For my capstone site visit I visited Columbia University. Here I saw where the members of the Columbia basketball team mentally prepare for their games. In addition, I had the opportunity to talk to the coach and the team psychologist to learn about the strategies the players use to mentally prepare for games. I was particularly interested in the mental preparation strategies the athlete uses because as an athlete I could benefit from them.

When we got to Columbia University the assistant basketball coach took me to the film room. The film room is where the athletes watch film of their recent games and studies the opponent that they are playing next. What the athletes do while watching the film is visualize what they need to do to win their next game. Next, the coach took me to the team’s psychologist, Brent Walker. The psychologist was really helpful because he told me why certain mental preparation strategies are so powerful. One mental preparation strategy he really likes is visualization. The psychologist said that “visualization is so affective because your brain doesn’t know the difference between real or imagined thoughts.” The coach talked to me about how his players use self-talk a lot and it’s really affective.

I had a lot of fun doing my site visit at Columbia. I learned a lot of information that I will use in my presentation.