Thoughts.

I wrote this up in the hotel at Vegas, trying to stay more concise than my usual rambling fare. The presentation was very informative, and Dr. Goldberg gives a very convincing argument for coming over to his way of thinking. I was going to put a link pointing to the downloads section of the UCPC website, where Devlin’s audio recording of the keynote was posted previously, but it seems that somebody has mandated it be taken down. Your loss!

Anyhow, below are some of the main points Dr. Goldberg made:

•The mind, body, and performance are all related. The Mind’s conceptions of what you should focus on and do, and how you might fare, in turn influences your body, effecting basic physiological changes—your muscles tighten, your breath gets shallower, you essentially can “psych yourself out,” all through the power of suggestion that comes when you think about performance. Even seemingly positive thoughts such as “I won’t drop the disc” are still rooted in failure and prime your body for it. And the Body’s state in turn influences one’s performance, which effects how your mind perceives your ability, and so on…

•The distinction between the “right mindset” and the “wrong mindset” for optimal performance is as simple as the difference between being “in the experience” or “in your head.” When focusing on the experience itself, one should relax, trust one’s skill and LET IT HAPPEN. Practice is when you work and refine your skills, when you’re performing you need to let your body do what it’s been trained to do. Staying in the present, and focused on yourself and your teammates, and things you can directly control, are all part of the “right mindset.” The “wrong mindset,” on the other hand, comes when you are trying too hard, or are too tentative, because you are too focused on the OUTCOME and not focused enough on the PROCESS. Thinking about the last play that just happened, or what might happen if you score this goal, or generally focusing on things you can’t directly control (like your opponents) will all put you in the “wrong mindset,” elevating your stress, lowering your confidence, and therefore lowering your overall level of play.

•The distinction between the fore and hindbrain—the forebrain is where you process thoughts, essentially where cognition takes place. Your hindbrain is where your intuitive knowledge rests, in a sense your more primitive understanding of things. Optimal performance hinges on your staying in the hindbrain, where you have easy access to intuited skills like throwing, rather than the forebrain where you’re too busy processing to react quickly and decisively.

•Finally, Dr. Goldberg emphasized that it is not focus itself, but controlling the loss of focus, that allows you to stay in an optimal performance state. EVERYBODY loses focus—the best are better able to recognize these lapses and put themselves back on target sooner. You can practice/train your mental facilities in this regard through things like meditation—Dr. Goldberg suggests focusing on a Frisbee, set aside somewhere, for set periods of time, recognizing and acknowledging distractions and letting them go to refocus on the disc. Eventually he says you can get to a point where you can set the disc on top of a TV and still maintain focus on the Frisbee.

Related posts:

1. UCPC Review, Part 4 ("Applying Mental Toughness Strategies to Ultimate," Tiina Booth)
2. UCPC Review, Part 5 (the final: "A Season of High-level College Ultimate," Nathan Wicks)
3. UCPC review: Part 2 ("Marking: Techniques and Tactics", Ben Wiggins)
4. UCPC review: Part 1 ("Fitness and Training for Ultimate," Bryan Doo, Dan Cogan-Drew)
5. Getting Into the Zone