Sports Phil

VISUALIZATION AND SPORTS PERFORMANCE

To the same extent that attending to the health needs of the body are the foundation of a good training regimen, mental focus, concentration and visualization are the keys to success. Most people are familiar with the saying that sports is 90% mental and 10% physical. Why is it then that so many athletes fail to give attention to mental training? That 90% figure should be pretty hard to overlook yet it often is. By studying trancendant athletes and sports stars, it becomes apparent that the common edge they have over competition indeed does begin mentally.

The Theory in Action

Jerry West, the NBA Logo, had such a penchant for hitting buzzer beaters he was nicknamed ‘Mr. Clutch’. In one memorable game in which his team was trailing the Knicks with a few seconds left in an NBA Finals game, West took an inbound pass and shot from 60 feet at the buzzer. Knicks guard Walt Clyde Frazier recalls thinking: “The man’s crazy. He looks determined. He thinks it’s really going in!”. Of course, it did go in, sending the crowd reeling and the game to overtime. One time, when asked about his ability to frequently hit the big shot, West revealed the root of that confidence Frazier witnessed. West explained that he had already made those shots time after time in his mind. Jerry West, like so many other legends the such as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Phil Jackson, Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky and countless others, realized the power of visualization.

What is Visualization?

Visualization is known as guided imagery, meditation, and by many other names. A popular visualization for athletes is the mental rehearsal of sporting events while ‘intending’ a desired outcome. Amazingly, research has revealed that visualization can actually enhance performance to nearly the same extent as physical practice. A study conducted by Dr. Blaslotto at the University Of Chicago is an intriguing example.

The goal of Dr. Blaslotto‘s study was to determine the effects of visualization on sports performance. As a performance measure for this experiment, the researchers chose the free throw percentage of a group of basketball players. First, to establish a basis for the study, the current free-throw success rate of each of the subjects was tested and recorded. Three groups were then established, and the athletes were assigned to one of the groups at random. After 30 days of testing and retesting, the results were as follows:

The third group, who neither physically practiced or visualized shooting free-throws, showed no increase in percentage.

The first group which physically shot free-throws for an hour daily, collectively improved thier free-throw shooting by 24%.

The second group, which practiced daily by visualizing shooting and making free-throws, collectively improved thier free-throw shooting by a shocking 23% without having physically shot a basketball!

Another similiar study was done by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation exploring the effects of visualization on muscle strength. The results of that study also astonishingly revealed increases to muscle strength through visualization, further reinforcing the fact that mental training is actually as impactful a tool in performance enhancement as physical training.

How does Visualization work?

With each experience, a neural pathway is formed. Neural Pathways in short, are clusters of neurons in the brain that work together to create a memory or a learned behavior. Dr. Blaslotto explained, “As your brain conceives of an act, it generates impulses that prompt neurons to ‘perform’ the movement being imagined by transmitting those impulses from the brain to the muscles.” This in turn creates a habit, or neural pathway in the brain, programming your body’s actions as if you physically performed the activity….

Continued at http://www.sports-fitness-tips.com

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Phil Jackson, most overrated coach in NBA and sports history, discuss?

Lets look at the facts, he got lucky and hit up Jordan and Pippen, two of the top 5/10 players in the nba at the time. He rode their coattails for 6 rings, and then rode Shaq and Kobe (again, two of the top 5 players in the league) to three more rings. What has he done with just Kobe, um, nothing. Obviously he can coach somewhat, but what has this guy done with inferior talent, absolutely nothing. He can only win with dominating players, and really, who couldn’t coach those teams to wins.

Phil Jackson’s greatest asset as a coach is not that he “molded” or managed the egos of a Kobe, Shaq, Pippen or Jordan, it’s his management of the players around his superstars that made him so great.

People like to say, “Man MJ sure was a ball hog before Phil Jackson came in and taught him to be a team player”. Um, WRONG! Jordan averaged around 30+ points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assist before and after Phil coached the Bulls. The only difference was that Phil convinced the role players around Jordan that if they maximized their roles that the Bulls would win. Sure MJ had to buy into Phil’s system, but Phil never tried to change his game. It’s the same thing with Shaq. He let’s his superstars play their game for the most part, it’s the role players that Phil gets to work the hardest.

Kobe is a different story. He bought into the system at first, but after their first championship it became harder for Phil to get Kobe to defer to Shaq. It didn’t sit well with Kobe that Shaq was the main option, and in Phil’s system YOU MUST play your roles around the superstar. As we all know that’s one of the main reason’s that team isn’t together anymore. Now that Kobe is by himself, it’s more of the same thing. Kobe is the top dog now, but he doesn’t have a solid sidekick like Jordan had with Pippen or like he himelf was to Shaq. Odom is O.K., but Kobe seems to totally take him out of the game when at times. Also the supporting cast doesn’t defend like Phil Jackson teams of the past.

So anyway, to finally answer your question yes I do think Phil is a great coach and he can take average players/talent and win with it, he just needs a superstar or two to start with first.

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