A S K dr.
carrie
Q: A:
Do you have any tips for dealing with the stress that I feel when my class is running early and I don’t have time to visualize and prepare because I am rushed? If circumstances emerge that prevent you from having the time to execute the steps of your mental practice, it is time to trust yourself to be able to complete the task at hand. When you take lessons at home your trainer gives you the exercise or course and you give it a shot. You trust yourself. Try to bring this mentality to the horse show ring. When you are feeling rushed, take a minute at the back gate to repeat the order of the jumps and strides in your mind a few times. Allow the natural mental process of
Q:
breaking the course into sections to occur. Take some slow deep breaths before entering the ring and continue them even as you are picking up ring pace. This will help keep your mind slow and focused. Trust your mindbody connection to get the job done well – you have done this many times before and it is in you. Also, always be at the show one and a half to two hours before your class and check your ring’s status regularly. Staying on top of these details will eliminate stress before it has a chance to gather steam!
I am a horse show mom and I have concerns about my daughter’s eating habits. She tends to eat large amounts of sugar and often rides on an empty stomach. I struggle to have conversations with her about her eating habits because she usually gets mad when I bring it up. What should I do?
A:
This is an important question and extends beyond equestrian life. Healthy eating habits are challenging to create and sustain, especially for teens. I encourage parents to recognize that as teens mature, their main job is to individuate and become their own person. Since one of the only things a person can control in this life is the food they ingest, eating can get mixed up in the individuation process.
Sugar is addictive and prevents proper blood flow that supports optimum performance. However, sugar lights up the pleasure centers of the brain and can seem to calm nerves and give athletes a sense of false confidence when first ingested. I encourage teen athletes to experiment with a variety of pre-training and competition food choices in order to see which combinations best support them.
Do your best not to get caught in a power struggle with your daughter over food by talking about it from the perspective of tending her body as an athlete – similar to how we manage a horse’s feed. Ask questions and resist the urge to bring up examples of previous events that didn’t go well.
You can offer up ideas and choices but then you have to let go! You can also ask your daughter’s trainer to have ongoing conversations about training as an athlete, including food and hydration choices while showing. I encourage parents of teens to get support from impartial authorities – the trainer, PE teacher, mentors, and medical doctor – especially if you have any deeper level health concerns.
Dr. Carrie Wicks divides her time between her private sport psychology consulting and family therapy practice, traveling with athletes, and writing. She completed her doctorate in psychology while researching the mental practices of equestrian athletes. Her passions include horses, yoga, mountain biking, skiing, and time in nature with animals. If you would like to ask a question for this column or ask about a complimentary Performance Strategy session, please contact Carrie.
Carrie Wicks, Ph.D. | Photo © Danielle Demers/EqSol
carrie@carriewicks.com
|
drcarriewicks.com march/april ·
87