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Tips for Success in College: Transitioning from One Level to the Next
When you leave high school you have collected a huge array of activities that work for you in succeeding in what you need to do. As you enter college those ideals and efforts have to be tweaked for maximizing success. Sure you can use those same methods from high school but chances are you will just come out mediocre in what you do, instead of fully succeeding. All the added pressures and ideals you have to uphold through compliance, academics, and your athletic team sometimes seem unlikely to accomplish but with the right information I can help relieve some of that and turn it in to positive energy towards your academics, athletics, and life
1. Make sure your teachers know who you are! It is important that your teachers know what is on your plate, so introducing yourself in your classes and explaining that you are an athlete will help your teacher comprehend. Make sure you continue to communicate with them throughout the semester; because it is said the better you know a teacher the more they will help, be concerned, and give you a little bump if you need it when the end of the semester comes
2. Take advantage of the Athletics Academic facility. The academic section for athletics is a huge area to lend help for success. Your advisors are willing to help you when you are struggling, will communicate with your teachers, and help get something set up to assist you better to understand the class materials. Tutors are very important in the athletic department because they can help you tremendously; if you academic department through athletics doesn’t supply tutors in house I am sure they still offer them, so you should defiantly ask and take advantage.
3. Get to know Student Services through Athletics. Student services is a place where you want to know all the people. They are willing to help you because they want you to succeed. They have a wide array of knowledge in their office that can help you in all areas; they will help you out in whatever situation you need and if they cannot help they will refer you to that right person.
4. Talk to your coach. It is good to have a bond with your coach, go to their office and have a conversation with them. Just talk to them, get to know them and let them get to know you. Explain what you have on your plate and what other concerns you have. Forming a bond with your coach is beneficial because it will help when you have a problem or situation by simply opening up another route.
5. Get to know the Athletic Director. You may not understand why you should know the athletic director but it is very beneficial. They are powerful within the university and could help you out when needed. Make sure you take time to introduce yourself to them and have a little conversation. Not only will this relationship benefit you during your college years but also beyond.
6. Set up a weekly schedule for yourself. A good time management tip is to make a weekly schedule that puts a certain amount of study time for each class, your practice times, and your class times. If you can stick to a schedule like this it will benefit you greatly. It will lend a hand because you won’t be doing last minute studying and homework assignments, in most classes this will either put you ahead of what you need to do or keep you right on target for the whole semester.
7. Get sleep. As an athlete you need your sleep, especially in college; practices are more intense and school is more tedious. Make sure that you are getting adequate amounts of sleep at night and not pulling all nighters multiple days in a week
8. Eat properly. You may be wondering how eating falls in with success but if you don’t have energy you aren’t going to function properly in the classroom or on your playing field. Make sure that you are eating good energy foods. Fast food every night will only harm you not help you.
9. Be Smart. Be smart with what you do. Know the rules of your team and the university before partaking in sketchy activities. Also remember that your muscles and vitals are more important to you than anyone else, so think twice before drinking or indulging in something that will harm your body, performance, or academics.
10. Stay motivated!! Sometimes it is draining being involved with many activities and no time for you. Stay motivated even when you feel like giving out, it will only pay off in the end.
I hope that you find these tips helpful in succeeding in college, both in athletics and academics. It is a rigorous life and schedule indulging into college level courses along with the intensity of college sports. I hope this list of tips helps relieve stress and leads to success on the field and in the classroom.
Rituals and Superstitions: Do they really affect your game?
We have all been in locker rooms seeing our team mates wear the same pair of socks for multiple games in a row, or have even watched the professional hockey players go the entire play offs without shaving their beards. These are all acts of rituals, or superstitions. Being superstitious is very common amongst athletes, and almost all of us at one point in our careers have done something bizarre like this that has made us truly believe it was the reason we had a good game or won that huge tournament.
Rituals can vary from player to player, from unique practice and warm up routines before a game to the shoes they wear or what they drink during the game. Some athletes have a high belief that these actions they do for each game have an effect on not only the way they perform out on the field, but how their team as a whole does as well. Superstitions on the other hand are a little bit different. These are based off of a “cause and effect,” or so players think. For example: If a player plays well the day they listened to a song to get them pumped up before the game, they will begin to believe that it was entirely the song that made this happen, and they continue to repeat that before each game.
Now my question is: do these rituals really have anything to do with our performance? Some may think so, while the other handful of individuals think it is ridiculous. What sports psychology suggests is that if an athlete believes that what they did before a game is going to make them have a great game, they are most likely going to perform that way. Superstitions and rituals are simply just athletes’ lucky charms that really inspire them and motivate them to do well during their match. If you are to miss doing your ritual before one game, it does not mean you are going to play terrible. Now, if that is the case, it is most likely because you are thinking about how you are going to have a bad game because you skipped your ritual, and the psychological factor goes back into play; if you think you are going to play bad, you probably will.
Superstitions are also called “blind belief”. If doing a certain warm up before a game brought us great luck that one time, it is said that our belief and faith in doing it before every game now is what brings us that luck time after time. Many superstitions are really just acts of misfortune or luck; not necessarily a real thing. So, while the outcome of your game is not directly affected by your specific rituals or superstitions, it can boost your confidence as an athlete. Now why is this? The answer: because these act as a placebo, therefore increasing your chances of having a good game, and in turn you continue to believe in your rituals.
Now, I am not saying that you should not continue to have your own belief in superstitions, but do not let it have a negative impact on your game if you don’t wear those lucky socks. Let your own skill and performance shine, and do not lean on luck to give you a good game; you can do it all on your own. At the end of the day however, not only do you as an athlete do this to comfort yourself and calm your nerves before a match, but your fans enjoy watching you do rituals. And as Lewis, a huge sports fan said, “For some it has meaning and for others it’s simply fun, but for most it’s just sports.”
REFERENCES:
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sportspsychology/a/superstitions.htm
http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5002285263
Mental Focus: Confidence
“Focus” is an increasingly important part of any sport, but for many athletes today, the concept is easier said than done. Not only the ability to concentrate on a particular goal, but knowing what the right goals to choose are. Some might assume that constantly thinking things such as: winning, scoring, having a good game, or who their competitor is, are the right things to focus on before and during their games. Constantly thinking about these things, however, can actually work against you and lower your confidence and, in turn, possibly cause you to choke. The reason for this is that while putting all this stress of doing well on yourself, you actually put negative pressure, or distress on your body, which can completely throw off your game. With that being said, you want to steer away from thinking those thoughts when preparing for a big match. Mental focus in sports is a very important key to your success as an athlete, and I am going to tell you how you can begin to understand it and utilize it from here on out.
Sports specialists on the mental game call mental focus a “process focus”, the reason being that when you are focusing on the whole big picture and process of your game, you cannot constantly think about doubts of winning or anything else that may be distracting to you while you are playing. While you may think that concentrating on avoiding making little mistakes in your game will help your performance, it is already starting to lessen your chance of success. So what you really need to have is “sports confidence.”
Some of you may be thinking, what is sports confidence? The answer to that question is simply this: you have to believe that you have the ability to successfully complete a physical task or skill in your sport of choice. You must only focus on the thoughts that are relevant to you completing a specific task during your match, and understand that the other thoughts are irrelevant and just hurting your performance. Some of the things that may sway our self-confidence in sports is what other teammates or fans say or don’t say to us. When this happens, one thing to do is to draw your confidence off of others who are succeeding at the moment and just continue to strive to do better. Another effective thing to do is to have efficient practices that will motivate you and increase your physical skill level, including running drills, touches on the ball, free kicks, stretches and many others. Finally, once you are doing better and feel accomplished, you will begin to regain your self-confidence.
Additionally, process focus involves you letting go of thinking about the outcome of the pass, play, or game. Like I have mentioned many times before, thinking of the outcome will only overwhelm you, in turn forcing you to mess up. Players who use process focus simply use techniques, such as the six below to successfully help their game. In this instance, we will use a pass in soccer as an example.
1. You must think of a similar situation where you have successfully made that pass to one of your teammates.
2. Practice a few swings at the ball before the game, at half time, or on the side lines to get your touch down right.
3. Develop an image in your head of correctly doing the exact pass you want to make.
4. Next, have one single thought in your mind when you are about to make that pass; think “perfect” or “accurate”.
5. Then, have absolutely zero concerns about where the ball is going to go.
6. Last and most importantly, make sure your complete focus remains on the process of preparing for that perfect pass you are about to make.
REFERENCES:
http://www.sportsconfidencetips.com/whats-sports-confidence/
http://www.sportsconfidencetips.com/119/mental-focus-in-sports/
http://www.sportsconfidencetips.com/14/article-2/
http://www.drkevinroby.com/node/51
The Development of Aaron Rodgers
In his three and a half seasons as a starter for the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers has almost already established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in not only Green Bay Packers history, but in the history of the NFL. His progression from a mid-to-late first round draft pick into Super Bowl MVP has been nothing short of spectacular. In this article, I will take you through his career thus far as quarterback for the Green Bay Packers.
Image by elviskennedy via Flickr
Season 1 (2008-2009)
As Brett Favre finally threw in the towel as a Green Bay Packer after the 2007-2008 season, Aaron Rodgers at last got his chance to showcase his talents and shine. He had been patiently waiting since he was drafted in 2005 to get his chance to start in the NFL. The Packers really liked what they had seen out of Rodgers in practice, exhibition games, and a few random fill-ins for Favre as he left games a few times over that three year period, so they were ready to give Rodgers the shot he believe he deserved. Rodgers was ready to roll.
He played in all 16 games in his first season as the Packers’ starting quarterback. He had impressive numbers, including a 93.8 passer rating (6th in the NFL), threw for 4038 yards and 252.4 yards per game, recorded 28 touchdowns (all 4th in the NFL) with 13 interceptions, and completed 63.6 percent of his passes. For being virtually a rookie, these numbers were more than impressive. Although Rodgers only led them to a 6-10 record and failed to bring them to the playoffs, the Packers organization knew they had a bright future ahead of them.
Season 2 (2009-2010)
Entering his second season as the starter for the Green Bay Packers, Rodgers began to gain more and more confidence as each day passed. Although his statistics were very solid in the previous season, Rodgers knew that he needed to improve several aspects of his game to help his team win games and hopefully bring them to the playoffs for the first time. He needed to cut down on his interception total of 13 and also really wanted to focus on completing more passes and complete them at a higher percentage. If he could improve on these few aspects, the team was bound for more success. And he did just that. Throwing for 30 touchdowns (4th in the NFL) and only 7 interceptions (tied for 1st in the NFL for starting quarterbacks), completing more passes and completing them at a higher percentage (up 9 and 1.1% respectively), and elevating his quarterback rating to a stunning 103.2 (4th in the NFL), Rodgers led the Packers to an 11-5 record and the Packers secured a spot as a Wild Card team in the playoffs, facing the former NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals in the first round. The Packers would end up losing to the Cardinals in a 51-45 shootout in overtime, the highest scoring playoff game in NFL history, but throughout the entire season and playoff game, the Packer offense shined more than it had in recent history. Only good things were to come for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.
Season 3 (2010-2011)
Prior to the 2010-2011 season, Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy posted a team photo in an open spot next to all of the other previous NFL Champion Packer team photos in the team clubhouse. Mike McCarthy and the entire organization were confident in the talent they possessed on both sides of the ball, and knew that winning the Super Bowl was not by any means out of the realm of possibility. So, their ultimate goal was to bring the Vince Lombardi trophy back home to title town. Rodgers delivered.
Despite recording remarkable numbers in the 2009-2010 season, Aaron Rodgers still saw room for improvement. In the previous season, he was sacked an astounding 50 times, up from 34 in the previous season. The 50 sacks were tied with Ben Roethlisberger for most in the NFL. Yes, the Packer offensive line was banged up and struggled to protect Rodgers throughout the year, but Rodgers knew that it wasn’t all on them. He knew that he needed to find a way to get rid of the ball quicker to avoid all of these sacks and hits.
The regular season definitely had its ups and downs, but in the end, their goal was achieved. Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to a 31-25 defeat of the Pittsburgh Steelers to secure the Vince Lombardi trophy, and Rodgers was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. Rodgers ranked 3rd in the NFL in passer rating (101.2) and was sacked only 31 times throughout the regular season, down 19 from the previous year. But his playoff numbers really made his season. He posted a near 110 quarterback rating and recorded 9 touchdowns in four games in the postseason, both tops in the NFL. Rodgers did everything he needed to do to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory.
Season 4 (2011-2012)
Even though the goal of winning the Super Bowl was achieved last year, Aaron Rodgers is evidently still hungry. He has consistently improved throughout his years as a starter, and he doesn’t seem to be slowing down one bit. His quarterback rating of 129.1 through eight games this season is nearly 29 points higher than any other quarterback in the NFL this season (D. Brees 100.6), and puts Rodgers on pace to shatter Peyton Manning’s NFL single-season record of a 121.1 passer rating. He is also on pace to break Dan Marino’s single-season passing yard record by over 150 yards, and is on track to break Drew Brees’ record of completing 70.6% of his passes for a single season. Rodgers is currently completing 72.5% of his passes. Oh, and Rodgers is also on pace to lead his team to an undefeated regular season record, a feat that only two teams have ever done before (1972 Dolphins and 2007 Patriots). We can’t say how this season will end up for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, but we have to believe that the record books will be altered in some way. There really seems to be no limit to what Aaron Rodgers can accomplish. By the end of his career, he may very well go down as one of the all-time greats in NFL history.
References:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/7200/career
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/nfl/nfl-analysis-rise-packers-aaron-rodgers
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/quarterbackRating/year/2009
Expectations of a College Athlete: An Everyday Battle
Being an athlete in today’s world can be challenging from the many pressures and expectations placed upon you but entering into college as an athlete has a whole new bundle of pressures and expectations associated with it. Sometimes the expectations athletes are held to can be realistic and other times they aren’t. Your expectations are set high from everyone around you; coaches, parents, friends and yourself. Make sure you keep your expectations where they are expected from yourself; and as long as you put in the effort where it is needed, you will succeed. Another halting factor to your athletic success when you enter into the college realm as an athlete are the many temptations coming at you just because you are an athlete, but also because you are human. Having the ideas to live a “normal” college life as an athlete won’t be feasible. The temptations to just go drink, party, do something stupid, take things because you are an athlete, get special privileges, and have tons of people throwing themselves at you; these are all things that will be awaiting you in college. These temptations can make or break your career, so making sure to resist the situations that are going to cause these awful outcomes should be avoided. Below I have listed 5 things that can be done to insure your success and help downplay the temptations and elevate the expectation dilemmas:
1. Have a good work ethic: If you maintain the work ethic that helped you succeed to get into college and be able to play sports, then you will continue to succeed. Make sure you make wise decisions when it comes to what is going on in classes. Staying on top of things will lead to a stress free season in sports and in the classroom
2. Always carry yourself in a good light: No matter what you are doing or where you are throughout the community, as an athlete you are representing your university at all times, so make sure when you are out somewhere that you don’t get too crazy, don’t try to start fights, and be respectful to everyone, even when it is hard.
3. Pick and choose your activities: You’re in college and you want to have fun! And you should but make sure you have fun in the right places and at the right activities. Make wise choices on what you are going to do and how it will affect you in training and class the next day. Being an athlete comes with a vigorous schedule so sometimes to maintain sanity it is good to take a night off and just let your body relax; so choosing to stay home to catch up sleep is sometimes a better decision than to go out to a ragger with all your buddies
4. Don’t give in to temptations: When you have tons of things and people being thrown at you sometimes it’s hard to say no and you don’t always have to! Just make sure you are following the rules and the standards you have set for yourself, along with those important people around you and what they have set for you. For example if your coach has placed a dry season flag on the team, then it probably wouldn’t be wise to go out and drink just because someone has offered free drinks all night, just for you. If you remember what you are there for and the people that mean a lot to you and what they think, it will be harder to give in to the wrong temptations.
5. Use your mind: Simply think before you do. Don’t make rash decisions they will become negative effects. Rear away from those people who are going to try and peer pressure you into doing something you don’t want to and don’t let others make decisions for you. If you use your head before you attempt to do something you will be more balanced on the good and bad decisions.
I hope these few tips are vital and helpful when entering college athletics and college in general. It is simple, just being smart about your life and actions will only lead to success as you travel through your college years. Make sure your decisions are your own and that you are always giving full effort for the two main reasons you made it there: school and sport.
