Tag Archives: Sport Psychology

Question: My show season is cancelled indefinitely. What can I do at home now to work on my mental game, so I come out swinging like Beezie Madden circa 2014...

What are you grateful for? That might seem like a strange question to ask a rider in a performance article, but it’s one well worth exploring. Research shows that the...

You’re middle-aged and you’ve decided you want to ride. It may be for the first time, or it may be after years out of the saddle. You may have watched...

Sometimes things get fuzzy in sports and some perspective is exactly what you need. Very often my phone will ring, or I’ll get an “emergency” text and an athlete client...

  I was inspired to write this article by a quote I come across from a friend of mine, Melinda Harrison, a former Olympic swimmer who specializes in helping athletes transition from the...

Visualization is a tool that is often recommended to riders in order to improve their performance. Let's make sure you're doing it correctly, shall we? 1. Focus on effectiveness by generating...

Here is a common misconception about mistakes: they are nasty. Not true. What would you miss without them? How about learning, growth, and risk experience. If your mistake formula is mistakes...

Can changing the way you think change the way you ride? In a word, YES. When you train mentally, you are engaging the newest part of your brain, the frontal...

Instant society encourages instant results. But that is not how we or our horses operate. Going anywhere requires steps, landmarks along the way to define process. How can you apply...

You have your regular coach, then there’s the other one. The inside one. We all have this little guy (or gal) in our heads who is running the show. Giving...

Three sport psychology tips from April Clay's latest book, 52 Ways to More Confidence. 1. Define your athletic brand What is your confidence brand? Every athlete has an overall sense of...

Do you ever wish you could lunge your brain to make it quieter and more cooperative? Good news: there is a way. Sport and life come with emotions and sometimes...

Sure, I had my focus on the athletes that I coached throughout the Olympic Games. But Rio was also a great case study for the habits of highly successful athletes that ever competitor...

Picture this: human and animal moving in unison, coming together for a brief connection. Those who witness are left holding their breath in complete wonderment of what the rider must...

McLain Ward jumps Grand Prix courses like he's executing the world's biggest equitation final—he's smooth, precise, and deadly accurate. But while he may make the show jumping appear effortlessly easy,...

Michael Phelps’ victory over Chad Le Clos in the 200m butterfly at the Rio Olympics was truly something to witness. First, we got a glimpse behind the scenes in the...

[show-list] About the Author April Clay is a rider and sports psychologist in Calgary, Alberta. Want to learn more about show preparation and mental toughness? Check out the Resilient Rider Online...

In short, yes, you can! When a rider’s mind is preoccupied with worry about a stop, it can result in negative anticipation that actually produces the real thing. Riders need...

Feelings of fear and apprehension can be thought of like an “alarm” going off. This alarm is the flight or fight response, a natural change in your body that happens...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7_0CvmTJFg With the July 18 deadline just weeks away, the race for Olympic team selection has rounded the final corner. Who will make the cut and be named a 2016...