Imagine a football in your mind. These images are stored in your memory in what we could call the "hard drive" part of the brain, so you can do a quick search and find a general image of the football. Once found, this image is laid out on your "screen" in the visual cortex.

Now decide if the ball is rubber or leather. At this point your mind shifts to a new database to retrieve more detailed, complex information. At this point the information is found and relayed to the "screen" for an updated imprint. Now look to see if the ball has writing on it and the type of writing it is. Again, a new "hard drive" search is done and the signal is sent to the "screen" for the final visual imprint as to how you view a football.

Research has shown that it takes about one hundred-thousandths of a second to search each database in the brain. So what does this mean to athletes who mentally practice?

As football players physically practice they are, at the same time, updating and strengthening their memory or hard drive. And vise versa. When they mentally practice and visualize their position and motions, they are also giving more data to that "hard drive".

In order to gain an edge means improving the impulses from the brain to the muscles theory or updating the imaginary coding system (see Mind Games/part one).

Athletes controlling the imagery with mental practice mostly means picturing a perfect performance. But as they become better at mental practice responding to different situations will also become developed by the thought process. Mentally practicing and installing into the "hard drive" negative situations is also beneficial. This will improve reaction time if the ball slips or the player stumbles. How many times do we see a player slap his hands or react prior to responding and correcting the situation? A good example is when a team fumbles and a recovering team player raises his hands in celebration when in fact the ball rolls right by him and the opposition regains possession. If he practiced mentally his involvement in the play would be to help recover the ball for his team instead of standing there celebrating.

Once players begin solving problems during mental practice the actions become automatic and the situation will surprise the athlete less and improve reactions. Blueprinting for the situation!

How often should mental practice take place? To begin, spending 10-15 minutes three times a week is suggestible.

Please e-mail any questions to me at defensiveback11@hotmail.com. Please, if you send a message to Scott Zyniecki remember to add your email for a possible response.

Coach R. Scott Zyniecki (Coach Z)