Coach Tomlin Speaks

With tonight's victory over the Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin leads his team to their second Super Bowl in 3 years. Tomlin is the first head coach in NFL history under the age of 40 to lead a team to two Super Bowls. At age 36, he
was the youngest head coach ever to win a Super Bowl when the Steelers won it all in 2008. In addition, his Steelers have now won 3 AFC North Championships in the past 4 years.

Coach Tomlin was a standout football student-athlete at the prestigious College of William and Mary. He shares his thoughts on attaining championship level performance:

"You've got to be good at mastering the core football values. Playing hard. Playing fast. Living in and feeling the urgency of now. I think that's what good teams do. These are some of the things that would be important to me."

When asked about beating the Ravens three times in one season in 2008-2009 season: "I personally don't subscribe to that hocus-pocus. What happened in the other games will have no bearing on the outcome of this game. Each individual performance stands on its own. We're not buying into that."

"In order to be a candidate for a championship caliber team you have to work hard, but within that we have to find a delicate balance of working smart."

"We don't live in our fears, we live in our hopes."

"I tend to attack the challenges that are right in front of me, the ones that I have today."

"Be where you're at."

The great Bill Russell, Boston Celtics

"My pride was being part of a team."

Bill Russell after winning his 11th NBA Championship in 1968

Warhawk Matt Scott in Nike 'No Excuses' Commercial

JUST DO IT -- NO EXCUSES!!!!!

Athletes' Choices Can Help or Hinder the Development of Confidence

"Confidence is a factor that can influence an athlete’s performance in remarkable ways. It can cause the cocky to make tactical and strategic errors. The lack of it can mess with the performance of talented athletes because they fail to channel their focus in the most effective manner – or worse – they give less than their best in the effort….because it won’t matter anyway. There are many choices each athlete must make from the very beginning of their season throughout each and every competition. These choices can make a pivotal difference in who succeeds and who doesn’t." Dr. Stephen Walker

Many athletes have an “outside-in” orientation and base their confidence largely on external sources that are inconsistent or out of their control. Some of these "external" factors are: having recent success, a good week of practice, having a great warm-up, liked their lane assignment, liked the site of competition, the weather was in their favor, played well here the year before, or they received a positive comment from their coach. All of these factors are "external" sources of confidence, in which the athlete has little or no control.

If an athlete’s confidence is based on "internal" factors, it is possible for him to feel confident despite any unfavorable external factors. There are five main components to developing "internal" confidence:

1. Belief in Method -- Know that your training method is the best one for you and work hard at your training method.

2. Positive Self-Talk -- Remind yourself of your strengths and successful past performances.

3. Positive Visualization -- Mentally practice good execution and successful performance in advance of competition.

4. Trust -- This is the opposite of doubt, worry, and fear. Know that your ability, preparation, and strategies which you have practiced and visualized will yield positive results.

5. Mapmaking -- Set specific, clear, and measurable goals of what you would like to accomplish.

The central theme to each of these elements is the athletes’ will to choose.