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National Football League and the big game. Fans and non fans are

entering pools and preparing for parties with friends, family members

and coworkers.

About six weeks ago, I received a call from a fine young athlete who

had a few try outs with several NFL teams. He lived in the southwestern

part of the United States and he was hoping to make it as a defensive

lineman. He played his college ball at a rather small school and he

felt that he was overlooked by some teams because he did not get the exposure or

the quality coaching he might have gotten at an athletic program which

was housed at a larger university. Apparently, many teams in the

National Football League are a bit biased to players who have attended

Division One schools.

He sounded like he was a very hard working and serious young man.

He viewed his sport as his profession and he was very serious about his

physical and mental training. He seemed to have a good agent who

was working hard to get him placed with a team in the NFL. Yet, he was a bit frustrated

because he felt he was a better player than many players he had played with and against

in practices and in try outs and was still not where he wanted to be in his career.

I never met this young man face to face, but I got a sense of what may

have been preventing him from being chosen by one of the teams in the

National Football League.

His confidence was a little shaken by one or two try outs where he just did not

play to his fullest potential.

After listening to his situation and correctly identified what caused him

to lose his self-confidence, I gave him a few words of advice and I encouraged

him to listen to a cd program for athletes which shows people how to be

remain confident, relaxed and focused when the pressure is on.

Last week, I got a wonderful phone call. The caller introduced himself and

proclaimed, “I’ll be in the NFL next year. I just signed a contract. I just called

to say thanks for your help.”

He was delighted and I was ecstatic for him. I asked him to send me an

autographed photo for my son, once his season begins in the fall.

Sometimes, when we counsel people, we are unsure as to whether we are

having the kind of impact we would like to have on them.

So, it’s very nice and quite exciting to get this kind of feedback.

Jay P. Granat, Ph.D. is a Psychotherapist in River Edge, NJ. His
Stay In The Zone cd program is available at www.StayInTheZone.com