Between the Pipes Newsletter:
October Edition
"The brilliance of the stars would be invisible without the vast darkness of space behind them.
Do not wish away the difficult portions of life. They provide the contrast needed to appreciate the joyful moments."
How to maintain success
"Winning, while the goal for most athletes in sport, is a double edged sword....one of the hardest things to do in sport is to maintain success."
Success in athletes can be divided into three main categories:
Continued Success
Decline/Come Back
Unable to Repeat
Athletes in the continued success group, are able to remain confident following success and focus exclusively on the task at hand (process). For athletes in the other two groups, the performance shifted away from the actions to the results. A shift in focus usually happens in one of four ways:
- A focus on the outcome as opposed to performance (win vs losses, saves vs goals).
- A focus on expectations to win (either theirs or others).
- A loss of focus (who is shooting, where they are shooting from or when they are shooting).
- Trying too hard (not staying patient in the goal).
"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it."
-Lou Holtz.
HOW TO MAINTAIN FOCUS ON THE TASK AT HAND
The root cause of the shift from the Continued Success group to the Decline/Come Back and Unable to Repeat group starts with the battle within, against yourself. Here are six tips to help maintain your focus and compete at your best.
Keep Your Concentration in the “NOW” #1
You can't change the past or predict the future, keep the focus on the here and now, to keep yourself sharp in the moment. It doesn't happen overnight and you must train yourself to do it.
Recognize When Your Focus Time Travels and Bring it Back #2
Any break in concentration will increase your stress levels. It's important to train yourself to recognize when you shift your focus and then how to do it quickly.
Keep Your Focus on You and Your Job #3
Allowing your focus to drift to anyone or anything other than you, (i.e. your opponents, who’s watching, who might be disappointed in you, how well your teammates may be playing, what the coach is thinking, etc.) will quickly make you feel nervous. Avoid comparing yourself to others as well.
Have Fun #4
Performing your best under pressure means that you have to be having fun. Fun is the secret ingredient to staying calm and doing your best when the heat of competition is turned up high. If you make a game, match or race too important, if you put too much pressure on yourself, if you get too serious, then you’ll start getting nervous and your game will do a major disappearing act.
Leave Your Goals at Home #5
One of the biggest tension-inducing mental mistakes that you can make as an athlete is to take your goals with you into the competition. For example, you think, “I want to go 3 for 4,” “pitch a shut-out,” “win this tournament,” “score a goal,” “break two minutes,” or “prove to the coaches that I’m good.” Focusing on such outcome goals will make you too nervous to play well and, ironically, cause you never to reach them. Instead, leave your goals at home and keep your focus in the action, on “this” play, shot, pitch or move, one moment at a time!inside.
Keep Your Focus on Concentration Away From the “Uncontrollables” #6
There are lots of events that occur in sports outside the athletes control. Things like officials, teammates, the crowd, how well you will play, winning the game etc can all distract you from focusing on what you can control. Create a list with things in and out of your control. Cross out all the things outside your control and shift your focus to the things on your list within your control.
Inside the Mind of Champion Athletes
Link to Video
Testimonials:
Why Focus Lacrosse
Hoyt Crance Yale '19
As an accomplished player and coach, Tim Cassi has developed an incredible understanding of what it takes to become a successful goalie at all levels of the game. Whether you are a young goalie who just stepped into the crease, a coach looking to learn more about the position, or an accomplished goalie looking for additional pointers, Focus Lacrosse is an excellent resource detailing the goalie position. Throughout my high school career, I could always rely on Tim to find issues with my game and create effective drills to eliminate these issues. Without a doubt, I can say Tim/Focus Lacrosse played a critical role in my development as a goalie and was a major reason I was able to play Division 1 Lacrosse.
MIAA Goalie- Incoming College Freshman
I have been working with Tim at Focus Lacrosse for 4 years. He was hands down the best goalie coach I had throughout all of the years I have played goalie. I liked Tim more than other coaches because he teaches you to focus on the one thing that actually matters, seeing the ball. Of course proper stance and play style is great for younger kids, but when you get older it is hard to find a coach that can teach you more. He constantly would come up with creative drills to help me lock in, see the ball and save the ball more than ever before. The ability to see the ball and save it, sounds like an easy concept, but one that is often overlooked and very challenging to do. Due to his creative drills, it allowed me to think about the goalie position differently, and allowed me to have great success in the cage. Having a better understanding of how to track and see the ball, helped me get out of playing ruts, because he taught me to only think about moving my stick and body to where the ball is going.
GW Mix - Former MLL President and GM/ Former UPenn and Franklin and Marshall Head Coach
Tim Cassi is one of the most effective and innovative goalie coaches I have ever been around. He constantly works to enhance the mental and physical drills and exercises he incorporates into his goalie training sessions. For almost ten years, Tim has been consistently developing some of the best goalies in Southern California, including a number of US Lacrosse All-Americans, CIF Champions and NCAA Division I starters. If I wanted to play goalie at the highest level possible, or wanted to be able to coach kids to achieve that same goal, I would spend as much time as I could learning from Tim Cassi and his FOCUS program.
Focus Lacrosse Online Platform
The Focus Platform includes access to content for players and coaches to help goalies see and save the ball and coaches teach it!
