This month’s edition of Sport Psychology is for the coaches and individual athletes who struggle to address conflict within their team and themselves. This is the second article in a four part series.

The biggest challenges team’s face are usually the unaddressed interpersonal conflicts and internal discrepancies that seem too intimidating to talk about. Challenges such as athletes gossiping behind teammates’ backs to create social cliques or athletes and coaches ridiculing one another to other members of the team or staff build more conflict that directs attention away from the team’s success. If left alone, this can lead to the deterioration of the team. Many times coaches and athletes choose not to bring the interpersonal problems up in front of the team because they either think that the problem will dissolve naturally or that talking about them will bring about more problems. Usually the conflict works its way through the team in exactly the opposite way.

When a swimmer explodes off the starting blocks, each muscle needs to be firing in the proper sequence with full mobility to perform at the top level. Low back pain (LBP) can greatly hinder both performance and mobility. Although not as common as shoulder injuries, studies report low back injuries in 16% of elite swimmers,¹ while other studies have reported much higher rates, ranging from 77%-87% in both high load and recreational swimmers.² Low back pain affects swimmers of all ages, from the novice to elite level. This article will take you through a brief review of the anatomy and function of the back, causes and risk factors for LBP, and finally prevention and management strategies.

This month’s edition of Sports Psychology is for the coaches and individual athletes who want to plan for success and find ways to evaluate where to adjust if needed. This is the first article in a four part series.

Okay, so you’ve fully acclimated yourself to the heat and mastered your hydration plan. You’re almost ready to take on the blisteringly hot, swelteringly humid conditions of competition. A discussion on heat training would not be complete without addressing cooling methods and early identification of exertional heat-related illness.

This month’s edition of Sports Psychology builds on the Plan stage of the Learn, Plan, Perform Model, discussing how mental training through the practice of imagery is a fundamental part of achieving long-term skill goals.

Part II: Hydration

The month of August brings the commencement of major international competitions and Fall sports practices. August also brings with it some of the hottest and most humid days of the year, which makes for a well-timed continuation of the discussion on how to optimize performance when training and competing in the heat. Part one focused on the benefits of heat acclimatization on thermoregulation for optimal performance, but proper hydration can truly make or break an athlete come game day. In this article, I will discuss why hydration is so important and then provide simple hydration strategies before, during, and after exercise.

Part I: Heat Acclimatization

As the summer temps heat up, so does the competition. With so many high stakes national and international events taking place this summer, athletes are feeling the pressure of competition. If that wasn’t enough, add the environmental demands of heavy, suffocating humidity or that blinding, blistering sun. In this two-part series, I hope to provide some insight into how you can beat the heat and (hopefully) your competition starting with heat acclimatization education and strategies (part I) followed by proper hydration and cooling methods and how to recognize early signs of heat exhaustion, a potentially dangerous clinical scenario (part II).

The Bridge Program

Over the last 6 months, in a closed beta we have used our proprietary training tools to oversee the strength, stability, flexibility and mobility training programs for a number of California’s elite swimming and water polo programs. Up to this point we have remained in stealth mode as we focused on improving our product.