Category Archives: For Parents

Lessons From Hoylake

Matt Long, M.A., M.Ed., CC-AASP In the latest from the Lessons From... series, we look at three valuable takeaways to draw from watching some of the game's top players try and chase down Rory at his best.  In the end, Rory's best is about as good as it gets. 1) When it comes to your thought process, simpler is better Immediately after Rory holed his putt to win on the 72nd hole, he sat with ESPN's Tom Rinaldi and shared about his mental approach throughout the week.  It boiled down Read more [...]

Water the Bamboo

Matt Long, M.A., M.Ed., CC-AASP Seeds for giant timber bamboo are planted deep in the soil.  After one year of watering, the bamboo has grown…not at all.  After two, and even three years, the bamboo has still yet to break through the soil. But sometime in the fourth year, after many months of faithful watering, the bamboo shoots up and can grow up to 90 feet in 60 days! How many things in sport (and in life) are just like this?  We invest our time, our energy, our effort - only Read more [...]

Making the Intangibles Tangible: The Overlooked Components of Greatness

Matt Long, M.A., M.Ed., CC-AASP Most athletes, coaches, and performers are in constant pursuit of answers to the same question: What will it take to become great?  Through many years of working with athletes in the roles of teacher, coach, mentor, and now sport psychology consultant, I have come to discover that the answer to this critical question can be summed up in a single word.  Intangibles. There is a direct correlation between sustained success and the quality of one’s intangibles. Intangibles Read more [...]

What do the greatest athletes, coaches, and performers have in common?

By Matt Long, M.A., M.Ed. What do greats like John Wooden, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Jack Nicklaus have in common?   How did they succeed at levels others can only dream of?  There have been more talented athletes, coaches who knew the game better, and certainly those who have put in just as many hours of preparation, but none have succeeded at such a high level.  The reason?  In a word, mastery. Mastery is a mindset - a way of viewing yourself, your sport, and competition in Read more [...]

Sport Psychology Top 5 FAQ

Matt Long, M.A., M.Ed. When I tell people that I am a sport psychology consultant, there are a variety of responses.  But there are almost always questions about what it means and what exactly I do.  So hopefully this brief FAQ offers some clarity as well as a deeper understanding of how working with me can be helpful to a variety of people. 1. What is sport psychology and how can it help me? Sport psychology is quite simply the study of how the mind affects performance in sports, Read more [...]

5 Keys To Raising a Great Team Player

This talk is designed to make the point - there is more to life than sports, and, there is more to sports than sports. There is no substitute for your child knowing that he or she is your champion, that whatever they do, however they perform, you LOVE THEM unconditionally. They WANT to please you, but the more they concentrate on YOU, the less they learn about themselves and the lessons that sport can give them. Read more [...]