The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 11
hrink brought in to help 'M' confidence
Bob Hunt
y Sports Writer
y've tried everything. Going
to passing and catching, simpli-
ig their defensive schemes and
ig different starting lineups. But
r the Michigan women's basketball
n is trying something unorthodox
olve its woes: Psychiatric therapy.
after the team fell to 1-4 in the
ference, a record that now stands
Z-7, Michigan coach Sue Guevara
i her coaching staff decided to
ng in a friend of the athletic
tment, sports psychologist and
ology Professor Tom George.
eorge, who has consulted for
ny of the women's varsity teams at
:higan as well as a few of the
n's teams over the past 10 years,
ked with Guevara's team before
season began back in October.
: because of its latest slide, Gue-
i brought George in last Wednes-
for a 30-minute session with the
&o go over the different skills on
which he had worked with them pre-
viously.
"We've used him before, and you
talk about the elite athletes and what
puts them in the zone," Guevara said.
"That's the difference between a
champion and somebody who's in the
middle of the pack."
George, who tries to show athletes
how various psychological factors
influence performance, tried to help
the Wolverines instill the confidence
that has been lost in recent weeks.
"Because there was such a turn-
around in performance, you know
their focus of attention has changed,"
George said. "You know that they are
more than likely experiencing more
anxiety then they were, experiencing
some self doubt and lack of confi-
dence."
But as for what exactly caused the
team to hit its current skid, no one
can really know for sure as there are
so many events that can occur to
hamper a team's psyche.
"It's hard to know exactly what
happened, but over time you can cer-
tainly see some self doubt creeping
in," George said. "And you don't
exactly know when it occurs, espe-
cially during the course of a game or
pregame, and how it affects players
confidence."
To try to deal with these problems,
or any other problems a team that he
consults may have, George tried to
offer different skills to work on in
order to help them play up to their
best mental capacity. Some of these
skills were how to focus more effec-
tively, how to control anxiety and
doubt, to talk and think more posi-
tively and how to be more goal direct-
ed while playing.
"You try to ground them again,"
George said.
George also discussed with the
Wolverines the problems they have
faced when having to come back in a
contest. Early in the season, like in its
71-70 win over Washington on Dec.
9, Michigan was able to play with
intensity throughout the game.
But in conference play Michigan
has often been in the game in the first
half but fallen apart in the second.
"Early in the season they were
down and, they had it," George said.
"They looked at each other, and they
believed that they could come back.
And they did."
But with just seven games remain- x
ing before the Big Ten Tournament,
time is running out on this season.
The margin for error is small, if exis-
tent at all.
"It's a really interesting animal to
deal with, momentum and all kinds of
stuff," George said. "You can certain-
ly see it, but you can't tell exactly
why."
But as for now the team's woes
remain.
"What I'm trying to get them to do
is to look at the basics we have been
working on, which is to focus in the
here and the now and not dwell on
what has happened in the past and DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
what may happen in your future Michigan's Gandy and her teammates are hoping that Prof. Tom George will be
games," George said. able to help cure the Wolverines' Big Ten struggles.
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