Episode 79: Mastering the Mental Game: An interview with Len Zaichkowsky and Dan Peterson

The Inner Game: Decision Making, Choking, Focus and Attention, Skill acquisition: All of that and more on this weeks episode of the On Coaching Podcast with Magness & Marcus. We have renowned sports psychologist Leonard Zaichkowsky and mental performance consultant Dan Peterson on to provide a deep dive on the cognitive demands of the sport. How packed with information is this one? I finished this conversation with 3 pages of notes to apply to my own coaching. Len and Dan recently released a phenomenal book, The Playmaker’s Advantage. In our discussion we cover:

“Coaching is teaching…and I can’t stop teaching.” (5min)
Kids are not miniature adults and the importance of developing physical literacy in youth athletes (14min)
“If you want to teach Latin. You need to know two things. You need to know Latin and you need to know Johnny.” (16min)
The dangers of copying: Why we need to create situations instead of copying (21min)
The Decision Making Loop: Search–> Decide–> Execute
Why your practices should mimic the Dr. Seuss Guide to Learning- 50 words or less, combined, twisted, and repeated over in a myriad of ways. (28min)
The importance of attention and awareness in performance (34min)
Choking- what is it and why does it occur? (35min)
Decision Making under pressure? What we can learn from firefighters (40min)
The importance of building tacit knowledge to better decision making on the field (42min)
Should we break down our drills into their components or train the whole? Dr. Z gives the answer (44min)
Should runners associate or dissociate when racing? Learn from Dr.Z and two Boston marathon champions (46min)
“Don’t tell them everything you need to do.” The disease of overcoaching.
Sydney Crosby ran track and thinks kids should explore multiple sports and other lessons from the hockey superstar. (60min)
What did Len and Dan learn from NBA coach Brad Stevens? (62min)

Resources Mentioned on this weeks episode:

The Playmaker’s Advantage by Dan and Len

80 Percent Mental– Dan and Len’s website on mental performance

The Perception-Action Podcast

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnemann

Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions by Gary Klein

Sporting Excellence: What Makes a Champion by David Hemery-1968 Olympic Champion in the 400m Hurdles

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