I was anxiously waiting for my dad to tell me who he got for me as an interview. After 3 days my dad finally got me an athlete for an interview. Once he told me who it was I was really happy. It was Shep Messing the starting U.S. soccer goalie in the 1970s and 1980s. My dad was able to setup the interview with him because my Shep is one of my grandpa’s friend and Shep’s grandson is my camp friend. We decided to do the interview on facetime. I was really excited to talk to a professional soccer player.

Here are my interview questions for Shep:

Shep Messing

1. What mental preparation strategies did you use a goalie before and during games?
2. What were your favorite mental preparation strategies? Why?
3. How did mental preparation strategies affect your performance as an athlete and competitor when you were a goalie?
4. How did mental preparation strategies help you in your life off the field when you were a goalie?
5. Are there any mental preparation strategies that you use in your life today?
6. Did you have a coach or other type of professional help you with these strategies?
7. I’m researching these particular mental preparation strategies. Please tell me if you have used it and how:
   1. Visualization? ((Why is visualization such a powerful tool for success in competition?)
   2. Music? (How and why do athletes use music)
   3. Self Talk? (How and why do athletes use self talk used to mentally prepare?)
   4. Breathing? (How and why do athletes use breathing techniques to prepare?
8. What else do you think is important for you to share with me about mental preparation?

From this interview I learned that some athletes used mental preparation strategies like visualization and self-talk 30 and 40 years ago. Also I learned that doubting yourself can make you think worse about yourself and make you play worse. Interviewing a professional athlete has given me a unique perspective. This interview was especially insightful since being a goalie is one of the most mentally challenging jobs in sports as it requires tremendous focus and confidence.

In the Capstone project you need to do at least one interview. We do an interview to gather more reasearch about our topic. For my interview I wanted to interview two people because I wanted to find one person that used mental preparation as an athlete and somebody that works for a mental preparation company. Right after I found my topic PJ a kid in my class told me that his dad Curt works for a breathing company and some professional teams use it. interview both of them.

For my interview with Curt, the person that works with the breathing company call BreathAware. Since Curt’s son PJ is in my class I decided to go with him after school because Curt picks PJ up so I can interview Curt then. Curt answered all of my questions well. He gave me a lot more information about mental preparation. I was happy about how the interview went. I’m excited to do my next interview. I learned a lot. One of interesting I learned was When you focus on breathing you forget everything else and you don’t have to worry about your anxiety

Here are my interview questions for Curt:

1. What made you want to start BreatheAware?
2. How does BreatheAware work?
3. What is the company’s main goal?
4. What are the company’s main products?
5. How do the products help the company achieve its goal?
6. Why are you interested in mental preparation?
7. Did you use breathing techniques as an athlete? Why or why not?
8. What does the breathing do for your mentally?
9. Who are the types of people (athletes? non athletes?) that use BreatheAware the most?
10. Why do athletes use breathing techniques to prepare?
11. How has BreatheAware helped athletes?
12. When do the athletes use BreatheAware?
13. Why do some athletes prefer BreatheAware over just sitting down and breathing?

I’m excited to see who my dad gets as an interview