Sports Performance
Emotional Freedom Technique
What is EFT Tapping for Sports?
The use of EFT with athletes to rebalance the nervous system, restore the flow of energy through the body’s meridian system, help recover from injury, manage chronic conditions, pain, pre-competition nerves, release anxiety, boost confidence, maintain composure under stress, and strengthen one’s mental game.
Athletes have engaged in “team tapping” promoting team spirit, energetic alignment, and a shared purpose.
According to the Open Sports Science Journal, coaches and athletes noted that EFT is used in professional and college-level golf, baseball, and American football. In the same time that it takes to complete a game, quick applications of EFT Tapping have improved performance. It is why elite athletes have used EFT even while in the game!
Pro Athletes Who Have Used EFT Tapping While in the Game:
Baseball: Jorge Reyes | Boxing / Rugby: Paul Gallen | Sprinter: Bralon Taplin, Abi Oyepitan
What is Sports Hypno-Coaching?
The use of advanced guided imagery with positive suggestions combined with life coaching for athletes focused on enhancing performance, resilience, improving focus, confidence, motivation, overcoming mental blocks, reducing stress, managing pain, and recovery.
Where do sessions take place?
Hypno-coaching is effective in person, on the phone, and via virtual sessions.
Psychological Capital
Psy Cap equips the athlete with mental agility, discipline, and positive habits to outperform, foster rest and recovery, handle adversity well, and become an optimally functioning human being. It is demonstrated by the athlete’s hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism – known by the acronym H.E.R.O.
Athletes with high levels of psychological capital perform better, believe in their abilities, and maintain a positive attitude even in difficult circumstances, enabling adaptability to devise solutions quickly. These attributes have been shown to influence the athlete’s career development. Psy Cap is not just an athletic skill; it is a life skill that has a spill-over effect on personal relationships, health, overall well-being, and happiness.
Psy Cap Stats:
HOPE: Athletes with high levels of hope figure out pathways to strategize, and when those plans fail, they are able to quickly devise new avenues, whereas those with low levels feel stuck and are unable to bounce back.
EFFICACY: Self-efficacy determines the athlete’s willingness to overcome obstacles and endure challenges. With a positive mindset and increased focus, they are more likely to come up with effective game strategies.
RESILIENCE: Athletes with mental toughness see failure as data to be greater. They learn from errors and apply this information to the next game or competition to succeed.
OPTIMISM: Optimistic athletes view challenges as attainable, something to proactively take on. They also invest more effort to achieve them.
The Research
MENTAL REHEARSAL + MENTAL TRAINING
Reports from Olympic champions demonstrate the importance of sports hypno-coaching (creative visualization) in peak performance. These athletes activate flow state when the mind, body, and confidence are in alignment, putting the player in the zone to produce results.
Creative visualization, working with the unconscious mind (whether with a coach or self-induced), significantly improves performance, and it is not solely attributed to relaxation techniques.
Hypno-coaching reinforces concentration and a reduction in stress that allows for a more specific focus on performance. Athletes reported that imagery in a deeply relaxed and focused state of mental awareness substantially enhances imagery intensity and effectiveness. College basketball players jumped and shot better when they used these techniques.
A study evaluated the effects of hypno-coaching on self-efficacy (confidence in skills) and soccer performance. The group that had sessions for ego strengthening performed better than the control group, which watched videos of professional soccer games.
These non-invasive strategies have demonstrated a strong connection between flow and golf performance, helping elite golfers prepare for major competitions, consistently enhancing their performance, and increasing the intensity of their flow experience during actual tournaments.
Based on 18 studies, creative imagery improves performance amongst soccer players and enhances motivation during training.
FUN FACT:
During the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the Russian team took 11 hypno-coaches to the games.
Sports Organizations & Professional Athletes Who Have Used Visualization (Mental Rehearsal)
NBA - NHL - CFL - AFL - MLB - NASCAR - WORLD OLYMPIC TEAMS - MMA - UFC - WBC - WBA - WTI - ATP - PGA - UCI
NBA - NHL - CFL - AFL - MLB - NASCAR - WORLD OLYMPIC TEAMS - MMA - UFC - WBC - WBA - WTI - ATP - PGA - UCI
Baseball: Rod Carew, Mark McGwire, Ozzie Smith, NY Mets, LA Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Toronto Blue Jays
Basketball: Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Phil Jackson
Boxing: Mohammed Ali, Nigel Benn, Frank Bruno, Steve Collins, Kevin McBride, Ken Norton
Cricket: Mike Brearley
Cycling: Lance Armstrong
Figure Skating: Dorothy Hamill, Nancy Kerrigan
Football: Boomer Esiason, Ronnie Lott, NY Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers
Golf: Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Ian Woosnam
Gymnastics: Kerri Strug Fischer, Mary Lou Retton
Hockey: Sidney Crosby, Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Weekes
Pole Vaulting: Steve Hooker
Skier: Shannon Bahrke
Soccer: Richard Lee
Sprinter: Iwan Thomas
Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle
Tennis: Andre Agassi, Pat Cash, Jimmy Connors, Billie Jean King