Blog #10

Today I had a meeting with two phenomenal figure skaters. These two are trying to work out the kinks in their relationship. They spent more time together than they do apart. The female said that she wants a more encouraging partner who will listen to her and not over analyze everything. The male athlete lacks empathy and the ability to get his point across in a productive and supportive way. He is quick to defend himself and gets very ridge when he feels attacked. We met with there coach and had him sit in on the session to provide his perspective on things and give areas where he wants them to focus and improve.

When We sat down, Dr. Shinitzky allowed both athletes to talk about what they wanted to focus on. The female athlete said she wanted to focus on being more supportive and kind during practice. The male said he wanted to focus more on getting out of his own way and getting his point across. Now, the female athlete wants to get her point across too, she feels as though her partner doesn’t care about what she has to say and is more forced with his own thoughts and ideas. Dr. Shinitzky asked him what he thought about that, the man athlete then goes on a long winded talk blaming society and males in general, If you notice he is trying to push the blame off himself and make reasons as to why he acts the way he acts . This form of reflection is good, however, we are forced on him, not society as a whole. We were able to get to a spot where the male athlete took responsibility for his acts and said he needs to improve. The coach then came and offered is two cents. He wanted the athletes to keep working the program and not get frustrated or angry. He wants them to understand you can still get 100% of practicing even if they can only go 60% with there physical limitations. The pair are are so quick to anger and want to change the program if they make a mistake. He wants them to not be so quick to use frustrated and negative energy to force their way through the routine. The coach wants them to take the time to talk and practice rather than change and get angry.

The next part of our meeting was the exercises. The first one was to write down support or encouraging states for your partner. The next part of that exercise is to then say them allowed to your partner. The female athlete was able to easily communicate her thoughts. The male athlete struggled, he had third person point of view things and was detached from his statements. We were able to get him to add more depth to the statements. We then talked about the predator instinct, we each went around the table and listen anminls and why they are top predators. The reason was to have them adapt the killer instinct that these animals had when they attach practice and competition. The last part of the meeting was visualization. This visualization is part of the 3 step Olympic calm. Now these athletes have been through that exercises so they know how to get right into that calm. Dr. Shinitzky then walked them through visualizing practice, competition, and there individual parts of the routine. The biggest take away was be the best version of yourself so that why you will are the team better!

6 1/2 hrs