The Peak Performance Expert

 Every time Matt Garza of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches, there is a lot of talk about his potential “wildness” and his emotionality.  It seems Garza’s temper got him into trouble a while back and manager Joe Maddon encouraged him to see a sports psychologist.  The results have been mostly positive.  He’s more of a team player and is much better able to control the intensity of his emotions. 

When Garza faced my Red Sox in the last game of the ALCS, he was fierce in his accuracy and the force of his pitches.  The Red Sox couldn’t hit anything he threw at them.  In other words, Garza demonstrated superb control.  He was able to harness all that intensity and channel it just the way he wanted. (Too bad for us.) 

Last night he didn’t fare as well when he played the Phillies in game 3 of the World Series. This led to speculation: did the rain delay affect him?  Did the reality of playing in the World Series get to him?  We’ll never know but it’s always fun to guess. 

The Garza story brings up an important element in sports psychology known as the Zone of Optimal Functioning or the ZOOF. This refers to a performer’s sweet spot, just the right level of physiological activation that allows him or her to perform well. 

The concept of flow in sports (or any performance) refers to a state in which there is a perfect or near perfect match between the perceived demands of an activity and the abilities of the performer. Flow is accompanied by feelings of being energized yet calm and focused with your attention directed on what is essential. 

It’s a myth that “the harder you try, the better you’ll do.”  Too much activation or arousal can lead to feelings of agitation and tension and a shift of attention from the activity at hand to oneself or others. Of course, too little activation can lead to feelings of apathy or boredom (left field?) and result in too little focus on the details necessary to perform. 

Garza is a great example of this.  Too much and he’s wild and loses control of the ball; too little - well, we haven’t’ seen that!  Think of yourself and the activities you engage in. Are you too revved up or too laid back?  What works for you? 

Some people need to get revved up.  They feel it energizes them and that they perform better. (Garza, again, listens to rap music before the game.  Maybe he listened to too much of it last night!)  Other people need to calm down and control over-activation. 

Another way to think of it in musical terms is a rah-rah college fight song or a languorous bossa nova.  Are you a fight song person or a Bossa Nova type?  Different activities might require different levels of activation.  Consider the differences between a hockey player and a brain surgeon, for example. 

A man who had attended one of my seminars emailed me a few weeks later to say his golf game had improved because he realized he was a “Bossa Nova type of guy.”  When he teed up, he imagined hearing a slow Bossa Nova which allowed him to slow down, relax, and focus.