GAME BODY MIND OFF THE PITCH NEWS

Your Mind: Learning How Not To Choke By ‘Letting Go’

Players who can make plays at critical times in a match develop the reputation of being clutch.  But how many times have you seen players - on any level - tighten like a guitar string with the game on the line?  Some players are so afraid of making that critical mistake that they … make that critical mistake.

This is certainly not unique to soccer.  But what’s intriguing is finding out how do the greats become great?  If the players and participants in other sports could tell you just one thing to do (or not to do) when the game’s on the line - what would it be?  Regardless of the sport, it’s the technique that may be something that helps you on the pitch.

Do you know who Ty Murray is?  If not, he’s one of the legendary superstars of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association - the Michael Jordan of bull riding.  He won a ridiculous number of World Championships and probably most times the title was on the line going into his final ride.

I’m not a rodeo guy and maybe many of you aren’t either, but technique from a world champion like that could easily translate onto the pitch in a 0-0 game with a title on the line.  I had the great opportunity to attend a couple of National Finals Rodeos in Las Vegas, NV where the sport’s best compete in every event. 

Picture this: you’re literally a couple of feet away from the gate where the bull riders are squirming in the saddle and constantly wrapping the rope around their hands as if their lives depended on it, which they do.  They signal they’re ready; the gate slings open and a humongous bull thunders out of the gate and flys around like a 160-pound midfielder.  When you’re standing close enough to get hit with mud slinging off the bull’s hooves you develop a honest-to-God appreciation of what these guys do.

So when Ty Murray talks about how he learned not to choke under pressure, maybe it’ll be something you can use when you need it.  Here’s an excerpt from a recent interview in Best Life Magazine about how he learned to go from choker to champion:

"It was 1987, my senior year at the National High School Rodeo Association Championships.  The previous two years, I had kicked ass all season long, but when it came down to the final ride for the championship, I would choke.  I would come out like a long-distance runner taking off in a full sprint, not thinking about his breathing, his form or his balance.

I’d lose in the end and I couldn’t figure out why.  Each time, my mom told me the same thing: I was trying too hard to win.  I thought, ‘Ah, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.  I was in a sport where how much effort you put in was everything.

My senior year, though, for whatever reason, I let her advice sink in.  Instead of coming out like a boxer with his head down, windmilling his punches, I had to treat each time I got on the bull the exact same way, putting myself into the mental state that it was just another day, another practice ride.

And just like that, the switch went off.  That year, I won the high school championships and not two years later, I became the youngest world champion ever.  Letting go of pressure at life’s most important moments isn’t something you can teach.  That’s why Vegas (National Finals Rodeo) kicks everybody’s ass.  But I see the importance of it in every aspect of my life, not just how I live my life as an athlete.

When the stakes are raised, everybody wants to change his game.  But you can’t do that, no matter how high the risk or how big the decision.  In bull riding (like in other sports), you take something scary or dangerous and you learn to gain control over your mind and your emotions and move fluidly through the situation."

So, hope Ty’s advice and technique will help.  If you have a technique that you use when the game’s on the line or you need to make a play to change the outcome, let us know what it is - you never know who you might help in the process.  After all, you gotta perform under pressure when you "Get Stuck In."

– Steve

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