Mental Management Workshop: ‘Mind Your Head’

Mental Management Workshop: ‘Mind Your Head’
AUT University, August 2018
I presented ‘Mind Your Head: Improving sports performance through self-knowledge’, a discourse anchored in the notion that all sporting disciplines should be individualized, standards-based and values-driven at the AUT-hosted Mental Management Seminar ‘Mind Your Head’.
Other presenters were:
• Madonna Harris, Summer and Winter Olympics athlete, CommGames gold medallist;
• Tracy Phillips, CommGames medallist, first NZ Police woman dog handler;
This workshop was designed for elite athletes on the cusp of international selection with Olympics 2020 in mind, was focused on archers, and anchored in the conviction that archery is a ‘head sport’ best epitomized by a well-worn t shirt that declares ‘I think, therefore I miss.’
The workshop contributed significantly to my development as an innovator and leader in mental management with this discipline playing an increasing role in my professional life, in my classroom practice and relationships with colleagues. When we engage fully and intentionally in the social and professional lives of peers, our values, beliefs and practices impact them. This impact is often demonstrated in my practice but is difficult to quantify as ‘traditional evidence’ because it is often transitory and sometimes short-lived but meaningfully impactful regardless.
Planning and participating in the workshop has led me to engage with others engaged in high-performance mental management including Tony Readings (High Performance Sport NZ), Robert Turner (World Archery Oceania) and David Niethe (David Niethe Mental Performance) which has further enriched my capability.
As a member of the Archery NZ board and an ANZ Team Manager, there is a growing acknowledgement – and a corresponding culture change – that tracks directly back to this workshop.
My practice as a classroom educator has been considerably enriched from working with these high-performing coaches. I believe in the cross-pollination of heliotropic skills
transferable across a wide range of learning environments, the classroom being one of them.
As Chief Instructor of King’s School Karate I share this methodology with teachers, parents, and fellow instructors with a view to evolving a shared kaupapa from which we can collectively benefit. It’s pleasing to note others begin to use the rhetoric I introduce them to in their own practice.