, college athletes play for a chance to get drafted by the pros, and kids play for, well, they actually play for a number of reasons, including simply pleasing their parents. My point is that the more incentive an athlete has to play hard, the more likely the athlete will be motivated, resulting in the athlete playing above what she is supposedly capable of doing. When teams have a true incentive to improve and succeed, this often allows them to over-achieve, usually leading to a successful season.

Resiliency
How quickly do athletes bounce back from bad plays, terrible games, or even forgettable seasons?! Defeated athletes will lose motivation, confidence, and interest in playing hard, resulting in under-achievement. Conversely, motivated athletes play “over their head” and harness positive adrenaline to help them bounce back from tough days. In sports, resiliency is mandatory if success is to occur. Teams that quickly bounce back from adversity win more games, resulting in stronger team climate and culture.

Of course, there are many more variables that mediate athletic success, but in my experience the ones I have listed here are vitally important for teams to play at their highest levels. Saavy GM's realize these "intangibles" I have listed here are vitally important to team success, and they often bring in outside resources and personnel so they can create a positive, winning culutre for their franchise.

Take a closer look at your favorite team and see how they stack up ---- if nothing else, perhaps my article today will help you at that next fantasy sports draft when sizing up your players on watch!

Sports: The Universal Common Denominator!

These days, there are plenty of reasons to look at our country with pessimism and despair. Whether it’s the current recession, the ongoing wars, or the daily fighting between politicians, just about every day can turn into a bummer and quickly begin to look very bleak. Add in racism, gender inequalities, and differences over global warming and healthcare options, you can easily see how divided we have become.

Still, there is one common thread that holds us together: sports.

I cannot think of too many things in life that bring people, who are otherwise completely different, together. Fans cheering in the stands are from different races, religions, and political parties. Athletes playing on the court come from different backgrounds. Yet, during sporting events, all these boundaries and differences disappear, and everyone unites. Racists cheer the opposite race, heterosexuals cheer homosexuals, and Republicans cheer Democrats. Fans unite and jump from their seats together, regardless of who is sitting next to them, and athletes from different backgrounds work together as committed teammates fighting for the same goal. At least for a couple hours, we are all one.

Everything goes out the window when we become intoxicated with excitement from our love of sports. We do not “qualify” who we are high-fiving, and we go nuts when we win – regardless of the makeup of the players that got us the victory. Our pride and overall outlook on life often ebbs and flows with respect to how our team is doing in the standings. When it comes to sports, we don’t care about being different, but we instead pull together as one for a common goal - victory.

Not only do we win together, but we commensurate over losses together as well. When our team loses, it doesn’t matter who it is that extends their condolences; we genuinely appreciate the gesture. While a liberal Democrat might not have anything in common with a conservative Republican, the two will join together in synchrony in a “we’ll get ‘em next year” afterthought following a heartbreaking loss.

It’s really quite amazing when you think about how sport brings people together. The same people who use words like “hate” and “despise” to describe certain types of people outside of the stadium are, ironically, the very same people who pay big money to cheer these people on when they’re competing as athletes. The players we watch somehow magically lose their skin color, their religious beliefs, and even their sexuality as fans emotionally cling to them and pay no attention to the differences that exist. What endeavor other than sports wipes away our differences and allows us – albeit for a brief moment in time - to unite as one?

Sports are the universal common denominator that brings us together!

Sport Superstitions & Pre-Game Rituals

I was recently interviewed about my thoughts on sport superstitions and how they differ from pre-game rituals. I thought the question was a good one, and it actually prompted me to think about the differences (and whether there truly were any), as well as the importance of doing one or both

As you have probably already heard by now many athletes engage in odd, quirky, and sometimes just weird activities before going out to compete. Some of these behaviors include eating the same type of food on game days to wearing the same t-shirt or shorts under the uniform for good luck. The goal for an athlete engaging in superstitious behaviors - even if he or she doesn't describe it this way - is ultimately to get in the best, most focused mindset and positive mood state possible, leading to more confidence and, you guessed it --- greater likelihood that the athlete will perform to his or her highest level.

While superstitions are often viewed as a little "different" (putting it lightly), pre-game rituals are usually seen as quite normal --- and athletes who do not have a pre-game ritual are sometimes viewed as being too aloof and not tuned in for competition! Interestingly, pre-game rituals, while usually seen as "normal," are essentially designed to do the same thing as superstitions do -- that is, help prepare the athlete with better focus, confidence, and mood state!

So what are the similarities and differences between the two? I have comprised a list below to help sum it all up:

Similarities:

• Both are designed to help prepare athletes for competition
• Both are usually done without the assistance of others (and often done privately)
• Both are usually completed in a relatively short period of time
• Both are unique to the athlete
  
• Neither are designed to disrupt the team, and rarely does the athlete doing the pre-game ritual/superstition recruit others to do the same

Differences:

• Superstitions are usually perceived as odd, quirky, or downright weird
• Pre-game routines are usually more "mainstream" and can be things like going through a specific shooting routine, or simply looking over a goal sheet for the season before going out to compete
• Superstitious behaviors are typically designed to help "align the stars" and recruit the assistance of other, outside variables that could help the athlete succeed, whereas pre-game routines are usually seen as simply a part of getting ready for a game, and not something that needs to be done in order to bring in outside forces to help the athlete play well
• Superstitions are a lot of fun to identify and talk about (especially for fans and the media), while pre-game routines are typically viewed as boring and mundane - and not a lot of fun to talk about

Of course, these are just my thoughts about the similarities and differences between superstitions and pre-game routines, but I guess what I find most interesting is how they are essentially designed to help athletes do the same thing - that is, take control of the situation and their surroundings, minimize their stress levels, increase their self-confidence and enhance mood state, all resulting in allowing the athlete to begin the game in the best possible mindset he or she can develop before the first whistle blows.

One final note -- I do advise all athletes to develop a pre-game routine that is unique to the athlete --- whether it meets the criteria of a superstition is left up to the individual!

The Sport Doc's 5 Tips for Sport (and Life) Success!

#1 LOVE What You Do!
In order to increase motivation, persistence, and resiliency you must love what you do! Finding reasons why you want to do something increases intrinsic motivation, better enabling you to work through tough times and keep your head up when things don’t look so good. It is vitally important that you find something – anything – within the tasks that you do so that you find value in doing them. For example, if you are an athlete and not receiving much playing time, it would make perfect sense for you to become bored and disinterested in putting much effort into practice. However, by finding something about playing sports (other than simply getting more playing time – that’s obvious) you will increase your mood state, allowing you to continue to participate at a high level. So what “other things” might keep you invested in participating? How about getting great physical workouts, being with terrific friends, or simply enjoying the learning experience you are receiving that will allow you to excel when your number is eventually called!

#2 Set Goals
In order to be successful you must develop “road maps” in life to follow. Goal setting is really an exercise in road mapping, as setting goals allows you to specify targets and mobilize and sustain your efforts toward them. Goal setting research clearly shows that when people set specific, measurable goals they always outperform people who set no goals, as well as people who set “do your best” types of goals. These scientific findings have been witnessed across settings, including in sports, school, and life. Furthermore, setting goals can dramatically help with self-esteem and self-confidence, two additional variables closely linked with peak performance.

#3 Focus
The ability to focus – to put all your energy and perception toward one target, while at the same time eliminating outside, irrelevant factors – is quite an ability indeed. Outside distracters are all those little things that take our attention away from the task at-hand, including what we need to do later in the day, the voices in our heads that remind us that we “aren’t good enough,” or that last play 2 minutes ago where we screwed up and seemingly let the team down. People excel in life when they are able to devote all their attention and energy toward the important aspects of success, while refusing to acknowledge things that A) don’t matter, or B) things that have already happened and cannot be changed.

#4 Don’t Give Up
Persistence and resiliency are two key pieces to success! This very simple suggestion (Don’t give up) is arguably the biggest tip to success, as most people endure stress, frustration – and even failure – before finally succeeding and reaching their final long-term goals in life. Unfortunately, most people do not hear of these tough stories, and instead wrongfully assume that when people become successful, it happened easily and without any problems. Like the old saying goes, “It’s not how many times you fall down, but how many times you get up!” If the goals you have set for yourself are currently not working, take a step back, regroup, and “build a better mousetrap” for tomorrow!

#5 Evaluate and Learn
Regardless of what happens to you, whether you “win or lose,” or whether you succeed or fail, it is most important that you allow a little time to pass (and let the emotions settle), then revisit the event that recently happened and learn from the experience. Unfortunately, far too many times people do not do this – especially when they fail at something – and instead allow the emotions of what just happened to get in the way of using logic to learn form the situation – and improve upon it in the future! Keep in mind that logic and emotion are on opposite ends of the continuum, and in order for true learning and growth to occur, you must flush out the emotions, become “level-headed” again, and work diligently to better understand what you can do differently and better the next time out!

Follow Me on Twitter!

So I have broken down and finally joined the Twitter World --- actually, its not that bad and really sort of fun ---- feel free to follow me at:

http://twitter.com/drstankovich

Thanks for your continued support of my work!

Addressing the Number of Growing Issues in Youth/Interscholastic Sports

Youth and interscholastic sports continue to evolve all the time, and we must work collectively to ensure that kids are consistently involved in a safe, fun, and meaningful sport experience. Long gone are the days of pick-up games, short season schedules, 3-sport letter winners, and nominal league fees - today the youth sport landscape consists of plenty of structure, tons of games, sport "specialists," and very expensive league and operating fees. Of course not all of this is bad, per se, but it does require adults to stay up on things and work diligently to ensure kids are having a great experience playing sports!

Some kids today play year-round, and some elect to specialize in one sport. Other kids play in travel leagues, and some even play in multiple leagues at once! While most families who experience these types of situations deal with them successfully - even if it is challenging at times - there are increasingly more families not so lucky.

Youth sport burnout is a major concern to families across the country, and occurs when kids play sports so much that they begin to lose interest in playing. In other words, their intrinsic motivation decreases, yet mom and dad sometimes don't see this, and instead continue to push along without much concern. Unfortunatley, for many kids, instead of speaking up and asking their parents to take a break and slow down some, they elect to remain silent as they watch all the time, money, and energy their parents devote to youth sports.

When kids get burned out from playing sports, it is not that quitting the sport is the answer --- actually, taking a short break can remedy most problems right away. Unfortunately, without any breaks, some kids internalize their stress, leaving them at-risk for dangerous coping behaviors including drinking, drug use, and other dangerous things.

For this reason it is important for all of us to pay attention to the changes in youth sports, respond to them as quickly as possible, and watch for when kids may be at-risk for youth sport burnout. Sport participation should be considered as part of a child's overall development, but when it becomes the only activity a child is involved with (and at the expense of other growth opportunities) it can lead to youth sport burnout - and possibly bigger problems as a result.

Keep an eye on all the changes in youth sports and step up when you see problems developing - together we can all make a positive difference!

New Website is Live!

Thanks for checking in -- if you haven't visited http://www.drstankovich.com/ recently, please take a few minutes and examine the new website! The new streamlined design, easier navigation, and increased product line are just a few of the exciting changes that I hope sport enthusiasts, coaches, parents, and athletes will benefit from in the future.

Soon you will see a growing list a "free" articles and videos, as well as additional sport performance products that will be available at reasonable prices. All products are designed to maximize the sport experience, and help kids use sport as a vehicle for life success!

Another new addition to the revised website is a greater emphasis on my Life training products. Currently, audio files are available for "everyday" people designed to help with stress appraisal and recovery, changing habits for life success, and leadership. In the near future new videos on these topics will also be available as well.

Please stop by and visit, and let us know what you think. If you have any requests for additional information please email information@drstankovich.com

Thanks!