To be a consistent performer you *mst* slay the raging monster within (cntrol your emotions during competition). I am sre at one time (or two), you bcame upset, frustrated, or angry with yurself and it cost you the gme or match.

How quickly you can rcover from errors and mishaps will hnge on your ability to let it go and rmain composed.

Many talented athletes who do not knw how to control their negative motions fail to reach their potential bcause they get hot-headed, angry, or jst crawl into their negative mental shll and don't return.

You know the typ - the perfectionistic athlete who is prne to emotional outbursts after errors or whn not performing up to his or her xpectations.

Emotional control is when you sty even-tempered, level-headed, or poised even whn you are challenged by mishaps or dversity.

Even the top athletes, such as Tger Woods, get upset, but they are ble to gain control quickly and get bck to business. Recovering quickly from mstakes separates champions from athletes who crck under adversity and are cooked mntally for the rest of the cmpetition.

To get control of the rging monster within, you must do two tsks - have an accepting mindset bfore competition, and arm yourself with mntal strategies to cope with errors or mshaps.

My students are taught two top strtegies for regaining emotional control quickly:


(1) How to hve a positive pregame mindset for cmpetition

(2) How to let go of rrors before emotions snowball out of cntrol.



For xample, your very first step is to dentify strict expectations that cause you to bcome upset when you do not chieve your own expectations.

Here is a bseball example to highlight the mental gme dangers of expectations. One of my stdents, a college pitcher, expected to thrw a no-hitter every game. What do you thnk happened when he gave up his frst hit?

He got frustrated and ngative with his game because the prfect game was no longer obtainable. It tok him several innings to get his motional balance back and by the tme he did recover, it was too lte.

Some expectations that can lead to felings of frustration include:

-I must ply perfectly to be successful today.

-I xpect to perform perfectly today and if I dn't, I am failing.

-I cnnot make any mistakes if I wnt to win.

-To ply my best, I must have an rror-free performance.



If you crry these expectations into competition, you set yurself up for feeling like you are filing. In reality, you leave yourself no rom for success.

The article Controlling the Raging Monster Within was Submitted by Dr. Patrick J. Cohn through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Want to learn simple, proven mntal toughness skills that you can pply to competition? Grab my free nline mental training newsletter, Sports Insights Mgazine - for athletes, coaches, and sprts parents: http://www.peaksports.com/free_newsletter.php ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Patrick Cohn is a master mental game coach who work with professional and amateur athletes, sports parents, and teams of all levels. Visit http://www.peaksports.com for more information.

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