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Yesterday I attended a practice with a high level ultimate team. At the beginning of practice, I gave the team a few mental tools they could use to get their team to the next level. First, I gave them a few eye-work drills that would help in their decision making. Second, I introduced a magic minute. They could use it before practices and games in order to set their minds straight. Lastly, I taught them how to narrow their focus during play, then broaden their focus during down-time.
After my introductory activities, they started into their regular practice. A few minutes in, an athlete came up to me with a with a question that I found very interesting...
He explained an incident a few years back where he was a defender, and jumped in the air simultaneously with the offensive player to challenge the disc. The other player came down hard, tearing his ACL. He felt awful for a long time. To this day, he has a hard time challenging the disc. When similar situations present themselves, he backs away. So his question was... how can I change this?
I first asked him if we was currently doing anything to change the habit? He responded by saying that he was trying hard in the moment to challenge the disc. I replied by saying that this would be very difficult to do, since there is so little time and so much going on during games. A better strategy would be to "un-train" this off the field. "Visualize yourself challenging the disc with confidence," I said, "and understand that your intention is to compete... not injure. Use your conscious mind to train your unconscious mind that going up hard for a disc is okay. Spend a few minutes everyday doing this, and before you know it, you will be defending with confidence."
I added that changing habits doesn't come overnight. It will take some time, and most likely he will have moments in the near term where he is hesitant to challenge the disc. When this happens, be kind and "gently correct" the action.
This is training ON THE BALL, or should we say ON THE DISC.
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