The Legacy of Pat Summit

I have never been Mr. Current Affairs and I not familiar with Pat Summit or her amazing career record or even her illness.  Yet, I was moved by her story as presented in class by Erin Hamilton.  It seems like the world of sports is losing a loved one when you think about the impact of her legacy.  The news of her condition and the stress of the rearrangement of the coaching staff must have placed a tremendous burden on her athletes.  

                It must be catastrophic for a team who has played together so long under the leadership of an idolized coach to mid season to see a change in organizational structure.  There will be lasting effects on the girls under her command.  The seniors who had spent four years with her and the freshmen who grew up admiring Coach Summit working hard to be able to earn the title Lady Vol and now they won’t be awarded the honor of playing for her.  It’s not fair to condemn a woman for being ill nor am I.  It is just great how everyone is taking this; especial the “We Back Pat” slogan and the Pat Summit Foundation.  It shows the impact that sports plays on a community. 

Second Chances

Some times athletes have to win.  Sometime just enjoying the sport isn’t enough.  Sometimes a lost leaves more than a scratch on the surface.  With NASCAR’s Kasey Kahne; a second-place lost at Rockingham in 2004 left him incomplete.  The track was closed, auctioned off, renovated and reopen to include NASCAR and the truck series. Kahne, who had finished second to Matt Kenseth at Rockingham’s last NASCAR race 7 years ago, had never forgotten that race.  He would go over it in his mind and visualize things that he did wrong or he could have corrected to make the outcome in his favor. He was showing signs of destructive self-talk.

                Then this past Sunday April 15^th, Fate had given Kahne and the Rockingham Speedway a second chance.  The Rock as it is known hosted the 2012 Truck Series inaugural race. Despite not qualifying on Saturday, resulting in a last place starting position, his mentality of wining at the Rock paid off.  It took a 155 laps to gain the lead but once there he didn’t back off for nothing.  Clearing this win should create thought stoppage and allow Kahne to channel more energy to positive aspects.

How a Series of Bad Luck Can Affect Mental Toughness

NASCAR’s Kurt Busch has had a run of bad luck this past month. To paraphrase the Gaston Gazette’s AP article: In a two week period Busch wrecked his car in a practice race causing his new race team to quickly piece together a backup car which he again wreck in the race at Daytona.  He had hit a bird during practice which caused significance engine damage.  He was flagged for speeding on pit road during the qualifying race. He was ok the week after at Phoenix.

                Next week in Las Vegas he had four different issues to go wrong just to end crashing over some debris on the track.  These two wrecks have cost him to be the lowest in points standing during the first month or the season since his rookie season in 2001.  Despite all these problems Busch had remain quite optimist about his career and upcoming season.  He is showing signs of being optimistic explanatory in that he is struggling this off as being temporary and not an “indicative or true ability.”  He was laughing about the bird and how it “it was like hitting a six-pound bowling ball” in a post race interview.  Another sign about his good “embrace for excellence” and humor is in his quote, “I’m walking down the pit and people are looking up at the sky, hoping they don’t get hit by the same lighting.  That’s just my life in general; (stuff) just keeps happing,” 

Divided Friendship

Sometimes sports is like war and in the case of high school buddies Carolina’s Harrison Barnes and Creighton’s Doug McDermott, it’s like the Civil War.  Brother against brother; friend against friend.  Two years ago these two best friends were recruited to two separate colleges and on Friday March 23^rd, they will battle each other for a spot in the NCAA bracket.  It will be exciting to watch and see how they will use control aggression toward each other. I am sure that they had played one and another on different teams before in the past but not on the magnitude of this level.

                Each player is bringing to the game with him a new set of teammates and friends along with the pressure of the school, community and fans to win.  I’m sure that neither would do anything unethical due to their friendship to ease the amount of force in which they are known to play with.  (In fact if they’re like my friends they may show signs of more aggression.) Psychologically, it will be interesting to note the change in their game to see how an unconscious thought will alter their athletic capabilities.  

Tiger Woods: Is he back?

This past Sunday March 26^th, 2012 Tiger Woods won his first pro-tour in more two and a half years.  Could his losing streak finally be over?  I am sure that he has several more psychological factors that co inherently affect his game but this major win should most definitely reduce a lot of his stress and give him the moral boost that he so desperately needed.  It’s no secret that Wood’s self-efficacy and mental toughness has been depleted to a mere shamble, after the scandalous events following the dramatic downfall of his marriage in 2009.

 He played a much better game than he did a few weeks earlier at Pebble Beach.  You could tell as the tour progress so did his optimism and confidences.  He was quoted as saying, “I hit a boatload of good ones.  I had really good control of my ball all day.  I was shaping it both ways, changing my (trajectory).  I felt so comfortable.”  One could only imagine the thoughts that were racing through his head.  Fears of being so close to winning then the “what ifs” starts:  what if I lose again?; what if I never get my groove back?; what if I do win, then what?; is my losing streak over?; will I start wining from now on?; will my fans accept me?; will I be as big as before?  These are all valid questions that were probably on the front side of Wood’s mind Sunday as he transformed his short game into the putting skills of his past.  It will be interesting to see how it ends.  I think he will be back on top again.