Not too much to report since the weekends games up in Penn State. However since then I have done some calculations. Between 8pm Saturday night and 4.00am Monday morning, we traveled for 18 hours, slept for 5 hours, played for 7.5 hours and ate for 1.5 hours!!!! How's that?
We had Monday off and as we were to play today, coach decided we must practice Tuesday night. Separately, I was asked by the faculty of International Services to complete a talk on my experience of sport in Australia and the USA which included my observations on the differences in sporting culture as well as the types of sports that are popular in Australia that are not played here. I spent quite a bit of time completing the talk which was done in the form of a PowerPoint. The presentation also included some of my sporting background as well as how I ended up in the United States and at Longwood. I turned up for my talk at the prescribed time of 3.30pm and not one person attended!!! The two people from International Services attended but nobody else. Not even anybody from the Athletics Department. It has been suggested that it was not advertised well however I know it was. None of the softball team attended as coach decided they must practice from 3.00pm until 5.00pm as the girls had to attend a seminar at the unusual time of 5.30 to remind them of the rules as they pertain to athletes over the summer break.
I was actually a bit disappointed, not from an ego point of view, but from the fact that not one person from the athletic department could spend an hour to support someone they decided to bring all the way from Australia, in an endevour directly related to them. My International Studies friends were highly embarrassed. However they did enjoy the presentation and felt those who did not attend truly missed out! Especially on the vegemite I bought with me from home :-)
This has been an interesting experience in this regard. I am not a qualified Sports Psychologist, however I do possess some knowledge and experience with Sports Psychology. Even if I am not qualified to call myself and practice as a psychologist, there is no doubt I could at least bring some knowledge to the department that would assist them with their athletes. Even my work on my thesis last year would be applicable as it looked at assisting athletes to stay out of trouble off of the field, which included assisting them with coping and well-being, not only on the field but off of it also. In fact it was Nesti (2006) who suggested that many coaches and high performance managers (i.e., non-sport psychologists) are learning how to effectively implement Mind Skills Training (such as routines, goals, motivation etc) within normal coaching techniques and therefore MST is no longer the exclusive domain of sports psychologists. With this in mind I have no doubt that whilst I have been here, I could have been of assistance to coaches and athletes, especially those with limited knowledge of the benefits of mind skills in relation to sport. However not one person has approached me for any conversation in relation to these strategies. I do not boast any expertise in this knowledge, only that I have it and know how effective it can be to an athlete.
But this is also a lesson to be learned. Sports psychology, like other forms of helping psychology, can not be forced on people and in that way it is just like clinical psychology. That is, a client, whomever that client may be (i.e., coach or athlete) must seek out assistance before it can be effective. Just like clinical psychology, it is only the client who by seeking assistance, expresses an openness to change or growth. These are the clients who are saying, I am open to your assistance, please work with me. This is partly the reason for the fact psychologists do not for the most part conduct home visits. In making the choice to attend a psychologists office, that person is saying, I am making my own choice to be here and begin the process of growth or change. In this way, sports psychology is no different. The athlete or coach has got to want the assistance, it cannot be simply forced upon them, nor can you expect that such a useful tool will be highly desired. The reasons for this are speculative and perhaps for another time.
Moving on, we were supposed to play against Campbell today in their house, down there in North Carolina. However just before we left, with the bus standing there ready for us to board, we got a call stating they had not covered their field which was therefore not ready (due to weather) and there was also a high percentage chance for bad weather again today. So the games were postponed, possibly until the 9th of May! The weather looked like it could get bad in Farmville, however we decided to practice at 5.00pm for 90mins.
Well we got to practice, warmed up and then the weather came, which included a thunderstorm, lightening, rain, hail and a tornado!!!!! Yes a tornado! I have included many pictures below. It was an amazingly surreal experience watching it form, touch down and continue to form and reform. Not something that happens in Australia, that is for sure.
I hope you enjoy the pictures.
D
These first photos are of the tornado forming and touching down. You could actually see the clouds begin to form and swirl and be sucked up into the cone. Amazing. I tried to get as much of it all into the photo's as I could but the clouds forming in the sky in front of me were so huge, i got in as much as possible. Straight after it move away, sirens could be heard from every direction as Fire and Rescue headed out to help where needed.
These photos are of the rain and the hail on the field. In some of the pics, you can see the hail falling in mid air.
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