At a special session geared towards parents, sports psychologist John Stevenson said the biggest factor in the development, or lack thereof, for a budding athlete is re-enforcement.
Speaking to 25 people in the Agrena’s Multi-Purpose Room Aug. 25, Stevenson said there are a number of factors involved in what he described as a ‘high-performance equation’.
A-game factors such as sleep levels, nutrition, hydration, multiplied by uncontrollable factors such as parental feedback and in-game stressors all contribute to the overall performance.
Stevenson is a former professional hockey player, and was the goalie coach for the Ottawa Senators, the Edmonton Oilers, as well as Canadian major junior hockey league teams such as the Prince Albert Raiders, Saskatoon Blades and the Kootenay Ice.
He also ran a hockey school — The Hockey Centre, for 25 years.
“As parents, and to a more general extent, as a society, we tend to focus more on the negative side of things,” he said, adding this is not beneficial.
“I’d say 95 per cent of the kids who come to see me as a performance coach and sports psychologist, they’re coming to me with their anxiety and worry about letting their parents and coaches down,” he said.
Parents and coaches certainly mean well, Stevenson said, but whenever words such as “don’t” are used, they have to realize the picture created by the subconscious.
“If you’re saying to your child, ‘don’t do this, don’t do that’, what kind of image do you think you are putting in their minds?” he said.
Because the human brain cannot differentiate between what is real or what is imagined, imagery works as either a benefit or as a detriment, depending on the usage.
“The biggest uncontrollable for myself was my dad,” Stevenson said, adding when he played Bantam ‘AAA’ hockey in Sherwood Park himself, the main concern was not so much on in-game performance as it was in not letting his father down.
“If our kids are focused on what we are thinking about their performance in the stands while they’re on the ice, well, their performance is going to be affected and their attention won’t be where it needs to be, and it only perpetuates that sort of vicious cycle,” Stevenson said.
Parents need to be mindful of the weight and the impact of the words they use.
“I don’t care if it is hockey, or if we’re talking about your performance in the business world. When you’re performing well, your focus is on the right thing at the right time. If you’re not doing well, your focus — while awesome, is probably on the wrong things.”
Most hockey players mentally sabotage themselves and don’t know it, Stevenson said, because they are focused on results or things that are beyond their control.
“Our kids have to know they aren’t playing hockey or any other sport for our entertainment, they are doing it for themselves. That’s as it should be. If that isn’t the reason, they shouldn’t be playing the sport,” he added.
Stevenson said he has worked with athletes from a variety of sports and, as it relates to hockey development, he said the first thing he looks at is lifestyle choices.
“A lot of the kids I saw at the camp this week looked absolutely exhausted,” he said.
