By Dr. Tom Dorsel
Regarding the Sports Illustrated story on new Notre Dame Assistant Coach, Tommy Rees, linked below, it’s a tall order for an inexperienced offensive coordinator to take ND to the next level. Maybe Rees’s inexperience will be so devoid of negative preconceptions that he will think things, try things, do things just instinctively and get away with them. Years later he might look back and say, “I can’t believe I did that … and got away with it!” We all do those things early in our careers. We think we are invincible; or, more accurately, we don’t know we are vulnerable.
It is kind of like when you compare your play on your home golf course with your play on a new course you have never seen before. On the former, due to having played the course many times, you have all kinds of jinx holes and jinx shots that rain down negative thoughts on you as you attempt to play them. When you go to a new course, you have no such preconceptions. You just look at what is in front of you and simply play the standard shot that is called for. You have no reason to believe it won’t work. The new course is a tabula rasa (blank slate), and so is your golfing mind in the “new course” context.
Rees will be looking at a lot of new courses and calling a lot of new shots, having no reason to believe they won’t work. And maybe they will.
https://www.si.com/college/notredame/football/notre-dame-tommy-rees-home-run-hire
About The Author
Dr. Tom Dorsel is Founder and Director of “Sport Psychology of Hilton Head.” He can be found on Facebook and also at his website, Dorsel.com. His most recent book, GOLF: The Mental Game, is available through Amazon or your nearest bookstore.
