It’s the Super Bowl season and a lot of us are thinking about the
National Football League and the big game. Fans and non fans are
entering pools and preparing for parties with friends, family members
and coworkers.
About six weeks ago, I received a call from a fine young athlete who
had a few try outs with several NFL teams. He lived in the southwestern
part of the United States and he was hoping to make it as a defensive
lineman. He played his college ball at a rather small school and he
felt that he was overlooked by some teams because he did not get the exposure or
the quality coaching he might have gotten at an athletic program which
was housed at a larger university. Apparently, many teams in the
National Football League are a bit biased to players who have attended
Division One schools.
He sounded like he was a very hard working and serious young man.
He viewed his sport as his profession and he was very serious about his
physical and mental training. He seemed to have a good agent who
was working hard to get him placed with a team in the NFL. Yet, he was a bit frustrated
because he felt he was a better player than many players he had played with and against
in practices and in try outs and was still not where he wanted to be in his career.
I never met this young man face to face, but I got a sense of what may
have been preventing him from being chosen by one of the teams in the
National Football League.
His confidence was a little shaken by one or two try outs where he just did not
play to his fullest potential.
After listening to his situation and correctly identified what caused him
to lose his self-confidence, I gave him a few words of advice and I encouraged
him to listen to a cd program for athletes which shows people how to be
remain confident, relaxed and focused when the pressure is on.
Last week, I got a wonderful phone call. The caller introduced himself and
proclaimed, “I’ll be in the NFL next year. I just signed a contract. I just called
to say thanks for your help.”
He was delighted and I was ecstatic for him. I asked him to send me an
autographed photo for my son, once his season begins in the fall.
Sometimes, when we counsel people, we are unsure as to whether we are
having the kind of impact we would like to have on them.
So, it’s very nice and quite exciting to get this kind of feedback.
Jay P. Granat, Ph.D. is a Psychotherapist in River Edge, NJ. His
Stay In The Zone cd program is available at www.StayInTheZone.com