Sports psychologist helps Aggie athletes
Rich Gordin, a sports psychologist at Utah State, was recently given an award for his “outstanding, widely recognized and sustained contributions to the field of athletics,” according to a press release from Ohio Wesleyan University.
“I guess they think I’ve done something worthwhile,” Gordin said.
Gordin shared the Dr. Robert M. Striner Award with his father Richard and brother Doug, both prominent golf coaches. All three graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University.
Gordin’s accomplishments include being the lead sport psychologist for the USA track and field team, consulting with professional athletes, writing articles on the subject and working with student athletes at USU. He said he will travel with the Olympic team to the World Championships in Paris next summer and to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 2004.
Gordin said he works with athletes to help them reach their “optimal performance level, improve their focus and ability to do well under pressure, increase mental toughness, and have a belief and a commitment to their pursuit.”
“I don’t like the words ‘sports psychologist’ as much as I like the words ‘mental coach,'” Gordin said.
Gordin graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1973, coached high school sports for five years and then earned his doctorate in sports psychology.
Gordin teaches a USU class called “Mental Aspects of Sports Performance.” He said he estimates 90 percent of the university’s athletes take the class before graduation, even though it is not required. Students from other majors also take the course.
“Even though sport is the medium, these are life skills we’re talking about that have broad applications to life and that’s what excites me about the course,” Gordin said.
Gordin has worked with the gymnastics team for 22 years and also works with individuals in other sports. He said it is easier to prevent mental mistakes with an athlete than to try and fix ones that are occurring.
“I take a developmental model rather than a problematic model,” he said. “I would rather teach them the skills before it becomes a problem.”
While he does work with athletes who are sent by their coaches, he said the process works better if the athlete decides to come in by himself.
When working with athletes, he said he assesses first their ability to focus, where their best zone of optimal performance is and what their confidence level is.
People often mistake arrogance for confidence, Gordin said, but in reality, arrogance is inversely proportional to one’s confidence. In other words, the more arrogant a person acts, the more that person lacks real confidence in his abilities, he said.
Gordin said athletes who have reached a performance plateau often need help to overcome their “fear of success” or “fear of failure.”
Fear of success is really fear of change, because when you become successful your life changes, Gordin said.
“Change is scary for a lot of people,” he said. “To be the best is change.”
Gordin said he has seen far more athletes fouled up by fear of success than by fear of failure in his career.
Gordin has worked with professional athletes, mostly golfers like Mike Wier of the Professional Golfers Association. He said his work is “nothing magical or mystical,” it is just talking through problems.
“I have a strong belief that humans know how to solve their problems, they just get stuck on the solution,” he said.
-royburton@cc.usu.edu