Brad Lawrence has been my “across-the-street neighbor” for many years now. In addition to being a soccer player for decades, he has also coached youth teams. I reached out to Brad two years ago when I needed help for a class assignment that involved interviewing a coach in order to provide a mental skills plan for their use. I learned a tremendous amount from Brad’s experiences (I am quite sure I got more out of it than he did from my resulting plan)!
It was quite natural for me to reach out to him at this early stage in this Blog’s development to get his thoughts and opinions. As in the past, Brad offered up some wonderful insight that, with his permission, I would like to share with you. I have edited the original only to address any “texting shortcuts” from Brad’s original text.
Hey Mike! It’s a good start, many of the things you list, I use from a competitive point of view. Especially ‘hit the reset button’ – I’ve referred to it as having short-term memory – and I’m a huge fan of visualization. Maybe extend it to everyday life too? There’s an adage that sport is life and life is sport. In my mind it’s a progression as one matures and experiences different stages of life; the point being the lessons and skills that made us better athletes when we were young, help us to accomplish our goals while we’re ‘adulting’ ;-). Make it universal and a way of life as I think it applies no matter what we’re doing. Hope this helps!
I could not agree with Brad more. In fact, there is not much that needs to be added. Mental skills techniques apply to sport and everyday life in general.
Thanks for the comments Brad. I would be interested in hearing comments from others as well!