here - Suffield Academy

8 - The Bell October 2005
Sports Psychology
Sarah Ellerton ’06 and Meara McCarthy ’07
Sports
Sports psychology is a relatively
new concept in sports medicine. It involves
using the brain to control bodily actions
in order to perform at a higher level. The
addition of the Vasilenkos to the community
has brought am introduction to this subject.
All of the nerves and muscles are
linked to a control center, the brain. By using
their brain to force their body to perform in the
way that they need it to, athletes can increase
their level of play, sometimes dramatically.
Three fundamental pieces to sports
psychology are goal setting, imagery, and
simulation. By setting goals an athlete is
able to plan out the way he or she would
like to perform. Goals help athletes keep
in mind what they are trying to achieve;
therefore, it is much easier for them to use
their minds to reach their goal. Imagery and
simulation allow athletes to practice over and
over again their event in their minds. When
it is finally time for athletes to perform, they
have already practiced this event hundreds
of times, which allows for them to feel
more comfortable and know everything
about the event. They also simulated perfect
performance, so when the athlete eventually
competes, the mind is so used to having
a perfect outcome that body replies by
producing a close to perfect performance.
Yelena Vasilenko, the newest
addition to Suffield Academy’s math
department, has a close to fifteen year
background with sports psychology.
According to Mrs. Vasilenko, sports
psychology is “the ability to control your
mind through self-hypnosis.” She worked
with her husband in Russia, her birthplace,
with various sports teams. Mrs. Vasilenko
developed an interest in the subject of sports
psychology because it was not something in
the mainstream, and she liked the idea that
it was medical diagnosis with mentality.
She and her husband worked with martial
artists, ice skaters, gymnasts, and fencers.
Unlike coaches who simply yell at their
players Mrs. Vasilenko described her job as,
“explaining reasons and philosophy for the
sport in order to teach self-hypnosis.” The
Vasilenkos were able to produce significant
results with their self-hypnosis technique.
Mr. Vasilenko is still working in
the field of sports psychology, whereas Mrs.
Vasilenko stopped when they emigrated.
Mr. Vasilenko works in Simsbury with
Olympic ice skaters. When the team first
heard about the idea of sports psychology,
they brushed it off as unreliable and
useless. But when the coaches heard the
results that Mr. Vasilenko had with other
teams, Mrs. Vasilenko said, “he got a phone
call the next day, asking him to help.”
For sports like ice skating
and martial arts minor injuries are so
frequent that the main focus of the selfhypnosis
that the Vasilenkos promoted was
lowering the pain barrier, which would
theoretically make athletes more resistant
to pain. Over time with different teams,
coaches, and athletes, the Vasilenkos
have seen very strong results, proving
that their self-hypnosis training works.
So how can this relate to your
life, as a high school student athlete? As
Mrs. Vasilenko said, “Sports psychology
is studying how you react in a stressful
situation. It can relate to sports,
school, dealing with your boyfriend.”
continued from page 7
though some days do not end until 3:20 pm!)
A bigger issue, however, is
one concerning the schedule’s affect on
after school commitments. Getting done
with classes later also means getting to
practices later, while still having to be at
formal dinner at or club meetings. It may
be a concern among coaches and athletes
that loss of practice time will cause teams
to suffer. Another very visible change is
the conference period before, rather than
after lunch. This was created mostly by
the request of the dining hall, whose staff
members and work program workers
need the extra time to prepare for lunch.
Yet, even with these nuisances
resulting from the schedule, such a test
run as this could not have come at a more
convenient time. With multiple Saturdays set
aside for testing, and others that would also
cause disruptions to our regular schedule,
trying something new was a win-win
situation. This way, special schedules can be
avoided, and a new schedule that works well
for our school may become an end result.
While it is still unclear how this
fall’s schedule will fare, Mr. Ellerton says
that all members of Suffield Academy “can
expect to be surveyed in some way at the end
of this trial, at which point the information
will be analyzed and taken into consideration
for future years.” So, what will your opinion
be? Is an extra day of relaxation worth the
tight five day B week? Or do you think
our previous schedule was more effective?
Ned Booth ’06
photo Navid Obahi ’06
Jill Furman ’06
photo Cole Archambault ’06
Ji Won Shu ’06
photo Brooke Beatt ’06