Visualization helps in achieving a high level of concentration which is needed for success in a sport like skiing. This is a sport which involves moving along a hillside. With mental training, one can foresee all the possibilities so that the task becomes much easier.
The experience of being “in the zone” relates to that feeling of detachment where everything just goes with the flow without any conscious efforts by the athlete. A survey conducted in 1984 found that 99 percent of 235 Canadian athletes preparing for the Olympics were employing the use of imagery to enhance performance.
Mental Training for Skiing
Visualization is the strategy which is employed in skiing. Imagining itself involves many possibilities of falling, slipping, hitting deep snow, bumping into a fellow skier or toppling down have to be dealt with. Methods are devised to combat these situations in the mind while visualization is exercised.
It is to be noted, however, that the method involves more than simple imagination. The subconscious mind needs to register these events so that their repetition results in increased confidence. The process fortifies a player’s level of confidence in the ability to control the skis. It eradicates fear in mind by modifying the way in which a subconscious mind functions.
The feeling of anxiety is replaced by a more confident behavior in which the skier enjoys the thrill of skiing. Skiers remember all the techniques of skiing they have been taught without even thinking about them.
Coach Guerci trains athletes in visualization by guiding them towards such positive approach so that they can deliver peak performance.
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