Archive for August 2010

Don’t Think of a Black Cat!

Peter August 17, 2010 Post Comment Uncategorised

The human mind does not process deletives. If I say “Don’t think of a black cat,” you have to first of all think of a black cat in order that you can try and carry out the instruction. So for a place kicker in rugby ...

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Light at the end of the tunnel

Peter August 16, 2010 Post Comment Uncategorised

I was talking with a client the other day who was “sick and tired of failing.”This was very broad-brush so I metaphorically held up for her one of the cue cards to break down generalisations – “always??”She laughed, “No, not really. I’m really angry and ...

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Can you put it in a wheelbarrow? Beware nominalizations!

Peter August 13, 2010 Post Comment Uncategorised

I was working with a group of young cricketers yesterday and we were talking about hitting various types of shots and what to do with our hands and feet in order to best play these. Finally, I asked them the question that actually stands for ...

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Weaving spells with localised ‘trance’

Peter August 9, 2010 Post Comment Uncategorised

Weaving spells: hands and arms, legs and feet For some time now I have been using ‘localised’ trance to coach the technical side of batting in cricket. Now this isn’t trance in the sense that those that I’m coaching are hypnotised or ‘put under’ – ...

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Remember to breathe!

Peter August 9, 2010 Post Comment Uncategorised

Our cricket club’s Under 15s side had a match last Sunday morning. It was warm, pleasant and sunny and our side had batted particularly well and there was little possibility of the opposition matching our score. This type of match situation gives our skipper the ...

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Using carbon-fibre ‘cheetahs’ metaphorically!

Peter August 7, 2010 Post Comment Uncategorised

“I want to sort my head out” said a recent client. In athletic terms she needed to maintain standard timings for specific runs, and she felt that although she was physically capable in fitness terms, that a self imposed barrier – a kind of defeatist ...

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Nothing is ever nothing at all

Peter August 5, 2010 Post Comment Uncategorised

Early one day recently I posted a link to a clip on YouTube from Blackadder 4. It was the one called “I Spy” and related to Blackadder and Baldrick playing I Spy which started thus:-Blackadder: “I spy with my bored little eye something beginning with ...

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“I’m turning into my mother!” – Behavioural models

Peter August 2, 2010 Post Comment Uncategorised

I went out earlier and our neighbour’s dog was barking continuously though not in an annoying way. A couple of 6 yr olds were walking towards me and as they passed by I heard one say in his deepest voice,”That is a baaaad dog.” I ...

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