Hi all, I haven't posted here in a while and forgot my old password, so I re-registered.
As I've been watching the Olympics, I can't help but be distracted/irritated by all the coaches in the starting tent yelling at the racers as they're setting up at the wand and are about to push out the starting gate.
Any thoughts about this? It seems to me that athletes who perform at such an elite level are mentally and psychologically laser-focused... their brains are processing a lot of information about the course, conditions, controlling fear and adrenaline, everything they need to prepare and execute an efficient run. Coaches attempting to pump them up and yell and hoot and holler seems like such a ridiculous distraction to me. Maybe some of those athletes need that (I think Lindsey Vonn says it helps her when people pump her up like that), but I would think most athletes would be trying to tune those verbal distractions out.
I thought I read Harald's comments about this, that he believes World Class athletes who are about to perform an athletic task like a ski race don't need superficial external motivation from barking coaches... am I remembering that correctly?
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks!