The nervousness and anxiety that happens in the first ten minutes is NOT due to a lack of confidence (although it appears to be), but do to a LACK OF PROACTIVE ATTENTION CONTROL.

Every great athlete experiences nervousness in performance, but once the SKILLS are mastered to the degree of “unconscious competence,” the athlete does not need to think about HOW to perform, and many are therefore trained to do specific actions with their faculty of attention in order to deal with the emotional side of the game. Elite level professional hockey players know what to do with their attention in order to GET focused and STAY focused; focused on exactly the right things at the right time; and are well-rehearsed on exactly WHICH THOUGHTS TO THINK at the proper time.

The very act of active attention control displaces the cognitive activity we call nervousness, crowding it out because the athlete is too busy, mentally, to be nervous. There may be butterflies, but frankly they seem ‘far off in the distance’ as the athlete isn’t paying attention, and is instead engaged in the act of directing and redirecting attention as well as constructing and orchestrating pre-designed thought routines, radar-checking his or her physiology and purposefully adjusting muscular tensions.

Proactive Attention Control Training is the answer, combined with effective skills practice, SUCCESS-ORIENTED MENTAL REHEARSAL OF THOSE SKILLS until they are well-programmed into his subconscious, and ensuring that he knows the types of targets he needs to actively direct his attention to during practice and in the game; when to direct to those targets, and whether his attention needs to be broader or narrower with each target. For instance, if during a play he needs to have a full view of the unfolding of a play, his attention needs to be broad – while it narrows when an opponent is skating his way and he needs to go for the puck. If he’s starting out nervous, he needs to have pre-game routines for grounding himself in muscular relaxation and direct his attention to designed series of positive thoughts and self-talk (this has to be practiced OFF the ice as well so that it is EASY on the ice).

If he daily trains in attention control, he will integrate those skills so effectively into the game that he doesn’t need to think about them, and he will develop the ability to immerse himself into a psychological state of “FLOW”, an intuitive skills set that allows him to know how things are going to happen just prior to their coming about and, as Gretzky put it, “Skate to where the puck is going, not to where it is.”

One great side benefit of this kind of training is that it will make a major impact on his academic performance, because his mental focus will improve correspondingly.

Check out this episode of our BlogTalkRadio Show – The Mental Power Hour on Brain Training For Achieving “The Flow State” & “Getting In The Zone”

T. Lavon Lawrence, NCMFTT. Lavon Lawrence, NCMFT
Brain Training Expert & Author
The NEURO-SCULPTING!© Mental Fitness Training Studio
Skype ID: dynamic.mental.fitness
http://www.neuro-sculpting.com
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I have a 14 year old son whom has always played elite hockey double letters
,He has been a goalie for 7 years and is presently one of the top goalies in the province
Of Quebec. Anthony my son has been recently been picked top 4 goaly in a provincial
Pick.
The issue with my son is the first 10min of a game ,he is nervous and has a hard time controlling the puck this due to his lack of confidence.

I’m not a professional and do not know how to help him,would it be possible to get your feed
Back as to some sort of help.

He would like to also get a scholarship for an american prep school so getting him
Some mental help would definitely help him when achieving his goals
In hockey as he see’s himself reaching the professional level.

Thank you

Her body is perfectly willing to accept the new commands, but she has must turn attention to training her THOUGHTS in order to remove those that convey the deception, replacing them with a consciously designed idea in the form of a better performance goal (backed with an intensely curious determination to see what’s really possible).

The great thing about ‘MENTAL OBSTACLES’ is that they are so easily dismantled once ATTENTION is trained onto THOUGHT.

Where there is a “WALL”, there is a way!

T. Lavon Lawrence, NCMFT
Brain Training Expert & Author
The NEURO-SCULPTING!© Mental Fitness Training Studio
Skype ID: dynamic.mental.fitness
http://www.neuro-sculpting.com
trainer@neuro-sculpting.com