So, why can’t most people make the desired changes in their games to improve? According to Vic Braden, it’s because the pain of making a specific change is greater than the pain of losing to the same people over and over again that they perceive as better players than they are. And, the deepest psychological reason for not making the change seems to be that students are afraid of being even “lousier” than their current playing level and that they would lose any self esteem they previously possessed.
The obvious realistic solution would be to tell the players who are going through changes to think of their 8 weeks of change as their time to be a member of a “mistake center.” Research indicates that when people have fun making changes in their games, that they’ll be more easily able to develop the right motor program in less time.
By Seth Stisher