WYC 132 – Mental Toughness – Christian Buck talks Goalies having a ‘Bring it’ Mentality

Cringe moment

• Chris coached a girls team, and didn’t know the difference in the rules between boys and girls rules, so he was telling the girls the wrong things

A-ha moments

• Grades are just as important as on-the-field skills to earn a scholarship!
• Remove self-limitations, believe you can accomplish huge things. ‘What you believe is more important that what is objectively the case’ – Albert Bendora

Mental toughness

• The physiological affects of fear cause you get into Fight or Flight mode. Chris teaches his goalies to develop a fight mode, ‘bring it!’ “Let’s see how many bruises you can get”
• Focus on doing your job, not on impressing others or getting the win
• Don’t provide physical solutions to mental problems
• When making goalie changes – communicate! Even if you are just wanting to get someone else some playing time, they may view a switch as them getting benched. Talk to them about exactly what is going on. Something as simple as ‘Wasn’t your best game, but you’re still my guy.’

Practicing in a game-like environment

• Practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent
• Ask who wants to take a pressure shot in practice – good way to see who might be clutch player at the end of a game

Flushing routines

• Take your hat off, brush some water in your hair, when you put your hat back on you are starting anew
• Release, replan, refocus – Turn your back to the field of play, replan, then when you turn back around you are refocused
• Serena Williams – has notecards at her bench with 2 or 3 points of emphasis, she looks at them every time she changes sides
• Evaluative environment vs Expressive environment: Players don’t perform well when they feel they are being evaluated every single play, they perform much better in a expressive environment
• Dump card – write down everything that is stressing you out – then leave it in their locker – you’re not bringing that to the field with you – you can stress out about it again when you get back to your locker

The Sport of School – the book

5 different types of student athletes:

1. The workhorse
2. The rookie
3. The natural talent
4. The spectator
5. The intellectual

3 ways to be successful:

1. Work hard
2. Solve problems
3. Have intellectual curiosity

Book: Coming soon!

Best Stolen Idea

• Brendon Burchard – Influence
• CUP: Connect, Uplift, Praise

Favorite Quote

• Quote: ‘The man at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there’ – Vince Lombardi

Parting Advice

• Have the players control the controllables. Focus on effort.