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Improving Optimal Performance—And Life—For Young Athletes

Troy Todd, PhD, BCN

United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO

Keywords: optimal performance, collegiate athletes, neurofeedback, biofeedback, cognitive therapy

A composite case study illustrates how a multidisciplinary

approach can be used to improve athletic performance and

overall life functioning. The use of heart rate/respiration

biofeedback and QEEG-guided neurofeedback are built on

a foundation of cognitive therapy. The elements in the

article are taken from several successful cases over the

course of several years. The athletes represented in this

article range from 18 to 24 years old, are from a variety of

sports, and are from higher levels of achievement.

The phone rings in my office at the United States Air

Force Academy Peak Performance Center, the Academy’s

college counseling center. Coach Johnson, head coach of the

Track and Field team says, ‘‘Hey, Troy, I have this really

talented athlete, but her performance is just too unpredict-

able. If this keeps up, I’ll have to cut her from the team!

Can you help her?’’

Here at the Academy, I devote a good portion of my

efforts offering optimal performance services to individual

athletes, teams, and coaches. Applying cognitive and

behavioral psychology, biofeedback, and neurofeedback to

high-achieving 18–24 year-old athletes from a variety of

athletic disciplines not only improves their athletic perfor-

mance, but also their quality of life. The names used in this

article are fictitious. The story I tell is a compilation of many

success stories and truthfully represents the progression and

improvements athletes realize when using these services. It

is based on 3 years of working with about 50 different

athletes on various athletic teams, all high achieving in their

sport and academics. About two-thirds of these are males,

the other third females. The rapidity of improvement

illustrated here is also accurate. The average number of

sessions required for goal completion for all these athletes

was five (a few very complex cases took as many as 25), with

an average self-report improvement of 27% (using a verbal

scale of 0–10). Many reported significantly reducing race

times or increasing scores (as appropriate to their sport),

remarkably increasing performance consistency, and/or

winning competitions they felt they would not have won

without optimal performance services. All of this was also

confirmed by coaches and recorded results.

Case Study: Cadet Amy Rollins At her first appointment, Cadet Amy Rollins told me of her

impressive high school track record: She consistently

achieved winning times and made it to state finals her

senior year, at which point she became recognized and was

highly recruited for college track. Since choosing to come

to the Academy, however, her performance had become

inconsistent. Her sport was a big part of her life, and when

she performed poorly, she struggled with confidence in

other areas of her life. She also felt bad that she was

unreliable for her coach and team. Nevertheless, despite

trying everything she and her coach could think of, she

could not figure out how to gain back the consistency she

enjoyed in high school. It was very frustrating to her not to

be improving on her high school achievements. ‘‘After all,’’

she concluded, ‘‘I’m competing at the collegiate level now!’’

I asked her what seems to affect her athletic performance.

‘‘I have no clue. I mean, even in high school I got a little

distracted by aches and pains or other competitors in the race.

I don’t eat as well here in the dorms, I stay up later studying,

and occasionally have arguments with my boyfriend, but

isn’t that normal college stuff?’’ ‘‘Well,’’ I responded, ‘‘if the

reasons for your performance change were obvious, you and

Coach Johnson would have figured it out long ago.’’

We explored many cognitive and emotional aspects of

life that affect optimal performance: social relationships,

attitudes about competing, the way she thinks about herself

as an athlete and person, her assessment of how others see

her, prerace rituals, team dynamics, and other aspects

unique to her. Most of these areas seemed to be in good

order. There was some negative self-talk and concern for

others’ assessment of her, but she reported that these were

not any worse than in high school. It was clear there was

something new affecting performance. Her family relations

were very strong and meaningful to her. As we explored

this further, we realized that she felt more distant from

Biofeedback Volume 39, Issue 3, pp. 109–111 DOI: 10.5298/1081-5937-39.3.08

EAssociation for Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback www.aapb.org

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her family, and was not experiencing the same kind of

supportive interactions as she did living at home. ‘‘It is not

logical,’’ she said, ‘‘but it feels like, because I did well in

running and that helped me get to college, running takes

me away from my family.’’

It is funny how the mind works, inventing ridiculous

ways to correct bad feelings; unfortunately they work, but

usually at a great cost. We began to explore the full spectrum

of the feelings her mind was trying to correct. ‘‘How does

college actually bring you closer to your family?’’ I asked.

Amy discussed how her younger sister idolized her by

following her college running, how her parents supported

her by attending all her meets, that discussion of college life

filled many family interactions, and how they were able to

talk, text, and email regularly. She acknowledged that, even

though physically separated from her family, the college

experience had actually improved her emotional bond with

her family. ‘‘Yes,’’ we concluded, ‘‘Let’s remember that

while you practice and race. Although at first glance it may

feel like it takes you away from your family, winning races

actually brings you closer together.’’ This new concept

became Amy’s motivation to run her best.

In our next meeting Amy reported, ‘‘As long as I remind

myself that running actually brings my family and me

closer to one another, I don’t feel nervous before races, I

enjoy interacting with my friends more, and feel more like

myself around my boyfriend. I feel happier overall.’’ We

spent a few more meetings focusing on sleep habits, good

nutrition in the college environment, and better interac-

tions with her friends and boyfriend.

‘‘I never knew I could feel so relaxed,’’ Amy responded as

she mastered heart rate/respiration coherence biofeedback. In

just a few training sessions with biofeedback, she was able to

achieve noticeable benefits. She was able to get to sleep quicker,

her overall energy was increased, she was more relaxed during

school tests, and her end-of-race surge was more powerful.

‘‘I can’t believe it!’’ Coach Johnson said when I joined

him in his office. ‘‘Amy is like a new person: I can

completely count on her in events and she keeps cutting her

time. I can think of several other athletes that could benefit

from this, but I am not sure they will be as willing as

Amy,’’ I said. ‘‘I see. They aren’t comfortable with me and

don’t understand how I can help them. I have an interactive

presentation that outlines basic optimal performance

techniques. We could use this to introduce them to me

and my services.’’ We made plans for me to make this

presentation at the next team meeting. This allowed the

athletes to get basic techniques on board and seek more

customized services from me as they needed. As more

athletes took advantage of optimal performance training,

Coach Johnson was able to spend more time coaching,

while I improved the factors that affect performance besides

skill, talent, and physical conditioning.

‘‘If I keep this up,’’ Amy began at our next meeting, ‘‘I’ll

be able to qualify for the Olympic trials next year! I think

the only thing negatively affecting my races now is getting

distracted by the normal aches and pains and other

competitors, but I think most athletes struggle with these

things. Can you help with those?’’ Staying ‘‘in the zone’’

requires mental flexibility—considering a distraction, resolv-

ing it, and getting back to the zone quickly. Neurofeedback

improves mental flexibility by directly training the brain. It

is a great capstone for optimal performance services. ‘‘First,

we will do an assessment to determine what areas of your

brain are working too hard, or not enough, then we will

directly train those parts of your brain to work better for

you,’’ I explained. We began with a quantitative electroen-

cephalograph (QEEG), which maps brain activation levels at

19 sites and shows patterns of coherence and symmetry

among those sites. This showed that Amy’s brain was over-

activated in the parietal areas (specifically for her, increased

16–28 Hz across an area including P3, Pz, and P4, cortical

sites in the International 10–20 system), which may have

contributed to her essentially perseverative focus on and

worry about common race distractors.

The training protocol that appeared most parsimonious

was inhibiting 16–28 Hz at Pz while rewarding 8–10 Hz

(Alpha), and controlling for muscle artifact (30+ Hz). After about five sessions with this custom-designed protocol, she

noticed an improvement: ‘‘I can’t really explain it, but I just

don’t seem to get distracted by the other girls on the line. I

just think about my race. Sure, I notice the pain in my

body, but it is not a big deal: I just feel focused.’’ We

continued neurofeedback for several more sessions, re-

viewed breathing techniques and occasionally focused on a

solution for a problem with her friends or teammates. After

just a few months from our first meeting, Amy said,

‘‘Running is much more enjoyable now, my mind is clear,

my relationships are better, I am doing well in school, and I

am making the kind of times I know I am capable of.

Thanks for helping me get there.’’

Conclusion On my schedule the next week I notice a cadet from the

diving team. Our intake paperwork indicated that he was

interested in optimal performance services. When we sat

down in my office, I asked him how he heard about these

services. ‘‘I’m good friends with Amy; she said you helped

her a lot with her running. Does this stuff work for diving,

too?’’ I smiled and said, ‘‘It sure does.’’

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Troy Todd

Correspondence: Troy Todd, PhD, BCN, Personal Performance Solutions, 13550 Northgate Estates Dr. #110, Suite C, Colorado Springs, CO 80921-7653, email: [email protected].

Todd

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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.