SATURDAY’S SPORTS PAGE for YOUR LIFE
THE QATSPY® Quapaw Aviation Tiger Sportswear Performance Yukan
Using Sports to Improve Our Health, Fitness, and Lives
By: Charles W. Boatright, President & CEO of THE QATSPY®
The CHAMP of Sportsmanship– The components of Sportsmanship is being a Competitor with Humble attitude, Mental acuity, and Perseverance. These are the Quiet Strength that often go unnoticed and underappreciated in life and in sports
Probably the most significant impact that we can experience in life isn’t so much what we have achieved, but how and what we sacrificed for our success. There is no such thing as achieving something without a price, everything has a cost associated with it. It just comes down to what you’re willing to sacrifice for your success. Even the FREEDOMS and LIBERTIES we enjoy came at a great cost of those that fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice for these blessings.
It is More of a Question of HOW we Achieved than WHAT we had Achieved
You look at Tom Brady’s performance and it’s more of a question of HOW than WHAT he has achieved! What we recall and recognize most is the quest of hard work more than the conquest we achieve because it is short live compared to the perseverance and preparation we put in.
One of the most significant competitors we all face in pursuing one’s success is an athlete’s perseverance along with what might be considered the road less traveled. We all would like to be Tiger Woods or Tom Brady, but we aren’t aware of is their sacrifices.
We all have been on the road less traveled by being sidelined or riding the bench before. That might seem to be mindless effort and a waste of time to most. But actually it is the most impactful time spent. You form an appetite and passion for the game and the ability to compete.
Those that have participated in a competitive sport realize what hard work and effort it takes to perform at a high level that we once thought was effortless by what we watched professional perform. We have two options at this point- to either give up thinking it isn’t worth the effort, or taking time to recess and reprogram our preparations.
If you take the example of a laptop that experiences a malfunction, the first question an IT specialist will ask you- Did you reboot your laptop? Being benched or sideline is your reboot to sort out your performance and get back to your basic fundamentals.
Ray Lewis has a great quote on getting back to your fundamentals- Greatness is a lot of small things done well!
The Road Less Travel to Our Zone
This is especially true at the high school level, our entry to sports especially during tryouts and constantly competing for our starting position. One significant strength of a competitor is the ability to be humble and the ability to handle disappointment and take those disappointments of failures to develop the invaluable experience.
Their is a huge difference between our education that we learn and our experience we gain. In golf you can take those errant golf shots we all have made and develop a highly skilled golf game to make future difficult golf shots with confidence.
If you have time to analyze your failed performance, or bench time, it will tell you exactly what you did wrong. An awful experience will inspire you not to repeat those same failed techniques again. What’s great about failures and downtime is the experience that you gain from your insight in both situations.
We soon discover that even with our best efforts we don’t have the edge of being in the ZONE. This ZONE is where you enjoy effortless performance like someone else is performing where everything in the universe falls into place automatically. This bench time is what the Shakespeare of the Bible, Isaiah, once described as the quiet confidence, in Isaiah 30:15 In quietness and confidence is your strength. In other words do not over react and punish yourself, but gain experience from your failures.
One of my golfing techniques during my practice sessions is finishing up with my Orange Bucket Challenge. This is where I use special golf balls that travels one-third the distance of an actual golf ball where I’m hitting in feet instead of yards. This allows me to use the convenience of a high school practice football field to hit what would be five 295- yard tee shot to within 15-feet of the orange bucket at the other END ZONE, 295- feet away. If you do use a high school football field, please a chipping mat to protect the field.
I go a little further by using a throw-down home plate where I can concentrate on my strike zone that I used in baseball to hit base hits. Always use techniques to connect with your early childhood development when those permanent motor skills were developed. This is returning to your fundamentals.
Back in June of 2021, I demonstrated my Orange Bucket Challenge to the WJTV-12 SPORTS ZONE show that they televised. Below is the raw video:
INTRODUCTION
DEMONSTRATION OF THE ORANGE BUCKET CHALLENGE
The key to having an effective practice session is to create a challenge where your subconscious mind can’t distinguish between your practice sessions and your actual golf game on the course. Videotaping is a great tool to create adrenaline that you will experience on the golf course.
THE SUMMARY OF THE ORANGE BUCKET CHALLENGE
If You Think up there You Are Died
The very worst thing that any athlete can do in sports is to over think and/or to try harder. Because when you are thinking and trying harder, you are actually traveling backwards in time to a period when your were a beginner. This is when everything seemed awkward, difficult, and confusing to you as if you are starting out again and just picking up the game.
The more you think and harder you try in sports the further away from your instinctive natural performance you are getting. Your coach benching you is actually an opportunity to quiet the mind. This is like rebooting your computer. Again, the first thing an IT person will ask you when you’re having issues with your computer is– Did you Reboot?
Treat your failures as an injury; the best thing is for the coach to take you out of the game where you won’t cause more irreversible damage and prolong your recovery time. This is why golf is a lot more challenging. Because you are IT, this is no next man up.
Consider bench time as your mental rehab like you would do for an injured shoulder or knee. This gives you time to go back to the fundamentals to rehab your game. Thinking is a conscious effort, we DO NOT perform with our conscious mind in a game.
Your fundamentals are stored in our subconscious mind that we are relying on, NOT your swing thoughts. Thinking is in direct conflict with your subconscious effort and performance. I can guarantee this, we don’t perform at a high level with our conscious mind, but our subconscious mind, by focusing. Focusing is a subconscious effort while thinking is a conscious effort. This is why coaches are always telling their athletes to FOCUS!
It is true that ninety-percent (90%) of an athlete’s performance is mental, but this mental part is with our subconscious effort of focusing. In TOP GUN:MAVERICK, Tom Cruise (Maverick) told Miles Teller (Rooster)- If you think up there you’re Dead! If you think on the field or course you just killed your natural athletic performance.
Paul’s Sports Psychology
The Apostle Paul has the best coaching techniques that any athlete can take to their performance from their practice, located in 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27. I’m going to state the actual scripture verses then I’m going to translate these four (4) verses into a sports psychology commentary.
Actual Scripture English Standard Version
(24) Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
(25) Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we are imperishable.
(26) So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air (Shadow boxing).
(27) But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
My Sports Psychology Commentary:
(24) A number of athletes try out for a position or golfers trying to make the cut, but there are just a few positions available. An athlete must continue to train and condition themselves to perform at a competitive level under various conditions.
(25) The most successful athlete uses their discipline and mental perseverance to harness their body’s potential. Even though the athlete is preparing for a season, they are using their preparation for their overall future on and off the field. Remember only 3% of all athletes make it to the PROS.
(26) Every athlete has a purpose for training with very specific techniques. One of my is a full body routines is working out on my 80 lb. boxing bag. There is a significant difference between shadow boxing and working out with a tethered boxing bag. A Bag workout is the best full body cardio-aerobic workout you can have for a number of sports. You perform three 3- minute rounds on a boxing bag, you have all the workout that you want.
(27) Every practice and training session should be a challenge for the athlete to exercise discipline and mentally control over their body, especially for maintaining cognitive function as we age. I workout with cardio-aerobic strength training to prevent me losing my independence as I age, I am 66-years old in the photograph taken in my gym, above. I don’t want to reach my 80’s or 90’s and lose my independence.
For more resources on how to apply Sports Psychology read- The Sports Bible, The Yellowstone Papers- Coach’s Guide to Sports Performance:
My Time Riding the Bench Since February 5th, 2024
Anyone that has or is riding the bench in sports, I can relate to you in not having an opportunity to compete on the field or court. I have had over seven (7) surgeries since October of 1978, mainly consisting of four (4) knee surgeries, one hip replacement, and an abdominal surgery from injuries that caused me to receive a medical discharge from the US Army.
But the prior seven surgeries haven’t compared to my recent surgery for Stage 2 Prostate Cancer on February 05th, 2024. The recovery is very slow due to the side effects and not to mention the unknown diagnoses if the cancer was contained to the Prostate or not that we will know later in March 2024. I will keep y’all posted.
I’m not one for sitting out and around resting and recovering from surgeries. My normal schedule is working on my farm, welding shop, in our hangar, flying, riding my INDIAN Motorcycle, and working out 6- times a week in my Gym. My normal workout consist of 45- minute sessions even at age 66. Above is me in my gym doing bench presses and me on my farm with my KUBOTA Tractor.
Being benched while recovering is difficult especially when I’m used to being active. But I have to follow my doctor’s directions on my recovery to heal from the six (6) incisions in my abdomen area to remove my prostate surgery. I found out over the years that when you are at rest that is when God is able to do the better part of His work, without you getting in His way.
But when I get back into my GYM next week, March 12th, 2024, I will start off with some light yoga and cardio-aerobics exercises. My strength training will consist of working out with a 12 Lb. Medicine Ball doing a light series of wood choppers and diagonal cross overs exercises, like stocking the shelves. I will also do a slow and light workout on my exercise bike, just 3- miles. My golf game will be confined to short 12- foot pitch shots in my facility.
GUYS over the age of 45, get your PSA Test along with your annual physical.