Reminders about Mental Toughness

BY LENNY WIERSMA, Ph.D.
To reach your goals, you’ll need to learn to deal with stress and keep a healthy perspective. Below is a list of five short reminders about mental toughness that every swimmer should follow:

1. You have to be in control of yourself before you are in control of your performance. Take deep breaths, slow down the thoughts racing through your head and smile.
2. Allow yourself room to fail. Remind yourself that taking a chance and failing is better than not having the guts to fight in the first place.
3. Swimming your best when you feel good is easy. Swimming your best when you are tired, scared or sick: now that’s an athlete. Remember, it’s not how you feel. It’s how you act. You don’t always have to be confident, but you should always act like it.
4. Last year, a 44-year old man ran 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days in 50 different states, then turned around and ran from New York to St. Louis, almost 1,300 miles away and the start of the first race. What’s the point? The 200 butterfly won’t kill you.
5. There’s a big difference between winning and competing. Learning how to compete is a much more useful skill later in life than the dusty trophy you won when you were 12.

Lenny Wiersma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University, Fullerton, and a member of USA Swimming’s High Performance Network in Sport Psychology.

Expecting Success

Pete Rose was being interviewed during spring training in the year he was about to break Ty Cobb’s all time hits record. One reporter blurted out, “Pete, you only need 78 hits to break the record. How many at-bats do you think you’ll need to get the 78 hits?” Without hesitation, Rose just stared at the reporter and very matter-of-factly said, “78.” The reporter yelled back, “Ah, come on Pete, you don’t expect to get 78 hits in 78 at-bats do you?” Rose calmly replied, “Every time I step up to the plate, I expect to get a hit. If I don’t expect to get a hit, I have no right to step in the batter’s box in the first place. If I go up hoping to get a hit, then I probably don’t have a prayer to get a hit. It is a positive expectation that has gotten me all of the hits in the first place.”

Cleaning Out The Car

ABCs of Mental Training: C is for Confidence

Mentally preparing yourself to swim fast can be as easy as A-B-C. Sport psychologist Aimee Kimball brings usaswimming.org her third installment of the ABCs of mental training — “C” is for Confidence.

Confidence is a Choice

Many people think the only way to be confident is to be successful. While it is easier to believe in your abilities when you have had proven success, it is not the only way to feel a sense of confidence. Confidence is a choice. It comes from choosing to focus on your strengths and knowing that you are good. It comes from choosing to be positive with yourself. It comes from focusing on what you need to do to swim well rather than uncontrollable, situational factors. Most importantly, confidence comes when you’re not worrying about being the best, but when you are focusing on being your best.

How Can I Create Confidence?

The first step in creating confidence is preparation. If you fully engage physically and mentally in practice, you will feel more prepared when competing. Focused practices allow you to trust that you did everything you could to enable yourself to perform your best.

Second, it is important to act confidently. Our mind reacts to what our body does. If your head is down, your muscles are tense or your shoulders are hunched, your mind will sense your self-doubt. So always make sure your body language and your communication with yourself and others portrays confidence. Even when you don’t feel confident, act and think confidently.

Finally, realize you don’t need other people to tell you that you are good. Many athletes wait for coaches to tell them they are swimming well in order to believe in themselves. You may wantothers to tell you that you are good, but it’s not something you need. You already know when you swim well, hearing it from others is just icing on the cake.

Make it great!

Defeating Negative Self-Thoughts

BY DR. AIMEE KIMBALL//Sport Psychologist
Have you ever said mean things to yourself like, “You are awful. You are the slowest person in the water,” or “There is no way I’m going to get better, I should just quit?”

If so, imagine how you would react if someone else said those things to you. You would definitely be angry and possibly push them in the pool. My point is, don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t let anyone else get away with.

Tips for helping you quiet the negative talk in your head:

Be your own biggest fan.
Imagine the president of your fan club standing on your shoulder wearing a T-shirt with your face on it telling you, “You’re awesome. You’ve worked so hard, I know you’ll do well. You deserve to be out here, show them what you got.” Cheer yourself on and have your “biggest fan” fill your head with positive thoughts.

Write down your negative thoughts.
Write a list of things you typically say to yourself, then counteract those thoughts with something positive. For example, if you write down “I’m not nearly as good as her. There’s no way I can win,” you can cross it out and say to yourself, “She’s fast, but I don’t control her. I am going swim my best and get a great time.”

Create more positives than negatives.

Any time you say something negative, make yourself say two things you’re doing well. For example, if you say, “My turns are awful,” you have to positively refocus yourself by saying, “I have a great stroke and my starts are fantastic.” Tell your coach, your teammates, and your parents to enforce this with you, too, in all areas of your life.

Make it Great!

Dr. Aimee C. Kimball is the Director of Mental Training for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Center for Sports Medicine.