Tiger Woods Can't Match the Mental Toughness of a 14 year Old Girl
What
is mental toughness? Is it being able
to grind out
a good score when things aren't going so well
on the course? Or is it
the mental ability
to stay
strong and committed in spite of distractions and on-course circumstances?
Of course it
is both
of these things and more.
Yet mental
toughness isn't something
you simply acquire
in the
spur of the moment or when you "think you need it." No, it's more of
an overall mindset. A perspective
on the game that allows you
to tap another level within your mental game.
Mental
toughness is developed and built over
time. Once you have
a degree of mental toughness, access
to it when it
matters becomes easier and easier. Like any new skill it habituates over time. An increased
inner resolve that generates consistent, confident swings.
Do you have the mental toughness of a 14-year-old-girl? I don't think even Tiger does.
Seriously. Is your golfing
mindset solid and committed in the
many scenarios that unfold in your game? Do you have as strong a mind as young
MacKinzie Kline, the 14-year-old golfing phenom?
She is incredibly mentally tough.
She
was born with only
three valves in
her heart and
her kidney was on the wrong
side of
her body. Having gone through several operations in her life, she built a
toughness. She went on to qualify for the Women's Amateur at the
age of 14. She's already had three aces and one of them was caught on film!
Yet as she continued to play she began to feel extremely short of breath. She was forced to take an oxygen
tank with her as she played and use it between
holes. Nothing would stop her from
competing. Imagine lugging an oxygen tank around the course
with you and remaining focused on each shot!
Concerned, the doctors investigated
what might
be causing her
shortness of breath and discovered she had a hole in her heart which they had missed some time before that.
So she underwent another operation.
She has a mental toughness that keeps her in her game and completely centered in each moment.
Regardless of the
circumstances. She has
decided to play
with a mindset that says, "I determine how I feel and how I'll perform, not the other player or what might be happening around
me." MacKinzie Kline's mindset is the epitome of what mental toughness is.
It's almost routine to watch some frustrated whiner on the course toss
his club 20 yards down the fairway
after a bad shot. Or
complain about all the bad breaks they get,
why the bunker wasn't raked properly, how the cup wasn't cut right, and on and
on. Player after
player, when
faced with some adversity, fold like a cheap suit and
succumb to the inertia of their own
inner weakness.
And then there's this 14-year-old girl with only three valves in her heart with more character and heart than any of us could hope to have.
Mental toughness is a state of mind that keeps your attention on each task.
Each shot. Each moment. MacKinzie
Kline is committed to her mental game. She is committed to herself.
She accepts
complete responsibility for her results and places no blame outside of herself for her circumstances.
Amazing. Most everyone would agree she has a right to feel self pity.
That doesn't happen with her for even a moment. Her diminutive stature disguises a towering mental game giant.
She chooses how
she'll experience herself on the golf course.
Knowing mental toughness is a
decision. A commitment to an inner ideal that is bigger then the
outcome of any one
shot, or game. She chose to accept ownership of her internal state and how she'll perform.
Tiger is unquestionably the dominant force in the game and is so mainly because of his mental toughness. Yet I would place young MacKinzie Kline along side him any day
if forced to choose the mental game giants in golf.
It sure makes
our own weakness on the course
seem pathetic, doesn't it?
Wade Pearse is a Peak Performance Coach who
spent 7 years applying the most advanced mental game strategies in golf with his clients and in his own game with
phenomenal results. His website is filled with mental game
resources and is 100% focused on
developing the inner game.
Your Puppy: Have Fun While Fixing the "Naughtiness Factor"
I sat trapped on
the airplane, hurtling toward Orlando, strapped
into my seat, some 30,000 feet above ground.
I say trapped because
my seat, my
entire row even, was constantly shaken, bumped
and tossed by
a pair
of blond haired, angelic looking little
monsters in
the row in front of me.
Michael, twelve, and
his brother, eight, found relief from
boredom in
the only way they knew howby fighting, wrestling and annoying everyone
for three rows in all directions.
At first, I, too, was irritated by
the little blond cretins.
But as their father
finally erupted out of his seat
to threaten
the boys with bodily harm, I
began to smile. I nearly laughed in fact. Not because
the boys were finally getting
a stern talking to. But because of
the image
that came to me.
Suddenly,
the kids reminded
me of
a pair of blond
Golden Retriever puppies, happy, rowdyand completely out of control. Michael and David,
lacking any direction from their parents,
defaulted to known behaviors on that flight. They tore it up, from the floor up.
Dad yelled at the children in that low, angry tone well bred parents use when what they
really want to do is
scream out loud at their kids in the Walmart. And
he scared them. Most of coach was grateful. But the good effects from that dressing down were all too temporary. My seat
began to rock and roll once again. The
puppiesI mean the kidsdefaulted back to standard boy behaviors.
Thats when mom
intervened. She came bearing gifts. Sweetly she told them that their choices included certain
death at the
hands of their fatheror they
could do the activity
games in the
shopping bag she dropped in their laps. She walked away.
The boys tore
into that sack like
Golden puppies into
a Kong stuffed with liverwurst. Bags of pretzels, disposable cameras, coloring
books and playing
cards gushed from that cornucopia of childhood goodies like
a geyser from Old Faithful.
This was
a good thing.
Mind
you, they were still boys.
Are we almost there yet?
How much minutes left?
Questions and protest still gave the boys
opportunity to be, well, boys. But the
worst of the pandemonium was over.
I have this bizarre tendency to
view dog training as a metaphor
for life itself. Not much in the way of human
behavior escapes some direct
correlation to dogs in my view. So I thought about Michael and David and about
why they reminded me so much of puppies. Then it hit me.
Dad came along and told them what
not to do. And that
didnt function for more than a few moments. Mom had a better idea. She showed the boys a new behavior they could do, concurrently presenting them with a consequence if they
failed to choose the new, and more rewarding behavior she designed for them.
The parallel to our lives comes when
helping dogs or puppies stop
unwanted behavior. It is effective to teach a dog a new behavior that is incompatible with his unwanted behavior. It is less effective to simply correct a dog for
doing the
bad thing.
Take jumping on people. You can simply correct for it. But
temptation remains. Plus, get with the 21st Century already. We have dogs for the warm and fuzzies. We are ever less
likely to knee their dog off when the dog
just wants to greet us. So instead of battling the
dog, why not teach him to
sit and offer paw to
solicit attention? He
cant do that and jump now can he? Plus its such an engaging
trick that its likely to win much more
notice for the dog, and thus, becomes self-rewarding.
Dick Russell, a professional dog trainer in Louisiana,
says he teaches the same sit and give paw routine to space guarding dogs.
A dog wont often sit and shake and guard space from a child all at the same time. I handle this problem in a different way. Using a gentle touch with the
leash and collar, I teach the dog to move, and give up any space humans want to take.
Either way, youve taught the dog what
TO do as much as what NOT to do.
As for Michael and David, they
played with their new toys for quite a while. I eyeballed them periodically,
however, waiting for the old behavior to reassert itself. I smile, thinking about the dog training
equipment nestled in my
checked baggage. If only I could do children, we could all retire to my own private
island, where dogs run free and children behave.
Marc Goldberg is a dog trainer specializing in the rehabilitation of difficult dogs and improving relationships. He is Vice President of the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP) and
Editor of SafeHands Journal. The author also educates professional dog trainers in his techniques.
Visit him on the web at
http://www.chicagodogtrainer.com or
http://www.dogtraininginchicago.com.
Miami DolphinsThe New Bengals? Not Yet
With
the arrest
of Miami wide
receiver Chris Chambers this past
weekend, some might start
to wonder if
the Dolphins have evolved into
Bengals over
the off season. Chambers,
a 2005 pro bowler
and star
of, ahem, my fantasy
team, was picked
up in North Carolina
for driving
while impaired, reckless driving,
and speeding on July
14th. With the
arrest, Chambers
is now the third
Dolphin to be taken into
custody this year.
If eight more Dolphins
find themselves behind bars,
they will
pass the Cincinnati Bengals
and lead the league in most (jail) yards
gained. Besides Chambers, Fred
Evans, a defensive tackle
with Miami, was arrested on June 23 for trespassing, resisting arrest
with violence, disorderly conduct,
and battery on
a police officer.
Joey Porter, the Steeler turned Dolphin, was arrested for a March
conflict where he was accused
of punching Levi
Jones, an offensive lineman for the
- go figure - Cincinnati Bengal. Porter was
eventually charged with a misdemeanor.
So, there you have itare the Dolphins taking a
page from the Bengals and - in
lieu of evading sacks and
tackles - focusing their
time on evading the
law? Well, not
exactly. To being with, this is a
first offense for Chambers:
before Saturday, his professional record was
completely clean. He also - according to the South Florida Sun
Sentinel - passed a breathalyzer
test while at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police station. While he
certainly shouldn't have been doing any
kind of drinking and driving, he can
chalk his arrest up to a mistakeand NEVER
do it again.
Fred Evans offense, a violent crime,
wasn't as
benign, and this wasn't overlooked by the Dolphin's coaching staff. In the aftermath of his arrest, Evans found
himself unemployed: Miami let him go. Cam Cameron, the
head coach, released a statement saying,
"We will not condone this type of behavior. I assure everyone it will be dealt with seriously."
And seriously dealt with it was. Good for Cam for standing by his word, and his morals.
Joey Porter's arrest for hitting Levi
Jones makes me
think that neither party was innocent. When you have football players, packed with testosterone, and add the element of alcohol, these things will happen. Still, Porter is a bit of wild card and someone Cameron should keep an eye on. Porter
has not only spat out accusations of cheating, (jokingly?)
said he was going to give George Bush a piece of his
mind, uttered homosexual slurs, and been voted one of the NFL's
dirtiest players,
but he also owned two dogs who killed his neighbors
miniature horse. How, exactly, does that kind of thing
happen? Nonetheless, for now you can chalk Porter up to a talented player with a lot of passion (if not too much) who
likes to run his
mouth, and sometimes puts his foot in
it. He's hardly the first
NFL player to get in a fist
fight and he won't be the last. Porter and Chamber don't quite
deserve to be
labeled Bengals just yet. As for Evans, well maybe Cincinnati has an opening.
Jennifer Jordan is a senior editor for
http://www.milleniumlimo.com. An
avid sports fan, she likes the Miami Dolphins but
her heart belongs to the
Denver Broncos.
Keeping Your Dog's Coat Clean and Healthy
Your dog wears
a coat of insulation, helping
him stay cool
in the summer
and warm
in the winter.
His coat
holds essential oils close
to his
skin, and protects
it from scrapes and scratches.
Its hollow
hairs help him stay afloat so he
can concentrate on swimming
rather than treading.
Without daily maintenance,
however, your dog
can quickly become cheap transportation
for burrs and other
plant seeds.
Parasites
love to burrow
in the warm, moist areas next
to his skin,
presenting a health hazard for
you and your dog.
With
a few simple steps, though,
you can maintain
the health
of your dogs coat without resorting to an expensive groomer.
As
a natural part of their lives,
dogs are skilled at self-grooming. They are taught by their mothers that grooming limits skin-borne diseases and parasites. Young muscles and
bones benefit
from the increased blood
flow their massaging mothers stimulate. As
they grow and become self-sufficient, they
begin to groom themselves and become very successful at it. When a dog is living in a
home environment, however, they need some human help to maintain a
healthy coat.
Brush your dog
frequently using a brush
with soft bristles and a
flea comb. Use light pressure and
always stroke
with the coats grain. This
collects shedding hair before it gets
all over your furniture and
clothes and
eliminates matting before it becomes
too snarled.
Long and thick coats fight a constant battle against snarls.
Dont use brute force to clear them; nobody likes to have their hair pulled. Use water to soften
caked fecal matter
or mud and scissors or clippers
if necessary on nasty tangles and burrs.
Many dogs get very anxious around brushes and scissors. Their fears can result in snarling and nipping, which is why many groomers resort to using sedatives. This does
nothing to quell the unnatural fear for the next grooming session, however. A much better
way is to take him for a long exercise session to remove
all his nervous
energy, and then put him in a calm state lying down. Introduce him to the grooming instruments while he is in this calm state. Once he is through investigating them, you can begin to use
them while
keeping him calm and submissive.
Inspect your dogs skin while you are brushing. Be alert for skin irritations,
dry skin, fleas, ticks and any sign of
infection. While you
will probably need
professional help for fungal or bacterial infections, other problems can be handled on your own.
The
two major causes of dry, irritated skin are too much bathing and a
lack of lipids in your dogs diet. Bathe your dog
with shampoo as infrequently as
possible. Also, mix in a teaspoon full of vegetable oil with his food. His coat will take on a healthy glow, and the oil will moisturize his skin.
Chlorine-filled swimming pools often contribute to dry skin, however, swimming is great exercise and a lot of fun for your dog, so dont cut it out entirely.
Regular application of flea and tick powder will help
prevent you from having to deal with fleas and ticks. If you still find a tick, however, use tweezers to grasp the tick by the head. Jerk straight out so the jaws come with the rest of the tick. Dont squeeze the ticks body or touch it with
bare fingers. Wash your hands after handling the tick.
Excessive scratching and hair
loss are two signs of flea
infestation. Fleas dont just stay on your dog
however; they jump
off and infest your house. Check the floors and baseboards for granules that resemble salt and pepper grains.
Toss the dog in the bath with plenty of dog shampoo. Follow up with a breed-appropriate flea dip. Now comes the hard part cleaning the house.
To clean the house you need to first get rid of the eggs and larvae.
Vacuum all the carpets, including the baseboards, and all the upholstered furniture. Take the vacuum bag outside
immediately and
place it in a trash bin. Treat all carpeted and upholstered surfaces with specifically
formulated insecticide to
kill the adult fleas. Since the insecticides are toxic, youll want to
keep your children and animals away from treated surfaces until it dries.
With regular grooming and attention, your dogs coat will stay healthy and clean. That protects your dog, your family, your wallet, and your home.
Brock
Lorber, dog lover and author, provides tips and advice on dog health and training.
