——
Wednesday. February 26. 1986
' Emerald Sports Supplement
Finding excellence
through training of
mind not just body
An athlete sits in his mom. eyes closed. picturing
himself approaching the 18th green ns the large gallery
gathered fur the imirna.ioeot begins to cheer. He steps
up ami sinks' a perfect 20-foot putt to win the
tournament
A daydream' A child's fantasy? Nope It s serious
athletic training, which someday, could become as im
portant as practicing chipping and putting techniques,
say# Stephen hiring, a private consultant in the field of
menial training in athletics.
What happens is that if they (the athletes) have a
real keen feeling sense of the image while they are hav
ing this experience (with imagery), then they are also
training their physiology to reproduce that movement
much easier when they are out actually doing it." Hir
ing says of using imagery
"Imagery is a training program; it's a physical con
ditioning program tiecause it affects the nervous
system.
"What's happening when you are having an im
age. neum-muscular signals an* being sent to all the
muscles that an* necessary to actually, physically create
that movement hut the signals are at a very low
amplitude. . .so you can train in your mind while you
are oft the course "
Hiring uses "inner training" techniques such as
imagery focusing and hypnosis to help his clients in
crease their body awareness and consistently reach
their peak performances, whether it be fur golf, tennis
or even school work and creative writing.
Stephen Hiring
The 31 -year-old Hiring started his mental training
consulting business about a year ago. just six- months
after he finished working for another, firm that“had
trecome unite well known in the field of consulting
athletes in the inner game." Hiring says
Mis former employer. Sports Enhancement
Associates. formerly based in Eugene, repeiytid much
national attention for helping professional golfer Peter
lacobsen with his game.
Hiring worked as an apprentice for Sports Enhance
ment for alnuil a vear. The company decided the
Eugene weather wasn't conducive to their business of
working mostly with golfers anddecidbd to moyeon.
hut Hiring decided to stay and use his background to
start his own business
In tin? past, he has taught meditation, focusing and,
tor the last three years, has been working with imagery.
Hiring also is certified in neurolinguistic programming
using hypnosis
Currently. Hiring is working on his master’s thesis
in transpersonal psychology: "It’s emphasis is on op
timum states ot peak performance in IniIIi creativity and
athletics." Hiring says.
And for Hiring and his students, the bottom line is
peak performance. Essentially, he says, his program
helps athletes in several ways:
•It reminds people of their potential, using imagery
and hypnosis.
• It teaches them techniques so they can culture and
maintain their peak performance.
• It assists people in designing and becoming self
sufficient so that they can trust themselves and have
tools that allow them to self-correct.
Problems ranging from inconsistency in jrerfor
mance to loss of confidence or even "choking" have
brought athletes to Hiring, and he uses various mixes of
his mental training "tools" to help them get back to a
level of peak performance.
Hiring say he tries to help clients believe that
"playing well is very easy. I think most of them know
licit playing, whether they're sports or they’re perform
ing arts, that when you are at your peak, it’s completely
easy and natural; there is a flow and fluidity aland it.
and there isn’t trying involved."
Trying hard, although it is ingrained in our
culture, is counter-productive. Hiring says. And the
tightness that comes when the pressure is on can be
self-defeating.
"When you are attached to the outcome whether
you are a golfer or whether you are a newspaper writer
when too much is riding on the quality of your work
you start to feel pressure and you start to doubt
whether you can do it." Hiring says.
"Some of the techniques like focusing that I teach
people help them let go of that over-concern so they can
just be themselves. So trusting yourself and being able
to let go of pressure are common problems, concerns,
for both artists and athletes."
Among the athletes that Hiring has helped get on
(rack is Oregon golfer Tim Scott.
Last summer, prior to meeting Hiring. Scott was
averaging around 76, and "not playing that bad. but
just not scoring," Scott says.
"I don’t know what was holding me back, but I just
didn't feel 1 was getting what I should have out of my
golf game,” Scott says, “And that’s probably why (I
called Hiring)."
Hiring, who also has an interest in golfing, and
Scott first talked on a green at the Emerald Valley Coif
Course. Scott called Hiring later, and they began work
ing together consistently in August 1985. They worked
together three times a week for a month.
Tim Scott
“I started working with him. and I played a lot bet:
ter at the end of the summer." Scott says, and by sum
mer’s end. Scott was ready to “tournament test” what
he had learned.
Itut in his first two tournaments last fall. Scott says
he played awfully. "I just didn't use what I knew. what
he had been telling me: I had doubt (about my game), in
other words, and I didn't play well. It was really kind of
depressing because I thought I was going to play
good."
Hut both Hiring and Scott say Hiring's training
methods an* not a quick-fix program, and Scott says
that although he wasn't as successful as he had hoped,
he never really lost faith in the program. Instead, he just
begun working harder.
"I never really had any doubts, although 1 was real
ly disappointed in my play because I was really expec
ting too much. I thought it was going to he a quick-fix
kind of thing.
"I think the thing that I found out most about the
mental stuff is that it takes practice just like the
physical stuff does," Scott says.
Now. Scott has improved his average to just below
7.'t and meets with Hiring about once a month to have
lunch and check up on things. Scott says. "I give him
feedback to help him. and he gives me help on pro
blems I may have or encouragement, or whatever.”
Scott says.
Scott now has moved up to among the top spots on
the Oregon men's golf team, and says his story is
somewhat of a mental training success story.
He thinks once athletes reach a certain level in
competition, the only thing separating the great players
from the rest could be the mental side of the game.
"The* whole thing with golf is concentration. It's
‘l*i percent mental in my estimation," Scott says. "And
it you have things bugging you or if you have self
doubt . then you're not totally in tune with what you
want to do, and your succcess rate is going to be a lot
lower."
being "in tune" and increasing body awareness
are things Hiring hopes to improve in people through
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