Jamie Edwards goes through some exercises with young swimmers Luke Belton, left, and Matt Tostevin, both 14. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0579375)
FORMER international basketball player Jamie Edwards made a big impression during two motivational sports seminars at St James. The first was attended by over 270 of the island’s young aspiring sportsmen and women and focused on raising their game.
The second, entitled ‘The Winning Parent’, was attended by nearly 170 mentors, parents and coaches. ‘We could not have wished for a more engaging and successful event,’ said Nick Graham, managing director of OSA Recruitment, which sponsored the seminars to celebrate its 21st anniversary.
‘Jamie’s energy filtered through to everyone who came along, both young and old. He was very thought provoking and engaging and I’m sure that those who were able to come along took away a lot of new methods and techniques to help themselves and their children achieve their potential in whatever their field.’
Edwards reinforced the importance of thinking and communicating differently as well as being able to relax. ‘Your attitude and the way you think will have a direct effect on the direction you go, not just in sport but in life generally,’ he said.
‘Your state of mind is controlled by you, not by what happens to you.
‘The two ways to control and change your state of mind are changing the pictures on your internal television screen and how you use your body.
‘When asking yourself how you can raise your game, you should start with powerful words such as “how?” or “yet”.
You are then likely to get a far more positive feeling than if you used the word, “why?”,’ he said.
The message worked on assistant director of island squash, Martin Watts.
‘Jamie was very enthusiastic and energising. As a coach I will encourage my juniors to connect with a positive experience and I will work on looking at situations from their point of view.’
Tennis coach and multi island singles champion Jo Robinson agreed.
‘Excellent – I have discovered that I need to learn better and more effective questions to trigger change.’
Article posted on 21st May, 2008 - 2.29pm
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