World and Olympic coach Tom Zakrajsek has a seminar class perform some basic mental training methods before stepping onto the ice for training. Tom starts by asking the class, which is already on the ice, if they had done any “review” before stepping onto the ice and they say no. To highlight the importance of such a “review” or “mental preparation” Tom has the entire class step back off the ice.
Then he has them go through a simple process, starting with a walk-through of the jumps they already worked on and will work on again on this session (flip and lutz). He wants them to “pay attention to the key points” they had discussed previously. Then he has the skaters stand still, close their eyes, and “visualize yourself doing your double flip or your double lutz. See it in your mind’s eye.” After the visualization is done he has the skaters do another walk-through of each jump but with the eyes closed this time to build more awareness and focus. He says, “It should make you pay even better attention to how you’re moving.”
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