SPORT PSYCHOLOGY
Mental Performance Training
THE 4TH LEG
Can a 3-legged stool* stand on its own? Of course, it can! Performance is like a stool, with each leg representing a component of performance: Physicality, Technique, and Strategy. For many athletes and performers, focusing on just these 3 legs alone can get them far in their sport or craft. However, a 3-legged stool can only support so much weight before it buckles and fails. The same can happen for performers, despite all their training to enhance their physicality, technique, and strategy, certain stressors and setbacks can throw them off their game (e.g., making a mistake, going through slumps, family and relationship conflict, stress at school or work, etc.). Thus, it’s beneficial to reinforce that stool with a 4th leg. When it comes to performances, that 4th leg is Sport Psychology or Mental Performance Training. Developing the mental aspects of sport and performance supports and takes pressure of your other “legs” (physicality, technique, and strategy), prepares you to manage adversity, and can potentially give you a “mental edge” over the competition.
*Credit to this metaphor goes to Dr. Trent Petrie at the UNT Center for Sport Psychology and Athlete Mental Health
WHY MENTAL
PERFORMANCE TRAINING?
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You experience performance anxiety or have difficulty performing under pressure (i.e., choking, the yips).
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You have difficulty gathering or maintaining confidence.
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You can’t let go of or “bounce back” from mistakes, setbacks, or losses.
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You perform well in practices but are not able to consistently translate that same success into competitions, games, and performances.
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You have difficulty focusing during practices or performances due to overthinking, negative beliefs, uncomfortable emotions, and other distractions.
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You have trouble stopping or reducing problematic behaviors that get in the way of you optimizing performance.
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You have difficulty motivating yourself to do the things necessary to train and excel at your sport or performance.
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You have difficulty coping with the rigors and time-consuming responsibilities of training in your sport or performance.
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You feel burnt out from your sport or performance.
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You are an athlete or performing artist who wants to optimize all aspects of performance. Even if you are not an athlete or performing artist, you have parts of your life where you need to “perform” (e.g., school, business, social situations, etc.), and sport psychology can be applicable as well.
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You are a coach, parent, or director who works with others who exhibit the concerns above.
HOW CAN DR. YU HELP?
Dr. Yu understands the short- and long-term stressors athletes and performers face and how integral the identity of being an “athlete” or a “performer” can be. He can help at whatever stage you are in, whether you are performing at your highest level or struggling to be the performer you once were. Dr. Yu provides a compassionate and nonjudgmental space for you to openly explore the thoughts, emotions, and beliefs that may be hard to look at, without the fear of criticism. He teaches tangible and practical mental tools that you can start applying immediately in your practices, performances, and daily life. He not only teaches strategies on “what” to do in order to perform at your best, but he also teaches “how” to do it, especially when times get tough, such as when you are stressed, motivation is low, or outside events are making life harder than it normally is.
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Dr. Yu’s sport-performance psychology services stem from his 12+ years of working with NCAA Division I student-athletes, as well as his education and training as a Licensed Psychologist and Sport Psychologist. Dr. Yu is also a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC), which means he has met the highest standards of professional practice in applied sport psychology. In order to obtain CMPC, Dr. Yu completed graduate level college courses in sport psychology, counseling psychology, and kinesiology, obtained hundreds of hours working directly with athletes and performers, received mentored experience from seasoned sport psychologists, passed a comprehensive sport psychology exam, and agreed to adhere to the ethics code of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.
Sport Psychology and Mental Performance Training services can be provided to individuals or groups/organizations. Please see the General Info & Rates page for more information or contact Dr. Yu today.