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. Spain & Cuba Seville, Spain " Semester, Academic Year, January, & Summer terms . 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