by Sara Mendez

From pee-wee’s to pros, across the board, athletes get nervous. What if I mess up, what if I drop the ball, what if I look like a moron, what if we lose, or worse yet, injured! These are questions that run through all their minds. These thoughts can become so powerful and take over a players mind creating self sabotage. Everyone wants to be at their physical and mental best while playing their sport, but this can be difficult to achieve without help.

No one wants to think negative things about themselves. We all want to be in peak condition as athletes. For instance, it is hard for a basketball player to be told they are too short or not fast enough. We begin to focus on those negative things. Being short can’t be fixed, not everyone who plays basketball is seven foot. By learning how to play the game can make you invaluable even if you are short. If you are not fast enough, this can be fixed through both physical and mental workouts. First you need to figure out mentally why you can not run fast. It could be anything from a forgotten memory to a learned behavior. Maybe your dad always told you that you were too slow and to move faster. After a while you begin to feel this way and develop a mental block. This is a learned behavior and over coming this belief can be difficult alone.

Focus, an athlete needs to be in the zone. A baseball player doesn’t hit 5 homeruns in a row because he was lucky, he is focused. If you are not in that zone, it is hard to perform at your best. Maybe there is pressure from coaches, fans or parents, a loud negative person in the stands, or maybe you simply psyched yourself out before the game even started by worrying you would have a bad game. As you can see, many things can cause you to lose the zone. Identifying what makes you lose focus, and learning new tricks to keep you in the zone. You can become unstoppable, not lucky, but focused.

Bump, set, spike, side out. Volleyball is a game of skill and to some extent luck, but with improved skill you can create your own luck. By learning visual and mental cues, you can teach your body how to be on point and improve your skill level. When your mind has powerful successes they become easier to recreate on the court during the game.

To play any sport you need to have self confidence and team spirit, both help to build a stronger team and a better athlete. If you are constantly worrying about how you did in the game or how bad your team mate is then you are doing yourself a disservice. Some people lack confidence and team spirit because of memories or again, learned behaviors. If you are always told you are no good you will be no good. If you are always told your team mate did something wrong, you learn to never trust other teammates. Once you learn how to deal with these feelings and memories, you will be a stronger athlete and more valuable.

Sure you can work out at the gym for hours on end to improve your skills, or you can try to focus on something else during the game, but you have not really dealt with the issue. Hypnosis is one way of achieving all of these things and more. It will identify what skills you have and how to develop them without negative energy. You can also learn how to focus your energy on the game instead of an obnoxious fan. All of these things are distractions and they can hinder your progress as an athlete. While under hypnosis your mind is more relaxed and open to suggestions, you will not longer have the feeling you are sabotaging yourself.

Sports, simply always be a fun, happy experience.You should not have to experience a worthless, anxious, or distracted feeling before you begin a game. Sure you can try other things but there is no reason to try those things when there is one good treatment for it. You know what works for you and your lifestyle, make your choice, just do it.

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