let #2

Football Player Intervention with Dr. Judy Van Raalte

Host
Hi Judy! I understand we are going to watch you working with a football player?

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
That is right. Joe is a football player. He is in his senior year and he has just finished his last home football game. He was hoping that this was going to be really a fabulous game for him. He is team captain and instead, the game was really disappointing, not only in that the team lost, but in terms of his performance.

Host
Yeah, have you had any contact with him prior to this?

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Yeah, good question, I had done some workshops for the team and been available but Joe and I have not met extensively, but he had seen me in the sports psychology role which is why I think he grabbed me today to talk about the game.

Host
Okay, well let us take a look at the video.

Joe
Judy I really need to talk to you. I am really... after today's game, I am so disgusted. I did not play like I usually play and I was totally out of it.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Why do not you tell me what happened in the game?

Joe
Well, just it is a last home game of my senior year and I wanted to be perfect, so I wanted to remember everything so I started out the game and I wanted to look at the crowd and so I was not focused and then after the first quarters instead of running like in first run I started listening to other people and I started dancing and I was not being aggressive, I fumbled and as a team we should have been... no way we should have ever lost to that team, never and I feel responsible for that. I just do not know what to do. I am so pissed.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
What happened with the game, that you feel responsible? So tell me some more. You have played fine the first quarter?

Joe
Well I felt like I started out the game alright. I think I was running like I usually run but after... it was the very first round of the game, I ran over the free safety, 30 yards and it was great. I was thinking oh, this is going to be an easy game and this team is not that good and after that, I got two aerial I guess and I was trying to play like I usually do not play and trying to do things that I usually do not do and it just kept getting worse and worse and worse as the game went on and then we got behind and... I am the leader, I am the team captain of this team and now we are three in seven. We have one more game left. That is a tearaway, my last season if these... we should have at least finished five or six. This team's vision won their way, no way we should have lost to them.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
What is that you... it sounds like you are really frustrated, mad, disappointed. Just there was one thing that you said caught my attention which was that it was your fault that the team lost the game and there is probably a second thing which is you are the team captain and you are the leadership, s it alright if we start with the first thing, your fault that team lost the game,? Is it your fault that team lost the game?

Joe
It probably is not, but I feel it is my fault. I am the fullback, the play starts with me and in the... we are going watch game films one day and we will see everything but from my part, I did not do my part as it for the team.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Okay, so what about the rest of the team with you, I mean, that is the part, the leadership part you usually do, you told me about a fumble. Was that fumble the impetus for the game? Were there other things that were going on there?

Joe
That just contributes to the loss. We should not be fumbling and again, I contribute to the way I was running. I usually do not run like an All Pro running back. I usually just ground it out, keep both hands on the ball and not try to be fancy. I was trying to do so many things that I usually do not do.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Okay and what caused the change for you? Why were you trying those different things?

Joe
I think it was because of the last game and I just wanted to be different, I just wanted to remember it and we do have a great running back, I was on the sidelines and he kept coaching me to do things that I was not normally doing, I kept listening to him. It is not his fault, but it kept playing in my head. I guess I wanted run like him in one game and I was not doing it.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Yeah, well, you were not running ran like him. because You just did not have the results like him?.

Joe
Right and it kept getting worse and worse and it is going to... I mean, Monday is going to be awful when the coach is here. I feel like crap, well I do feel like crap.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Okay, so if Monday is one of the things, we know what happened in the game, Monday is coming up, what is going to happen on Monday or what do you want to do?

Joe
Well I will change it, I want to start. We got one more game left, so I know I have to go to the way I usually play.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Okay.

Joe
I know that, that is the first thing and I want to watch the game. The coach is going to be on me but in my mind, I feel like I just need to ignore it because it is not how I play.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
So to play, so you really learnt something from this game. It is not the lesson that you really wanted to learn, but it is the lesson that you learnt about when you listen to other people, do not play with the strengths you have, that caused a problem for you. So you can take your game. Are you are ready to take kind of go back to your game and not be All Pro in next game?

Joe
Yeah, I thought I played the best.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
So you really learnt a lot about what you can do from this game. If it does not feel good today, when you are going over the game film, you are going to see it again, but you know what you can take with you for the next game. Can you use it... well, who you are playing in the next game?

Joe
Navy, it is our last game, Army-Navy.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Yeah so.

Joe
So I mean the crowd... there is going to be 90,000 people there and that was my problem with this game. It is my last home game so I wanted to take the crowd in. So, I know this time I think the focus is on what I am doing and ignore everything else.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Okay, and that really sounds like how you have played best all season.

Joe
Right as far... I usually play my best.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Yeah and that is what brought you to be captain because you are a guy who did when needed to be done.

Joe
Right.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Is there anything else Captain wise you want to do on Monday to bring the team with you to where you are, to really looking to next game and not looking back at this game?

Joe
Well, I feel like I owe an apology to the team. I feel like I owe an apology to the coach, but I mean... I know we can not do it all. I got to forget about it.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Would apologizing help that, kind of put that game to rest?

Joe
It is not going to change anything. Now everyone, okay what are you apologizing for? Okay, make it up. I do not know. I do not think it is going to help, but basically, we all just need to step forward and forget about it and concentrate on Army-Navy.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Okay, can you deuce what you have learnt from this game to do that, to step forward, step up?

Joe
Yeah, I think I can. I was totally focused on Army-Navy. I am going to practice everyday like I always practice. The way I felt like I was successful because I lead by example and I was grounding the ball out and I never tried to be fancy and I just need to go back to that.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Okay, so one of the things some people do as they still get distracted that maybe on Monday when you are watching the tape, people are disappointed or the coaches are down on you, you can think to yourself, not fancy because that is you, right? You are solid. You are not fancy. You do not do those kind of things, so if you need something to take you through, you have got those words for yourself. So that might be something you can use to block out some of the other stuff you are hearing. Do you think you will hear anything at the other games or you are just going to be so focused it would not be there at all?

Joe
Army-Navy game?

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Yeah.

Joe
No, I know if I can focus and channel my energy on just the game I can block it off. I have done it before, so I know I can do it. It is just that for some reason, this last game I wanted to take everything in. So I know I can do it and we have always worked on it and so, yeah, I can do it.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Okay.

Host
That was good work. Can you tell me little about your believes and thoughts about what happened?

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Well, I would say we started the interview with some discussion about what had just happened in the game and Joe was really disappointed about that. But it seemed like it was disappointment that he did not want to stay with. So a part way through the interview I think there was a pretty strong shift in our conversation to what was going to happen in the future? What was going to happen when he would view the film and what was going to happen in the next game.

Host
Were you aware or were there any cues that you picked up that brought you there?

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
He seemed frustrated talking about the game. He seemed to have said all he wanted to say. In some ways, I found that while he started with a certain amount of intensity when we were, as we were talking about the game, he got quieter and quieter, less interested in talking about what was happening in the past and when I asked about the future, it is something that he really seemed to go with.

Host
Right, and then I also noticed that when you were talking to him there was like a shift that took place where he was not like upset at other people, it was more like he was looking at himself and blaming himself.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Yeah, if I were... if I had another five minutes to talk with him, one of the things I noticed is that he did not seem to blame his teammates for what have happened. He really, although, he identified someone who he felt that affected his performance he was really blaming himself and while he could forgive everyone else, I would have liked to ask him, can you forgive yourself? Are you willing to do that? And I think he talked about moving on, but pointing that out would have been helpful.

Host
Sure. When you re-frame the whole situation as a learning experience, how do you think he responded to that?

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Yeah, he really seemed to jump on that and I think that he was able to let go of some of his frustration with the game and disappointment and really go forward from there and I think that, that kind of motivation will be helpful for him in the future and he seem to think so too. So I think that it will really be able to take him into the next game.

Host
Right, great job.

Dr. Judy Van Raalte
Thanks.

Host
Okay.