For football players, preparing physically for a game includes adequate strength training, a healthy diet and staying in shape.
Along with maintaining the body physically, creating a stable mental environment can often be the difference between winning and losing.
Athletes deal with pressure from coaches, fans and the media to perform at a certain level, which can be detrimental to an athlete's mental state.
The sports psychology program at LSU is designed to address the mental factors associated with performance and physical activity in athletics.
Shelly Mullenix, senior associate athletic trainer for the Tigers, specializes in connecting athletes' play on the field with the distractions they might face off the field.
"We recognize the athletes as a whole and not just as an athlete," Mullenix said. "If they're not performing well, it may be things outside of that they aren't good athletes."
Much like the game of football itself, effective psychological counseling is a team effort.
Mullenix emphasized the importance of communication within all areas associated with athletics, including the academic center and psychological services, to evaluate a player.
"As a trainer for football, I sit in on different off-the-field groups dealing with athletes," said Mullenix, who is in her eighth year as an LSU trainer. "I also see if they aren't performing well on the field. If these areas aren't communicated, the player could get overlooked."
The most common usage of sports psychology is clinical - helping athletes manage their emotions and deal with the stress and pressure that comes from playing at such a high level.
Dr. Eric Duchmann, LSU's sports psychologist, understands the ramifications of not being mentally stable in a game situation.
"There are complicated schemes in football and other sports so what happens is they freeze," Duchmann said. "They don't want to run the play wrong, so they don't run it at all."
Another area of sports psychology is performance enhancement, which deals with focusing on the game, performance anxiety and team cohesion.
Duchmann said if a person is thinking more about making a mistake than making the right play, their focus can become obscured. Keeping focus can be supplemented by developing an in-game routine.
"Performing a routine keys your memory into focusing," Duchmann said. "Routine behaviors block out negative distractions which helps you focus in."
In the event of an anxiety problem, Duchmann encourages his patients to keep things in perspective by using a philosophy called realistic optimism.
"You're a good athlete, you work hard, you train hard, you believe in yourself," Duchmann said. "But at the same time, you're realistic so you don't choke."
Mullenix said another form of anxiety shows up in athletes who over-exaggerate their injuries. The best example came at the end of the 2003 Bowl Championship Series National Championship game in New Orleans.
"We were scrambling on the sidelines and some of our best players were cramping," Mullenix said. "We were indoors, so it wasn't like they were excessively hot. They were so overwhelmed with the game that I had to remind a number of them to take deep breaths and slow it down."
Some additional techniques used to combat negative emotions while in the game include mental exercises such as imagery and physical exercises such as regulating breathing.
"If your body is energized, your mind is going to race," Duchmann said. "If your mind is racing, your body is going to tense up. If you do them both together, you get the best emotional result."
Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer said the Volunteers have a similar program providing psychological counseling for athletes.
"Young people have issues whether they come with family problems or adjustment problems," Fulmer said. "The psychological counseling is available and sometimes it happens at their request, sometimes at ours."
As for the success of the program at LSU, Duchmann estimates about 90 percent of the patients they see have improved in managing the pressure of being a student-athlete.
---- Contact Jason Glas at jglas@lsureveille.com
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