Bearkats focus on mental skills, strategies
8/9/2016 6:50:00 PM | Football
HUNTSVILLE – By all indications of major voters and publications across the country, the Sam Houston State football enters the upcoming season among the nation's best. To make that final ascent to the top, the squad turned its focus to the mental side of the game on Tuesday.
The program welcomed Dr. Stephen Long, a public speaker and Founder/President of Motere Consulting who has worked with champion athletes, fighter pilots, military special operations personnel, top salespeople and corporate executives to help permanently raise productivity.
“We provide helpful tools and strategies to build specific performance skills including things like confidence, mental toughness and concentration,” Long said. “I talk about the same thing that coaches and athletes talk about. I am a former athlete and former coach. I don't get into the minutia of psychology but I talk about things like discipline.”
Dr. Long, who is a former teammate and classmate with Bearkats head coach K.C. Keeler, will spend two days with the program, delivering four sessions, the first of which lasted an hour. The interactive exercise featured tools and mental practice plans for success.
“I'm trained as an educational psychologist with an emphasis in sports psychology,” Long said. “My specialty is in performance enhancement. I developed a psychological construct that goes along with an inventory I created on beliefs and attitudes. Once we identify what those beliefs are, we re-engineer those.”
Dr. Long began his career as a college football coach at the University of Virginia and the University of Delaware. He earned his PhD from the University of Kansas where he was honored as the Most Outstanding Doctoral Student.
For six years, Dr. Long served as the Performance Enhancement Specialist at the U.S. Air Force Academy where his programs were primary to developing habits of High Performance & Strong Character for the Cadet Wing.
“From a player standpoint, I know what it is like to be on the field,” Long said. “Coaches are the ones who are accountable and responsible for the student-athletes. I have been in their shoes where I recruited the student-athletes and I was accountable for them. To bring someone in who will have an impact on the student-athletes, you want to make sure they are progressing at the way we want them to.”
A leader in practical applications of management team execution, Dr. Long has consulted with 25 championships teams. His athletic clients include Olympians, All-American and all-conference athletes, Heisman Trophy finalists and an NFL's most valuable player. Dr. Long has consulted with several major college football programs as well as the United States Olympic Committee.
“The goal is to have our kids understand a little more about themselves in terms of how they focus,” Keeler said. “He's trying to give our guys some tools so they can focus better and try to maximize their abilities. My vision of bringing him in was to do these teaching sessions.”
The Bearkats, who wrapped up their fifth fall practice on Tuesday, will spend Wednesday away from the field before returning Thursday. With an emphasis on capturing the 'last 10 percent' to win a national championship, days without practice are used toward achieving that.
“We think we have a physically pretty talented team so now we're looking for all the ways we can develop the other parts,” Keeler said. “I think we're strong; we're fast; we have good size; speed; it's about what other parts of the game can you enhance. One of those parts of the game is guys playing at the highest level of the game they can play.”
Sam Houston opens the season Sept. 3 against Oklahoma Panhandle State at 6 p.m. Season tickets are currently on sale by calling (936) 294-1729 or by visiting GoBearkats.com. With 'prize week' underway through Friday, special incentives are up for grabs to those who purchase.
