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Northwest graduate student Trevor Conner found himself in new territory after a shot-in-the-dark phone call last year.
The call was to the International Management Group's Bollettieri Tennis Academy, an elite training program catering to premier athletes.
Conner was awarded an internship at the academy and found himself elbow deep in the world of high-level tennis.
Though his own background is in baseball — he played for the Bearcat nine as an undergraduate — Conner was a multi-sport athlete in high school.
That diverse experience is what led him to the Bollettieri Academy in Florida, where he rubbed shoulders with professional athletes from many different sports.
Conner said the reason football, baseball and basketball players attend the academy isn't so much to brush up on their tennis skills as to engage in a relatively new aspect of athletics training — mental conditioning.
At any given time IMG houses roughly 800 athletes. With 15,000 students a year from 87 countries, it is the world's largest and most private multi-sport training facility.
Over the years at least 20 number-one ranked tennis players have attended the academy, Conner said. The operation has had a mental conditioning program for the last nine years.
Northwest has offered sport psychology as a minor for several years, taught by Dr. Linda Sterling and Dr. Matt Symonds. According to Conner, the program has seen success in various sports at the university.
"I think it is very important, especially as the physical skill level increases," Symonds said.
"If you look at olympians, everyone has superior physical skills. What gives them the advantage is the mental side."
Mental toughness plays a bigger role in sports than most would think.
"Our brains sometimes get in the way of executing something physically," Symonds added.
"The people at the elite level have mastered the ability to use their brains to give them an advantage in tough situations."
Conner said that during the 2011 US Open tennis tournament, only five to six minutes of actual tennis was played per hour. Mental conditioning helps athletes make it through the other 54 minutes.
Conner received his bachelor's degree in psychology from Northwest and is currently working towards a master's degree in guidance and counseling.
Combining his athletics background with training in psychology makes Conner a perfect fit to help athletes with their mental toughness.
"The idea has been around for awhile, at least since the 1990's," Conner said. "But people haven't known how to coach it. It started catching on in the early 2000's."
Northwest graduate student Trevor Conner found himself in new territory after a shot-in-the-dark phone call last year.
The call was to the International Management Group's Bollettieri Tennis Academy, an elite training program catering to premier athletes.
Conner was awarded an internship at the academy and found himself elbow deep in the world of high-level tennis.
Though his own background is in baseball — he played for the Bearcat nine as an undergraduate — Conner was a multi-sport athlete in high school.
That diverse experience is what led him to the Bollettieri Academy in Florida, where he rubbed shoulders with professional athletes from many different sports.
Conner said the reason football, baseball and basketball players attend the academy isn't so much to brush up on their tennis skills as to engage in a relatively new aspect of athletics training — mental conditioning.
At any given time IMG houses roughly 800 athletes. With 15,000 students a year from 87 countries, it is the world's largest and most private multi-sport training facility.
Over the years at least 20 number-one ranked tennis players have attended the academy, Conner said. The operation has had a mental conditioning program for the last nine years.
Northwest has offered sport psychology as a minor for several years, taught by Dr. Linda Sterling and Dr. Matt Symonds. According to Conner, the program has seen success in various sports at the university.
"I think it is very important, especially as the physical skill level increases," Symonds said.
"If you look at olympians, everyone has superior physical skills. What gives them the advantage is the mental side."
Mental toughness plays a bigger role in sports than most would think.
"Our brains sometimes get in the way of executing something physically," Symonds added.
"The people at the elite level have mastered the ability to use their brains to give them an advantage in tough situations."
Conner said that during the 2011 US Open tennis tournament, only five to six minutes of actual tennis was played per hour. Mental conditioning helps athletes make it through the other 54 minutes.
Conner received his bachelor's degree in psychology from Northwest and is currently working towards a master's degree in guidance and counseling.
Combining his athletics background with training in psychology makes Conner a perfect fit to help athletes with their mental toughness.
"The idea has been around for awhile, at least since the 1990's," Conner said. "But people haven't known how to coach it. It started catching on in the early 2000's."
After his internship, Conner returned to Northwest and made a second phone call, this time to Mark Rosewell, the Bearcats' head tennis coach.
Rosewell took Conner in as a graduate assistant coach, and the two began working on the team's mental game. Though practice started just a few weeks ago, Conner said many of the athletes are buying into the new program.
"Even at the end of the season the results are difficult to quantify," Conner said. "What I'm trying to do is give these athletes the skills and abilities to do the best thing possible in any given situation."
Conner used Jackie Robinson as an example of mental toughness. As the first African-American to play baseball in the major leagues, Robinson was the target of a constant and vicious stream of insults and threats. Yet, he remained successful on the field.
"That would make most people quit," Conner said. "But he was a man who wanted to play the game. He was able to put everything aside to play, and he played well."
Athletes are judged by their ability to win despite adversity. Some choke under pressure and some play their best when facing challenges.
Mental conditioning techniques attempt to instill in athletes a sense of calm. Something as simple as breath control can lower the heart rate and increase focus.
"If you fail seven out of ten times, it takes a tough person to keep trying," Conner said. "Athletes understand how important the mental aspect of their sport is."
Conner estimates that over the next few years mental skills training will be commonplace in universities around the nation. It is already used in most professional sports.
"I think this is on the cutting edge of training," Conner said. "It's being taught at so many levels, it's a booming field.
"Success breeds success. When someone has a good experience they want to do it again, and other people want to try too."
Conner pointed out that the military has been using similar techniques for years.
At Northwest, Conner meets with members of the tennis team for one-on-one consultations. He develops a plan for each player, assesses how they learn and selects techniques for optimum individual response.
Conner has developed a special test for Northwest tennis players that he hopes will bring improvement over the course of the season.
Only time will tell, but preliminary results at Northwest are positive, Conner said.
"Athletes are always looking for a competitive edge," he said. "If you are better than your opponent in just one facet of the game you are in control."
