Mind over Matter

By Jeffrey Christian
The Collegian

WHEN MOST FOOTBALL players hear the word psychology, the image of lying in a chair and talking to a shrink about their feelings probably comes to mind.

Yet many athletes are starting to use sports psychology and performance enhancement consultants to increase and optimize their preparation and performance on the field.

Applied sports psychology helps athletes develop mental skills that they can translate into success on the field. Developing goals, visualizing success, building confidence and creating routines are different ways that can help college athletes in their mental preparation.

“A lot of people have this perception that if you go to see a sports psychologist, then there is something wrong with you,” Fresno State sports psychology professor and performance enhancement consultant Jenelle Gilbert said. What we do is we try to enhance people’s performances so we call ourselves performance enhancement consultants. When you think about it, wouldn’t you want to have all the tools in your toolbox to achieve success? You already have your coaches, strength trainers, nutritionists and academic counselors, wouldn’t you want to take the next step as well.”

Performance enhancement consultants help athletes develop routines that teach them how to visualize and optimize success.

Gilbert has encouraged athletes from various sports to either take a sports psychology class or utilize faculty session hours on campus to learn and practice the techniques that will help them increase their mental preparation and take them to the next level.

“The difference between an athlete who’s performing at a consistently high level and one that isn’t usually has to do with their mental preparation. The difference is what’s between their ears. It’s a huge component of being a consistent performer in whatever your endeavor,” Gilbert said.

Bulldogs wide receiver Joe Fernandez is enrolled in the sports psychology master’s program and has taken the tools that he’s learned in the classroom onto the football field.

“You have to see yourself doing positive things and you have to have confidence going on the field.

Your mind is a very powerful tool and if you don’t train your mind during the week then your body isn’t going to follow on Saturday,” Fernandez said.

To achieve success, teams and players must determine what their long and short-run aspirations are.

“Goal setting is an important mental skill. A lot of people don’t think it is that important, but if you don’t know where you’re going than it’s kind of hard to get there,” Gilbert said.

Goal setting allows teams and players to narrow their focus and break the game into smaller segments. The Fresno State football team breaks each game into smaller game situations each week when preparing for an opponent.

According to Gilbert, breaking the game into intermediate goals is also a way to help teams that are favored from playing mentally flat. When teams are favored to win, they sometimes lack the same focus because they expect to win with little effort.

A lot of athletes say that their mental preparation remains constant regardless of the level of competition. However, as evident by the Fresno State football program, sometimes teams play better against tougher competition.

Entering a game with increased intensity or emotion can serve as either a catalyst or hindrance. Each athlete has a different optimal emotion level that must be reached to ensure their best play.

“The problem with the ‘win one for the Gipper’ pep talks that some coaches use is that for some athletes that puts them over the edge and then they don’t perform well because they are too hyped up.

Some athletes need more relaxation and need to be calmed down and others need to be hyped up,” Gilbert said.

In the case of contact sports such as football, proper emotion and focus is vital to prevent injuries. The lack of focus for one play could result in a devastating or career ending injury.

Bulldogs running back Dwayne Wright knows all to well the struggles and mental blocks that athletes must overcome during injury rehabilitation.

Wright tore his patellar tendon in his left knee early in the 2004 season and spent nearly two full seasons in rehabilitation.

“It was real tough after I got injured. I’d never been injured in all my years playing football and mentally I wasn’t there. It was a hard because it felt like I wasn’t part of the team because I was always in the training room and they were practicing, but I got through it,” Wright said.

Suffering devastating injuries, like Wright’s, is one of the biggest fears for athletes due to the mental barriers and toughness that is required to bounce back.

“When an athlete is injured they have a lot of fears. One has to do with potentially losing their spot on the team, coming back before they’re ready and then playing with pain,” Gilbert said.

Although rehabilitation was difficult and often lonely, it changed Wright’s perspective and mentality about seeing injuries on the field.

“That’s the most difficult part for my situation. When I see other people get hurt I can imagine what’s going through their head. The first thing that went through my mind was whether I’d be able to play football again and I thought my career was over. Every time somebody gets hurt, I’m always the first person over there to give them words of encouragement because I know what it’s like,” Wright said.

Fresno State coach Pat Hill believes the mental distractions and demands on college football players have increased greatly.

“Each year is getting progressively tougher to make sure you can maintain the focus with these teams.

There are so many outside things, not even counting media, agents and all the things that are added up. It’s a very tough thing for young men to stay focused with the enormity of the game,” Hill said.

The Fresno State football program has grown nationally throughout Hill’s tenure as coach. Since Hill’s hiring, the Bulldogs have played an increased number of nationally televised games, have posted monumental upsets over several top BCS schools and also qualified for a school record of 7-straight Bowl Games.

Although those successes have been instrumental in improving fan support, recruitment and other aspects of the program, they have also greatly increased expectations in the locker room and in the media.

“Expectations from others, perceived and actual, are one of the biggest stressors that athletes face.

When we work with athletes we focus on the things that you can control. You can’t control what other people think or say about you, but you can control what you do on the field. Sometimes athletes shouldn’t read their own press, good or bad, because it can put added pressure on them,” Gilbert said.

The increased pressure has continually seeped its way over the years onto the quarterback’s shoulders. Over the past ten years, there has been an almost constant quarterback controversy surrounding the Fresno State football team.

While the names of the starting quarterback’s have changed, the media and fan scrutiny has remained the same. Billy Volek, Jeff Grady, David Carr and Paul Pinegar each felt that pressure while playing under center at Fresno State. Incidentally, three of those quarterbacks signed NFL contracts and two of them, Volek and Carr, are currently still playing professionally.

The quarterback controversy continued this season during the spring and into the fall as sophomores Tom Brandstater and Sean Norton competed for the starting job. Brandstater was named the starter prior to the season opener.

Despite being praised by many for the determination and heart that he showed in a heartbreaking loss to Oregon, a month later fans were upset about the Bulldogs’ 1-4 record and stagnant offense.

As the leader of the offense, Brandstater took the brunt of the criticism and as in years past, the quarterback was the scapegoat.

“They’re young men and these guys have the weight of the world on their shoulders. It’s a different world we live in now. To be a quarterback in college football right now you have to be very strong, let a lot of things slide off of your shoulders and you have to stay focused on the task at hand,” Hill said.

The media and fan scrutiny wasn’t a surprise for Bulldogs quarterback Tom Brandstater.

“I knew it was going to happen because I saw it happen to Paul Pinegar last year. The backup quarterback is always the most popular guy in the stadium. I’m out there getting myself killed, trying to do anything to win and they’re booing me,” Brandstater said.

According to Gilbert, athletes need to take an occasional mental break like having a shorter practice or time to reflect to help keep them mentally sharp and prevent them from burning out.

“I don’t like to talk about anything. When the day is over, I like to go home and not even be hassled with football. Over half of my time is spent in the football office so it’s nice to have a break from the football life,” Brandstater said. “It’s tough though, when every time you turn the TV on people are telling you how bad you are. You just have to try to block it out or you’ll go insane.”

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