Joyce Winslow
jwins@uoregon.edu

"When the gun goes off, I explode out of the blocks strong and powerful...In my mind I feel the rhythm I will run...it's like a pulse for me..."

"I'm in my zone...I will catch anything that is thrown my way. My hands are the target and the ball is like a missile locked onto that target..."

"I stay focused on the present and the present height. Each time I put myself in position to clear the bar...Approach is still relaxed, don't push...I drive in, swing aggressively from the shoulders. Early turn, feet going up, stay with the pole. I've cleared again!"

These are some of mantras University of Oregon athletes silently rehearse as they prepare for the pressure of intense competition, when a split-second's loss of focus can cost them everything.

The link between mind and body is not a new concept, and sports psychology has played a key role in athletic training for more than thirty years. But changing times call for new methods, so UO sports counselor Karen Nelson recently added iTunes and the creative music-editing software GarageBand to her clinical toolbox.

As increasing numbers of students began using iPods, Nelson realized the advantage of incorporating popular music software and podcasting techniques into one of her staple counseling stratagems. This technique, called scripting, has been used for decades to help professional athletes improve their performance.

"Ninety percent of an athlete's success is mental," Nelson explains. "Confidence and emotional control are essential for top performance." The mind-body connection in sports first became apparent to her during her time as head coach for girls' basketball and volleyball at Marist High School in Eugene. "My coaching experience taught me that the mental component is as important, if not more so, than skill and talent," she says.

Sports psychology was embraced by the world of professional sports shortly after it was pioneered by Scott Pengelly, a Eugene clinical psychologist who works with a stellar international clientele including Nike athletes and Athletics West track and field teams. But this type of therapy was practically unknown at the collegiate level in 1985, when football coach Rich Brooks invited Nelson to become the UO's first sports counselor.

Nelson created the UO sports psych program from scratch, building on her coaching--and parenting--experiences (she is the mother of two sons who played football for the UO in the 80s), and employing techniques she learned while completing her master's degree in sports psychology and counseling from the UO.

One of the cornerstones of the program is teaching athletes to become aware of "negative forecasting": subliminal self-talk that causes tension, disrupts focus, and inhibits success. Sports psychologists train athletes to listen carefully to their language to identify self-defeating mental habits. Pengelly describes this as "teaching them to look for the underlying fears that hold them back. Give them a list of phrases that are tip-offs for failure, such as I try, I should, I would, but, what if...all are deadly, defeating comments."

Becoming aware of negative forecasting is only the first step in what can be a long process of eliminating bad patterns and creating positive reinforcement. The overwhelming demands of tight academic and training schedules, the stress of new social adjustments, homesickness, or personal life trials can also take a huge toll on student athletes. And then there is the athletic effort itself: no matter how talented or fit an athlete may be, the ability to concentrate is the first thing to go when one is stressed by pain or fatigue.

One vital component of Nelson's therapeutic tool kit is a relaxation CD. With the aid of iTunes and GarageBand, Nelson records and distributes a relaxation CD for students to play throughout their day, both as a reminder and a guide for coping with tension. For an athlete, relaxation is more than just a way to calm the jitters. Stress reactions have physical consequences. As Nelson points out, "Tension affects motion. Athletes must learn to relax while doing their sport."

Another key tool for maximizing performance is the individual "self-talk" CD. After intensive personal interviews and with Nelson's support and input, students write and record a personalized affirmative narrative, adding their own sound track using iTunes and GarageBand. Students live with these scripts day in and day out, rehearsing performance scenarios in their particular sport. This repetition and positive visualization can then become automatic in the heat of competition, when it matters most.

Individual counseling is voluntary, but Nelson casts a wide net to help the 400-plus student athletes in her charge as assistant athletic director of student services. The award-winning Life Skills program (SOAR, a pilot of the NCAA's Life Skills Program) which she founded in 1993, is another important factor in the UO's comprehensive support system for student athletes. SOAR stands for scholastic excellence, outstanding character, athletic achievement, and responsibility to self and others. In addition to encouraging student athletes to be good citizens and role models, the SOAR program includes a mandatory class for all freshmen athletes, Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics. This course covers such topics as time management (essential for students whose schedules are so packed that they often have little time for eating or sleeping), drugs and alcohol, nutrition, and other practical issues.