Holistic Athlete Weekly Newsletter

Points of Focus after Poor Performance

This past weekend consisted of all the conference championship games in college football — headlined by the Big 10’s matchup between #1 Ohio State and #2 Indiana, who both came into the game undefeated. The winner would be the #1 overall seed in this year’s College Football Playoff.

The game was expected to be low-scoring, and lived up to the billing. When points are anticipated to be at a premium, the importance of executing on special teams becomes more critical, as field position and field goals can sway the outcome of the game.

In as entertaining of a game as 23 total points could produce, Ohio State’s kicker Jayden Fielding attempted a 27 yard field goal (made around the country at the division-1 level 92% of the time) with his team trailing 13-10 with 2:48 left in the game — and hooked it wide left.

As a mental performance coach, I would approach this situation with 3 main concerns