As her proud dad wrote, “Ashton had her Level 7 State Championship meet this weekend.  Going into the meet, she had 3 goals:

1. Stay on the beam
2. Win vault
3. And score a 38 in the all-around (which she had never done before).

Well, she did all three!  Ashton is the newly crowned CA State Vault Champion.  She also medaled on Bars, Floor, and Beam (all with personal bests), and was second in the All-Around with a 38.00.  Her teammate (and good friend) was the all-around champion, with a score of 38.10.”

Ashton is well on her way to gymnastics stardom.  I am so proud to have helped her along the way!

Now we have to add Coach Bobby Petrino of the Arkansas Razorbacks to the ever-growing list of morally failed athletes and trainers. Coach Petrino now joins the ranks of  Michael Vick, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Pete Rose, Marion Jones, Joe Paterno and Tiger Woods. Just to name a few.

Once again, sports fans are shocked into the reality that regardless of athletic or coaching excellence, fame, and fortune, their “heroes” can actually be remarkably foolish people who possess a over-developed sense of entitlement and exercise exceedingly poor judgment.

The truth is that being a great athlete or coach does not compensate for faulty values and questionable judgment.  Yet, once again we have placard waving fans imploring the authorities to give him a pass and allow him to be a role model for our young athletes and fans. Fortunately, athletic director Jeff Long did the right thing and the support for firing Bobby Petrino continues to roll in and now it’s taken monetary form.

Of course, no one is squeaky clean.  We certainly have had our share of revered religious figures who stunned us with their behind the scenes activities. Recall the scandals with Catholic priests and some popular evangelistic leaders. And what about our political, film, music and TV celebrities who do stupid things, and then lie about it until they look like idiots? Sometimes drugs and alcohol play a role, but that also involves poor judgment, right?

We say to ourselves…”If I had all of that money and fame, I’d never risk it with drugs, alcohol, or gambling.”  “If I had a wife and family like he does, I’d never look around for other women.”

Alas, everyone has the temptation and opportunity to make inappropriate decisions in their lives. Whether they can get away with something should never enter the equation…instead, they should ask themselves whether their children and parents would be proud of their choices.

Real heroes recognize that when faced with temptation, the choice is ultimately theirs and they have an obligation to themselves and their families to make the right choice, every time.

Was there ever a concern for the victims in this case by the university and those within the football program? Was there ever a concern in that organization that by not informing the police, that the perpetrator was free to carry out his demented desires with untold other victims?

University administrators were aware that a graduate assistant had seen Sandusky attacking a young boy in the team’s locker room shower in 2002. However, even though Sandusky was prohibited from holding youth sports camps on campus in 2002, he continued to hold them through 2008 under his Sandusky Associates company at the university’s Behrend campus, just outside Erie. Further, it is being reported by a person familiar with Sandusky’s relationship with Penn State that the former coach long maintained an office in the East Area Locker building which is across the street from the Penn State football team’s building, and was on campus as recently as week ago working out.

We see this all the time:  athletes or coaches with addictive issues are protected so that they can continue to perform for the team; domestic violence is almost an acceptable behavior if the athlete is one of the stars of the team; coaches who abuse their athletes describe their victims as wimps, or worse (e.g., “This is nothing.  You should have seen how my coaches treated me!”).

Why is it that the everyday Joe is accountable, but many star athletes and coaches (as well as celebrities in any arena) get a free pass, unless the media get wind of their behaviors)? Think Lindsay Lohan here.

It’s time to make every individual, regardless of his/her popularity, power or importance to the team accountable for their behaviors.

The Michael Vick’s of sports have paid for their deeds, but I fear that they represent only the tip of the iceberg.  Furthermore, these cover-ups tarnish the image of the majority of athletes and coaches who lead clean lives, tending to their families, and appreciating the gifts that the Almighty has bestowed on them.

Jack Singer, Ph.D.
Licensed and Certified Clinical & Sport Psychologist

R.I.P Joe!

Jon recently aired a segment on his radio show in which he had the opportunity to talk with 3 former professional football players about life after a career in professional sports.

It was a telling story in that it emphasized the fact that besides being one play away from retirement as a result of injury, the average career is but a whisp of smoke within the context of the remaining and long years that athletes face when the cheering comes to an end.  And make no mistake, as our guests stressed when your life as pro ends, it ends period.

Gone for many are the big paychecks, public recognition and the feeling of being part of a team.  In other words your life as you knew it is over.

For the majority of former pros what awaits them is unemployment, divorce, financial destitution and for some the daunting challenges of dealing with addiction.

But life doesn’t have to end up that way, as there are options for making a successful transition to a life after professional sports.

While each of the athletes had made a successful transition to new lives when their playing days came to an end, this is not the case for close to 80% of all professional players as most struggle with financial insolvency, unemployment, divorce and for many some form of addiction.

I will provide sound advice for former athletes, in fact for anyone facing a significant life change whether it be in career, financial setback or death of a partner. Please join us by clicking here to either listen in live or to download the show for future listening.

By now, all of you who are baseball fanatics have observed the unbelievable collapse of a wonderful baseball team during September, which culminated in their most frustrating moment, losing to Baltimore with one strike separating them from a win and at least a tie in the wild card race.

We all read with sadness how Tito Francona felt somewhat helpless trying to rally his players and eliminate the causes which he identified as contributing to their uncharacteristic collapse.   If you look at any organization in the business world, what would you, as the CEO, do if your manager is impotent?  This was the question facing the Red Sox brass, when Tito removed himself from the equation, citing that the club needed “a new voice.”

What to do to rectify the situation:

Here are my thoughts about putting this baseball organization back on top where they can get the most out of their remarkable talent base.

• First, management must identify the specific sources of disruption in the leadership and communications failures that plagued the Sox, particularly as the season wound down.

• Secondly, they need to carefully assess the personality traits of candidates for the manager’s job and match them to the needs of the players whom he must manage.  This step is almost never addressed in athletic hiring decisions.  Using the specialized tools of the Industrial/Organizational psychologist during this process will offer a new picture of the organizational culture and the best fit for a new manager.

• Third, each ball player needs to be assessed to determine what specific issues led to their personal failure to produce consistently.  Sport Psychology techniques are perfectly suitable for making this determination and designing individualized remediation programs for each player, designed to prevent this from reoccurring next season.

In short, the Red Sox masterminds need to go outside the organization and bring in an expert, who can come on board and help them make the right selection, so our beloved Sox will go on to years of post-season glory!

A University of Hawaii at Mānoa researcher has studied the impact of these grunts and come up with some surprising findings. Scott Sinnett, assistant psychology professor at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, has co-authored a study on the potential detrimental effect that noise has on shot perception during a tennis match. 

Sinnett’s work appears in the October 1 online issue of PLoS ONE, published by the Public Library of Science. He co-authored the study with Alan Kingstone, psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, to determine if it is reasonable to conclude that a tennis grunt interferes with an opponent’s performance.  Read the study here.

These researchers discovered that the extraneous sound resulted in significantly slower response times, and significantly more decision errors, confirming that both response time and accuracy are negatively affected by the grunting from ones’ opponent. 

So, there is perhaps a method to this madness.   The grunting can obviously distract the opponent as she prepares to make contact.  This suggests that coaches and Sport Psychologists need to prepare their charges for the grunting by teaching them techniques to ignore the grunting and stay focused on their own game.

I am also available for phone consultations with athletes around the U.S. and in-person visits with athletes in Southern California. Call today toll free at 1-800-497-9880 for a free 20 minute telephone consultation with Dr. Jack Singer.

Jack N. Singer, Ph.D.
Certified and Licensed Sport and Clinical Psychologist
Diplomate, National Institute of Sports Professionals, Division of Psychologists
Diplomate, American Academy of Behavioral Medicine
Certified Hypnotherapist, American Academy of Clinical Hypnosis

By Dr. Jack Singer

Stress and World Class Coaches by Dr. Jack Singer

Much attention is paid to the impact of stress on elite athletes, but until recently, the impact of stress on their coaches has been largely ignored.  What is really important about this new discovery is that the way coaches deal with their own stress directly impacts the performance of their athletes. 

The amount of stress a world class or Olympic coach experiences is a function of his/her perception of the demands (stressors) made by their job and their own ability to cope with stressors.  So much attention has been given to teaching athletes how to cope with the stressors of performing their sport,  but we now know that if their coaches do not cope, it will impact their coaching skills and ultimately, the athlete’s performance. 

World class and Olympic coaches complain about psychological, physical and behavioral responses to their stress, such as having low frustration tolerance, acting fidgety, and agitated.  These coaches complain of burnout symptoms, including mental fatigue and a sense of reduced enjoyment about their coaching roles.  This impacts their athletes, both because of the coach’s body language  and the tone of voice from the coach to the athlete.  These are both potential sources of strain for their athletes.

The solution is that professional Sport Psychologists should pay as much attention to helping coaches develop the skills and strategies needed to cope with the demands of world class coaching.  Only then will the elite athlete have the best opportunity to let his/her true talent shine.

I am also available for phone consultations with athletes around the U.S. and in-person visits with athletes in Southern California. Call today toll free at 1-800-497-9880 for a free 20 minute telephone consultation with Dr. Jack Singer.

Jack N. Singer, Ph.D.
Certified and Licensed Sport and Clinical Psychologist
Diplomate, National Institute of Sports Professionals, Division of Psychologists
Diplomate, American Academy of Behavioral Medicine
Certified Hypnotherapist, American Academy of Clinical Hypnosis

Traditional psychotherapy training frowns on anything other than face to face visits, believing that not being in the same room would render treatment ineffective.  However, new studies have confirmed that in many ways, telephonic therapy is preferable, not only because of the convenience and the fact that more visits can be obtained using the phone,  but because of the success rates!

This week, for instance, Science Daily reported a new study of individuals suffering post traumatic stress disorder “Obtaining therapy via teleconference is just as effective as face-to-face sessions,” reported Stéphane Guay, a psychiatry professor at the Université de Montréal. “Previous studies have [also] shown that phobia therapy via teleconferencing was just as efficient as face to face contact,” says Dr. Guay, who is also director of the Trauma Studies Centre at the Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital’s Fernand-Seguin Research Centre.

Even people suffering from depression are being successfully treated over the telephone. Researchers from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine found that the average attrition rate in the telephone therapy was only 7.6 percent compared to nearly 50 percent in face-to-face therapy. The telephone therapy was effective in reducing depressive symptoms with results that appear to be similar to face-to-face treatment.

In my own practice, I do see clients in person when they live close by, but using telephonic therapy enables me to work with athletes literally around the world.  Imagine the power of being able to call me prior to their events or games and getting refresher tips right when they need them the most. If I want to give them a hypnotic program, I simply record it and email it so they can download the file onto their ipods.

For athletes, as well as non-athletes, having access to quality therapy services on a regular basis is the key to success.  Telephonic treatment is a wonderful medium in which to bring about that success.

Jack N. Singer, Ph.D.
Certified and Licensed Sport and Clinical Psychologist
Diplomate, National Institute of Sports Professionals, Division of Psychologists
Diplomate, American Academy of Behavioral Medicine
Certified Hypnotherapist, American Academy of Clinical Hypnosis