8 — Friday, January 13, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

From past to present, mindfulness helps Wilton Speight bounce back

For 
a 
first-time 
starting 

quarterback, 
Wilton 
Speight 

is 
noticeably 
measured 
on 

the 
football 
field. 
Whether 

completing a touchdown pass 
or an interception, the redshirt 
sophomore often reacts in a 
similar way. If he throws a pick, 
he’ll usually jog to the sidelines 
with his head down, but he 
won’t throw a temper tantrum. 
If he throws a touchdown, he’ll 
usually greet his receiver in the 
end zone, but he won’t celebrate 
much more than that. The most 
you’ll see is an emphatic fist 
pump.

When asked if he has a 

chill personality though, he 
responded in a way that might 
surprise many.

“It’s funny, because no, not at 

all.”

Despite his calm demeanor on 

the field, Speight admitted that 
his competitive spirit gets the 
best of him in other aspects of his 
life. He says his temper can flare 
when playing a game of table 
tennis, where he’s been known 
to break the ping pong paddle. 
When he was younger, he would 
sulk and even refuse to talk to his 
mom if she beat him in a game of 
“HORSE” in the 
backyard.

Though that 

competitive 
drive 
is 
still 

in him, he has 
a 
better 
way 

of 
controlling 

that 
intensity 

now. While he 
may 
release 

that 
energy 

when losing a 
no-stakes game of table tennis, 
Speight learned long ago how to 
avoid doing the same during a 
football game.

***

The 22-year-old first learned 

how to remain grounded during 
his freshman year of high school 
at Richmond (Va.) Collegiate, 
when he started working with 
his varsity basketball coach Alex 
Peavey — who also doubles as a 
mindfulness teacher.

Though Speight was a three-

sport varsity athlete at Collegiate 
— he also played basketball and 
lacrosse — it became clear early 
on that Speight’s greatest talent 
lied in football. In order to work 
on what was holding him back, 
Speight went to Peavey to learn 
more about how mindfulness 
could 
translate 
to 
football. 

To this day, Speight still texts 
Peavey every week.

Speight 
slowly 
started 
to 

implement 
the 
technique 
he 

learned after realizing the effect it 
could have on himself and his team.

“(Speight) has always been as 

competitive as anybody on the 
court, on the field, at the bowling 
alley,” Peavey said in December. 
“Wherever you are, he’s going to 
be the most competitive person 
in that setting. Where I’ve seen 
growth is how he funnels that 
competitive energy to maximize 
his peak performance. Some 
of us get so competitive, it’s 
to our own demise, where the 
competition 
undermines 
our 

own performance.”

As Speight grew up, he fit the 

mold of many young athletes, 

allowing his competitiveness to 
be a detriment. The frustration 
from a bad game would affect 
his performance, but because 
he was so much more talented 
than many of his high school 
teammates, it never changed 
the outcome of the game. Still, 
Speight 
knew 
that 
making 

himself miserable would catch 
up to him if he didn’t learn how 
to control it, and the Michigan 
quarterback has come a long way.

“I remember in middle school 

basketball camp, having to calm 
him down in situations and 
again, it’s literally like a week-
long middle school basketball 
camp, but he’s treating it like 
it’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals,” 
Peavey said. “Which is a good 
thing, but again, it’s how you 
funnel your energy so it’s not to 
your detriment.”

From Peavey’s perspective, if 

an athlete practices mindfulness, 
there’s a better chance of being 
able to play from a set of skills 
instead of a set of emotions. It’s 
a process that helps Speight stay 
centered after game-changing 
plays, 
and 
it’s 
an 
essential 

component of his success with 
the Wolverines.

***
If you see Speight clicking 

and unclicking his helmet strap 

between 
plays, 

there 
might 
be 

more to it than you 
would think.

Peavey 
was 

introduced 
to 

mindfulness 
as 

a form of stress 
management 
through Dr. Jon 
Kabat-Zinn, who 
taught a training 
course in stress 

reduction at the Center for 
Mindfulness at the University 
of 
Massachusetts 
Medical 

School. According to Peavey, 
Kabat-Zinn encourages people 

to find things they do in their 
everyday life that they can bring 
mindfulness to, like washing 
dishes or brushing their teeth. 
Peavey teaches mindfulness to 
all of the freshmen at Richmond 
Collegiate, but he also teaches 
his athletes how to utilize 
mindfulness in order to play at 
the highest level.

Mindfulness is used in many 

professions, Peavey said — even 
the medical field. Kabat-Zinn 
trained 
doctors 
to 
practice 

mindfulness 
before 
their 

performance, which can be a 
high-stakes situation in which 
the performance is surgery itself. 
Doctors already have to scrub 
in prior to surgery, so focusing 
on the act of scrubbing in and 
staying in the present moment 
acts as a tool for some doctors to 
release stress before performing.

It may not be surgery, but 

Speight’s responsibilities on the 
gridiron carry their own kind of 
stress.

Though Peavey doesn’t force 

any of his students to utilize 
mindfulness in sports, Speight 
always 
seemed 
particularly 

interested in it. When Speight 
was in high school, Peavey asked 
him what he did that was similar 
to a doctor scrubbing in, and 
he said that he has to click his 
helmet’s chinstrap.

“I 
practiced 
a 
ton 
with 

(Peavey), 
almost 
like 
a 

meditation-type thing,” Speight 
said in November. “We figured 
out whenever I click my buckle 
in my helmet or 
lick 
my 
fingers 

before a snap, that 
kind of brings me 
back to this chill 
mode. In football, 
I feel like I’ve kind 
of mastered it, but 
I’m still working 
on the other stuff.”

Added Peavey: 

“What he’s doing 
when he unsnaps 
and resnaps his helmet is he’s 
tapped in fully to the sensory 
experience of that two-second 
activity. And you’re getting the 
mind not to ignore everything 

that just happened, but to see 
it, to feel it, to experience it, to 
let it go and refocus yourself on 

something that’s here in this 
present moment.”

All of Peavey’s students have 

different 
ways 

of 
refocusing. 

For some, it’s 
squirting 
a 

green Gatorade 
water 
bottle, 

and for others, 
it’s 
wiping 

off 
their 
face 

with a towel. 
The 
common 

thread is that it 
stops a person’s 

internal alarm from going off.

One of the first athletes that 

Peavey coached at Collegiate was 
Seattle Seahawks quarterback 
Russell Wilson. Wilson was 
Peavey’s 
point 
guard 
for 

three years, and at the time, 
Peavey wasn’t yet calling it 
mindfulness. But he taught his 
players different ways to funnel 
their competitive drive into a 
purposeful place rather than 
toward anger or excitement from 
the previous play.

“(Wilson) uses the sense of 

sight,” 
Peavey 
said. 
“Where 

Wilton unsnaps and resnaps 
his chin strap, Russell picks 
something out in the stadium 
and he just kind of looks at it.”

As Peavey explains it, if you 

practice your technique every 
time you make a mistake, you’ll 
get stronger. From a neurological 
standpoint, neurons are fired 
that predispose you to make it 
easier to stay mindful each time 
you practice. If it becomes a 
routine, it should work during 
the game.

Rather 
than 
lament 
the 

mistake that was made, that 
error becomes an opportunity to 
get better.

***
After 
seeing 
his 
former 

student throw an interception on 

his very first play of 2016, Peavey 
couldn’t wait to see what Speight 
would do. He desperately wanted 
the camera to pan to the sidelines 
so he could watch Speight’s 
reaction to the pick.

Throughout 
the 
season, 

Speight faced multiple situations 
where he had to bounce back, and 
it all began with the interception 
that started his career as a 
Michigan quarterback. In stark 
contrast to his first play, he 
ended the game 10-for-13 for 
three touchdowns. He played 
the next three games without 
throwing a pick.

Speight faced more adversity 

against Wisconsin and Michigan 
State, but he cruised throughout 
the middle half of the season 
with relative ease. His next 
biggest 
challenge 
came 
at 

Iowa, where he had his worst 
performance 
of 
the 
season. 

In the electric atmosphere of 
Kinnick Stadium, he not only 
threw for just 103 yards but also 
injured his shoulder late in the 
fourth quarter. He was sidelined 
for Michigan’s next game against 
Indiana.

When Speight 

did 
return, 
he 

had 
to 
battle 

both his injury 
and the weight 
of the Iowa loss. 
Making it all the 
more 
difficult 

was 
that 
his 

return would be 
“The Game” at 
the 
Horseshoe 

against 
the 
second-ranked 

Buckeyes. 
He 
sputtered 
at 

times — throwing a pick-six and 
fumbling on Ohio State’s one-
yard line — but the Wolverines 
scored touchdowns immediately 
after both turnovers. Though 
it wasn’t pretty, and Michigan 
ended 
up 
losing 
in 
double 

overtime, 
Speight 
finished 

23-for-36 for two touchdowns.

Speight 
then 
headed 
to 

the Orange Bowl to play the 
Seminoles, and following a poor 
first half where the Wolverines 
posted just 83 yards of total 
offense, he rallied to lead two 
touchdown drives in the fourth 
quarter and give his team the 
lead.

“I couldn’t sit in here in 

halftime and be all stressed and 
mad about what happened in 
the first half,” Speight said in 
the locker room after the game. 
“That does no good for anybody. 
In the moment of halftime and in 
the moment of the plays we were 
going to run going out into the 
second half, I completely forgot 
about the first half, and that’s 
what I did all year.”

But Florida State took the 

lead back with 36 seconds to go, 
and on the next drive, Speight’s 
season ended where it began — 
with an interception.

Now, heading into 2017, he’ll 

have to bounce back again — not 
just from that final play, but from 

a 
10-3 
season 

that 
caused 

disappointment 
among 
fans 

and 
players 

who expected a 
College Football 
Playoff 
berth 

out 
of 
the 

Wolverines. 
Next season will 
present 
new 

challenges 
that 

the quarterback hasn’t yet seen, 
including taking on a larger 
leadership role as a second-year 
starting quarterback (assuming 
he retains his job). And when 
that time comes, he might need 
to lean on his high school coach’s 
teachings more than ever. 

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Speight first began to work on mindfulness after recognizing how his competitiveness could be detrimental.

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Speight will need to use his mindfulness approach more than ever next year after a 10-3 season that has left many Michigan fans feeling disappointed.

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight often doesn’t react too strongly after either positive or negative plays in order to maintain an calm attitude.

That kind of 

brings me back 

to this chill 

mode

He’s going to 
be the most 
competitive 
person there

I couldn’t sit in 
here and be all 
stressed and 

mad 

After learning the technique from his high school basketball coach Alex Peavey, the redshirt sophomore 
quarterback regularly uses the approach to keep a cool demeanor during important moments on the field 

KELLY HALL

Daily Sports Writer

