Virtual Sport Psych

From CRAP to Gold: Mental Strategies for High Performance

June 10, 2024

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Thank you for joining the Better Together Newsletter! This bi-weekly newsletter is dedicated to sharing insights into applied sport psychology and science-based tools that can aid us as sport psychology professionals in helping athletes, teams, and coaches enhance their performance and well-being. The goal is to deliver actionable insights in a concise and engaging format, making it easy for you to apply them in your work in sports.

Can you believe it? There are only 46 more days until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 begins!

All the hard work, training, and sacrifices athletes have made over the past four, or in most cases, many more years, are about to finally pay off. Athletes have qualified, they are in the final stages of their physical and mental preparation, and they are excited to travel to France (or Tahiti for the surfers) to showcase their very best performances.

As their preparation slowly comes to an end, most of these athletes have practiced various mental strategies to help them stay in the present moment. They use self-talk in functional ways, apply relaxation techniques to cope with stress and pressure, or lock away their phones to avoid distractions from WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, or any other “social” media platform.

But what methods and strategies do Olympic athletes use in preparation for, during, and after their competitions? Writing down all the techniques I teach or develop with athletes wouldn’t be practical, as there are many experienced sport psychologists out there. Instead, I’d like to share a book with you today that is a wonderful compilation of methods, strategies, and techniques Olympic athletes – and other high performers – use. These can easily be applied by athletes at any level, as well as by employees, special forces, physicians, or anyone else who needs to perform their best in any context, setting, or situation.

So, let’s get better together…

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

sport psychology community

BOOK OF THE WEEK

A few years ago, I attended a workshop at the AASP conference in Toronto in 2018, led by Jean François Ménard. It left a significant impact on me. You might be wondering, who is that guy? Well, Jean François Ménard is a renowned mental performance coach, speaker, and author from Canada, widely recognized for his work with elite performers across various fields, including sports, entertainment, and business. For instance, he worked with Cirque du Soleil, where he coached performers to handle high-pressure situations and deliver peak performances consistently.

Let’s go back to the workshop in 2018. Jean François Ménard opened his toolbox and shared his top techniques and strategies for working with high performers like Olympic gold medalists, Super Bowl champions, Cirque du Soleil artists, and top corporate leaders. One of the techniques he discussed—and that I still use in various ways today—is something he developed with a professional hockey player, who called it CRAP. CRAP? Why CRAP? Let’s break it down:

When something goes wrong in a game, like a mistake, the first step is to recognize the emotion and Calm down. Next, you need to quickly Reflect on what happened to shift from emotion to cognition. Once you understand what went wrong and why, you can Adjust to the situation and increase the probability of behaving differently in the next few minutes. However, before you can do this, you need to Prepare and get yourself in the zone to implement the plan as effectively as possible.

So, we have a sequence of Calm down, Reflect, Adjust, Prepare. While psychological literature may describe this approach with different names, CRAP is much more recognizable and relatable to most athletes (and to me) than some scientific term.

Why am I writing about this when the headline says “Book of the Week”? Because my first experience with Jean François Ménard and his CRAP method is also beautifully captured in his book, Train (Your Brain) Like an Olympian. However, the book not only describes the CRAP method but also includes at least 50 other techniques, along with stories behind their development. Some were new to me, others offered advanced explanations that resonate with athletes and clients in high-performance settings, and some were similar to what I’ve used with clients before (like the W.I.N. technique I always rave about).

Is this book valuable? Absolutely. It’s well-written, focuses on actionable techniques and strategies, and includes engaging stories that make it easy to follow. This book isn’t just for sport psychology professionals—it’s for anyone working with people who need to perform under pressure. Whether it’s your most important triathlon, the national championships, the Olympic Games, operational situations for tactical forces, performing solo on stage, giving a presentation to C-level executives, or performing a difficult surgery, the techniques in this book have proven valuable for high performers and can be for you too. I regularly revisit this book and every time I do, I find something new I can use with my clients.

Finally, here’s a fun fact from Ménard’s book that I hadn’t seen before, but I think is quite interesting – especially at the beginning of a new week. If you assign a value in sequence to each letter in the alphabet first (A = 1, B = 2, …, Z = 26), then do this for the word “attitude” and add them up, what is it that you get as a result?

 

A + T + T + I + T + U + D + E

1 + 20 + 20 + 9 + 20 + 21 + 4 + 5

= 100

It’s not 99, and not 101, but 100 – like in 100 percent. Coincidence? Of course! But it’s a cool way to think (and talk) about having an attitude of always giving 100% effort. Feel free to share this on social media with the hashtag #Attitude100 and #VirtualSportPsych!

I hope you enjoy Train (Your Brain) Like an Olympian by Jean François Ménard as much as I do!

…and now: how will you shape your attitude this week?

CHUCK NORRIS JOKE OF THE WEEK

Chuck Norris’s attitude can turn a rainy day into a sunny one.

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