I have worked with a basketball player who said he was always told to get up before a game. Then he would go to the game and in the first five minutes, the ball would fall off his hands. He learned that before the game, rather than getting excited, he needed to do things to settle himself down.

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The more you worry, the more likely something will go wrong. Saying positive statements -- such as 'I'm prepared,' 'I'm strong,' 'I have control' -- help to trigger the right response in the body rather than the 'uh oh' responses.

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In basketball, you want the players to be at the right level of arousal. If they are pretty highly aroused, it is useful for doing certain things like jumping, running fast, playing intense defense. But when you step up to the foul line, you want to pull all of that down and get calm.

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For athletes who have been recruited to a Division I school, we know their skill level is in the upper percentiles. The difference between one athlete in the 98th percentile and another in the 97th percentile is primarily mental.

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