Why am I afraid to do skills that I used to be able to do?

Mental skills training helps athletes to both develop skills and perform up to their potential. Usually most athletes seek mental skills training when there is a mis-match between what they know they are capable of and what they are doing on the ice.

They know that they are stuck. They feel “blocked.”

They know that they have the skills, and the ability, and if they could just get over this block, they will be back to “normal.”

So far nothing that they have tried seems to help. The longer this continues, the more frustrated they become.

They start to doubt themselves. “Maybe I really don’t have what it takes.”

Or maybe the fear and anxiety become too intense that they can’t even force themselves to do the skill. Instead they circle or pop trying to get up the “guts” to just do it.

This is a fairly typical experience for athletes suffering from repetitive sports problems caused by fears or blocks. They are temporarily stuck in their mind and body.

Usually, there is a precipitating event. For example, a very hard fall from a wonky landing, a horrible competition experience, an actual injury or an embarrassing or humiliating situation.

The problems can start right away, or lie dormant and pop up after a similar event or situation “triggers” it.

For a skater on the ice, repetitive sports problems can look like this:

• Popping or circling repeatedly.
• Unexpectedly “losing” a jump.
• Hot or cold performance in practice from day to day.

Emotional manifestations of repetitive sports performance problems could look like this:

• Fear of falling
• Fear of making mistakes or messing up
• Low or decreased confidence
• Increased anxiety or fear.
• Perform or skates tentatively
• Loss of motivation/low motivation
• Feeling of being slow/sluggish
• A reluctance or resistance to taking action
• Avoidance

In fear based blocks, parents and coaches don’t see the cause of the struggle, they just see the struggle that results from the fear.

Too often a skater mysteriously loses skills that they had in the past.

Coaches might come to the conclusion that an athlete has a “mental” block.

But often an athlete’s tentative or reluctant actions are mistakenly interpreted as: the athlete is not working hard, “doesn’t want it enough,” is “lazy,” or uncooperative.

Usually the next step is to try to “fix” this mental block by using well knows mental skills strategies like:

Take a few deep calming breaths.
Just relax.
Visualize yourself doing what you want to do.
Take it one element at a time.
Just think positive thoughts.
You can do this, you did it before. Go for it!
Focus.
You need to stop overthinking.

Unfortunately, the more people try to help, the worse things get.

Here are a few reasons why this type of advice doesn’t work:

• Individuals interpret these directions in different ways.
• Athletes know what to do, but don’t know “how” to do it.
• One size does not fit all. Even when done correctly, they might not work.
• These techniques need a lot of practice in order to be effective.
• All of these things are easier said than done.

The biggest problem is that these well known mental skills solutions are only effective for surface problems.

Athletes with repetitive sports performance problems need to address these issues at a deeper, more fundamental level, these surface solutions are not enough.

When these surface solutions don’t work, the problem gets worse. Now the athlete not only feels like a failure on the ice, but has also failed in mindset strength as well.

It is important for parents and coaches to keep this in mind: An athlete never deliberately pops, circles or falls. The avoidance or resistance is not willful disobedience, but based in fear or emotional overwhelm. No athlete chooses to be stuck in practice. They desperately want to get back to the way they were.

The typical surface mental strategy advice given to athletes logically makes sense, but athletes with repetitive sports performance problems need to address their issues at a deeper, more fundamental level.

Until the athlete is able to get professional support, the best thing to do is for coaches and parents to be supportive and patient, and seek guidance from a mental skills professional.

If you believe your child is struggling with a repetitive sports performance problem, and want personalized guidance: contact me here.