Monthly Archive for January, 2013

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Sportsmanship is not dead

Published on January 24, 2013 in Corsa and Giovani. 0 Comments

This story is basically a real life version of those Sportsmanship: Pass It On commercials. It’s great. Spanish runner Ivan Fernandez Anaya is still receiving attention for a race he lost on Dec. 2, 2012. Here’s why, as told by Spanish newspaper El Pais: He was running second, some distance behind race leader Abel Mutai — bronze medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the London Olympics. As they entered the finishing straight, he saw the Kenyan runner — the certain winner of the race — mistakenly pull up about 10 meters before the finish, thinking he had already crossed the line. Fernandez Anaya quickly caught up with him, but instead of exploiting Mutai’s mistake to speed past and claim an unlikely victory, he stayed behind and, using gestures, guided the Kenyan to the line and let him cross first.

(by USA Today Sports)

http://video.repubblica.it/sport/spagna-l-esempio-di-iv-aacuten-lascia-la-vittoria-all-avversario/117111/115568

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Thoroughbreds or cricets: against doping

Published on January 23, 2013 in Allenatori, Corsa, Generale, Giovani and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: Monteforte, purosangue.

Continue the work of Massimiliano Monteforte for the project THOROUGHBREDS between Kenya and Italy. It’s a story in which running, fatigue, doping and loyalty cross and chase each other. The short film did by Monteforte is the story of a young man who her girlfriend says “you’re 30 years old, but when you grow up and I’m here to bear your anxieties and your paranoia but when you grow up.” In the following scenes we see the athlete that “to grow” begins to take pills. It’s a story that compares two different ways of live sports, one based on the choice of shortcuts and one based on fatigue. The story tells in a realistic way what it happens at those runners that choose to use of doping. The runners have to choose to be a thoroughbreds (free to realize their futures or a cricets running in the doping cage. There is not only the short film but also a project between Italy and Kenya, in Africa it will be opened a university at 2000m to allow many young people to run and study to have a better future.

Watch today at 17.00 RAI SPORT 1, NOVANTA MINUTI by Enrico Varriale, Max Monteforte will talk about this project and the short film THOROUGHBREDS.

Watch “STORIE”: Saturday April 21 2012, “RAI 2 – STORIE – I RACCONTI DELLA SETTIMANA”. the program start at 36’18″ and finish at 42’21″. http://www.tg2.rai.it/dl/tg2/RUBRICHE/PublishingBlock-c252381e-7709-42df-83b6-673c53515e51.html (at page 4 of the link).

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When the candidates to the Italian olympic committee presidence will talk about sport?

Published on January 22, 2013 in Generale and Olimpiadi. 0 Comments

Today Giovani Malagò presented its program to the presidents of the sport federations and the press as candidate at the next election of president of Italian Olympic Committee. I read the article by Fulvio Bianchi (www.repubblica.it) and it seems to me that Malagò has hit an important aspect that concerns how to come out of sports and financial scams. But … when it comes to sports? Malagò said that the medals are important but not everything. I agree with, but why he does not speak:

lack of training of coaches (mainly oriented on the techinical aspects of their sport but not on the leadership in the differenet ages) and there is not training for the coaches of high level,

which model of long-term athletes development the Olympic Committee should take,

how to re-train those athletes who leave the sport while still young could be directed to other disciplines (this is the model adopted by the British Committee successfully in preparation of the Olympic Games and that led it to find about 100 new national athletes with more than 70 medals in international competitions)

how to reduce adolescents drop-out than in girls begins in the sixth grade,

how sport psychology is totally excluded in the Institute of Sports Science (the only case in the world), when at contrary the coaches of the national teams ask an expanded mental preparation of their athletes,

how to build specific programs that allow athletes to train to successfully deal with their life after sport.

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The success rules in the Amstrong case

Published on January 21, 2013 in Generale. 0 Comments Tags: Amstrong, Bateson, doping, Nordamerica, regole, successo.

About 40 years ago, two distinguished scholars Jurgen Ruesch and Gregory Bateson wrote about the meaning of success in the North American culture:

“The end justifies the means, and the success performs evil and dishonest actions. If there is a possibility, it is automatically perceived as a challenge, even if you respond to this challenge could lead to break the law, but if an individual is caught in the act of illegal uses of shortcuts he is considered a loser. It is not important what he does but the fact that others allow him to get away with it ” (The social matrix of psychiatry, 1968).

And further on:

“The American people have a rich mythology of people who have reached the success: the myths of Ford, Rockefeller and Carnegie idealize the free initiative and the possibility of poor people to become rich and powerful. Admiration for this success goes hand in hand, however, with the condemn of the activities of dishonest industrial magnates. People are however ready to turn a blind eye to questionable ways of acting of a successful person if his behavior is then tempered by good works, offers for charity, fundraising for foundations and other public institutions. ”

So people fraud or in the case of Armstrong use doping because there is an opportunity. The important thing is not to be taken and he has succeeded throughout his career. Now not to be considered a failure (and possibly fail even financially) he has decided to admit what he had denied until then. There is no repentance in this interview tv confession, merely the tale at the public of what he did and what it costs him (75 million in one day). Even his sponsors were not interested to know if he was a clean athletes, because what mattered to them was the return on investment (see the article by Claudio Gatti: http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/notizie/2013- 01-15/caso-armstrong-doping-213438.shtml). Even for them it is important that their athlete wins and when someone is discovered may also make a good impression showing outraged. Perhaps the only time that Armstrong is in trouble is when he’s with his children that he had to give explanations involving personal affects and to whom he has the responsibility of the father who must first follow the rules if he wants they learn to respect them.

http://www.repubblica.it/sport/ciclismo/2013/01/21/news/i_miei_anni_con_armstrong_brutta_favola_del_ciclismo-50962378/?ref=HRERO-1

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Win? It’s an attitude

Published on January 20, 2013 in Allenatori, Calcio, Giovani and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: combattività, focus, Juventus, lazio, Napoli.

The football champioship is made up of many games, and the result of a Sunday does not determine for sure who will win it. It’s also true, however, that there are days that have more significance than others and the results of these matches bring any advantage not only defined in terms of points won or lost, but that also have a strong psychological impact. It ‘s the case of this last match of the championship in which Juventus had to show that it is in not in crisis and win a game in a convincing way, while Napoli and Lazio, the direct pursuers just three points, they had to prove themselves to have acquired that psychological maturity that allowed them to win to continue to keep up the pressure on Juventus and prove themselves to be able to maintain the pace you need to stay on top. Well Juve’s won (4-0 vs Udinese) while the other two have missed the target. The difference between dominate and tie is made of episodes, but what matters is the awareness of having to stay focused and always fighting at a high level. These features are missing at Napoli and Lazio, who have yet to grow from this point of view.

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Free thoughts after reading the newspapers

Published on January 18, 2013 in Generale. 0 Comments Tags: calciatori, De Rossi, giornali, Inter, Napoli.

Free thoughts after reading the newspapers. Napoli FC were canceled two penalty points, after that a month ago it was given this sentence for sport fraud, this is no longer true. Things you do, to make the championship more interesting. De Rossi, one of the best players in Italian football, playing few matches this year, because the coach, Zeman, does not get along with him. Like children dragging their feet “do not make you more my friend.” In contrast Sneijder, Inter player, has not played for months, I do not know the reasons; possible that the disagreement with the coach is so deep that did not find a way to work. I have always my idea that to earn too much money can destroy the professional relationships. Everyone thinks he’s a little king, who does not want to give up his portion of pride. Milan is forced to focus on older players because they are the only champions who are willing to come in Italy. Is it better the experience of those who no longer runs and has no more certain hunger for victory to that of other less talented but perhaps more motivated? In addition to football, the newspapers write just about those sports where there are a lot of money (tennis, golf, NBA, cycling, motor sports) or individual athletes as long as they are rich and famous. The other sports are just a few times a year, when someone wins a world event or perform amazing feats.

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More sports, less medicine

Published on January 17, 2013 in Generale and Stress. 1 Comment Tags: France, health, sport, well-being.

Valérie Fourneyron is the French Minister of Sport and Youth and last December presented to the general managers of Regional Health Agencies (ARS), her priorities and the will to place sport at the service of public health politics.

“My career as a sports doctor … took me a long time to commit myself because the sport is recognized by all as an instrument of health and a well-being factor for everyone …” And she defended this approach talking to the presidents of the sports federation, to whom he expressed the priorities you intend to bring forward for the French sport:

The reduction of inequality of access to sports
The high-level sport and support sporting excellence
The promotion of sport as a factor in public health and well-being

She brought the support of the results of scientific research on the effects of sport for all. In particular she stressed that there is a 20% reduction in the likelihood of colon cancer and breast cancer and 30% for recurrences.

Must be diffuse the idea of sports rather than taking medicines, for example by reducing the hypertension or insulin in diabetics. “Sport plays a therapeutic role. This must be said and repeated by doctors and health professionals.” For these reasons, in October, she presented a program called “Sport, Health and well-being.”

She said that there must be another vision of health that is not only prohibition, where the sport has become a synonym for primary prevention. “I’ll have to modify and develop the clubs and sports associations and leisure offer because they must oriented to the general public, including those who are further away from the sport.”

In his speech, there are also some proposals already realized at regional level and she concluded citing the French prime minister, Francois Hollande, who often repeats that the crisis does not make sport less necessary but even more essential.

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The mental laziness in football

Published on January 16, 2013 in Calcio and Giovani. 1 Comment Tags: Calcio, impegno, mental coaching, pigrizia.

The case of Mattia Destro, Roma player, who is going through a period of time in which he did not score a goal can be interpreted as an example of mental laziness that is present in the players, the coaches and managers. The general interpretation of this phenomenon is like, “it does not matter, it happen that attackers have a period in which not score a goal, it happened to Tom, the famous striker who then started to score.” These are justifications that we find only in the football. If my daughter was studying and then take the bad grades, I would not say for sure, “then go.” If a young in a company began to make mistakes you would not say for sure, “no matter it is just a temporary block”. In football, however this happens, you train and then you do not play well, but it does not matter sooner or later you will improve. In football, also there is no rush to recover because everyone expects that to happen at any moment. It’s dominant then the magical thinking, that every moment can be good to start scoring. It’s clear that with this mindset nobody will think that he could be helped by a program of mental training built just for him, because he does not need, but what counts is to cultivate the illusion that you enter in the field and score a goal, and so will everything passes. Nor should we forget that these players earn a lot of money for that in any case their life continues to be quiet for this reason. If you get bad grades in school or at work if you mess up you could lose the year or to be fired, and perhaps for this reason that these people are much more committed to practice what they need to do to improve.

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What it happens to Mattia Destro

Published on January 16, 2013 in Allenatori, Calcio, Giovani and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: Calcio, errori, Mattia Destro.

“Pressure, difficulty, block. What can happen in the mind of a 21 year old forward come in a great team? If when he has the opportunity to make their mark fails several times?” These are the questions with which I started my interview with the newspaper Corriere dello Sport.

“First of all, the arrival of a great team like Roma and also the weight of the price paid to buy it (16 millions of euro). Besides is to be a young talented man in the province team, where maybe the team plays for you and another is to arrive in a big city such as Rome and prove your worth. ”

“The mind is essential, and quality alone is not enough unless you have the head leading. Maybe Mattia Destro thinks to have to show his value as a player. He has to use his head because the only way to get results is in the work, commitment and consistency. He should be noticed, be proactive, just so he can get and give satisfaction. ”

“The sense of all is to be ready when you are called to play. The problem is not the error but how you react. Even the timing. How do you take to regain belief in your skills?”

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Mental coaching ABC

Published on January 15, 2013 in Generale and Stress. 1 Comment Tags: errori, mental coaching.

I am often asked what is the mental coaching ABC. For me is to know what it does, what it says and feels an athlete after he made a mistake. We all know that it is easy to make mistakes and that the error is always present in every aspect of a competition. There are not athletes who do not make mistakes, and the champions are athletes who make less mistakes. So if you do not have direct experience working with athletes is important to read their stories, in order to understand how they have learned to react to a defeat or a negative period. In this case, before relying on psychological techniques (from the PNL to the many cognitive-behavioral techniques, the gestalt rather than to those of stress management) it should understand the value of the error in sport. For example, reading the book by Andre Agassi shows as the way of life the error is closely related to the relationship you have with the sport. The book by Alessandro Del Piero, however, shows the relevance of motivation as a child can lead a young person through the thousands of repetitions that are necessary to learn to kick the ball. The same appears in the story of Johnny Wilkinson (rugby) that to acquire the skills needed to put the oval between the posts for years he has trained to repeat these kicks through the same routine. Or how to interpret the Michael Jordan’s phrase apparently paradoxical when he says “In my life I have often failed and continued to fail. For this reason I succeed.” In other words, the ABC of mental coaching is to enter (even through reading) into the world of athletes and hear them tell their stories, before providing them with a prepackaged solution.

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