Thought
Technology's Sports History
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"Hi
Lawrence,
Just to let you know my shooter (Abhinav Bindra) just won
Olympic Gold.
He's
got about 150 hours on my FlexComp Infiniti, so I guess that
makes it a gold medal for Thought Technology."
From
Feb 2008 onwards, I worked with Abhinav in South Africa, India,
China, Germany and Italy, accumulating over 150 hours of training
on my Thought Technology FlexComp Infiniti.
We
used a range of forms of biofeedback, including EMG, skin
conductivity, peripheral temperature, respiration rate and
amplitude, BVP, EKG, HRV and neurofeedback. We feel that this
level of interaction allows us to claim it as a gold for biofeedback.
I am a psychologist.
It
was a privilege to have the opportunity to formulate and carry
out a plan that came together. I will be documenting this
plan. I work with other athletes, but none who are gold medal
contenders. However, many of them delight me just as much
because of their determination and desire for progress.
Timothy
Harkness
Counselling Psychologist
tharkness@mweb.co.za
Tim Harkness
Abhinav
Bindra gave India its first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics
when he won the 10 metres air rifle event on Monday morning.
Bindra's historic feat makes him India's first individual
gold medallist, bettering the silver medal feat of double
trap shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in Athens 2004.
http://www.rediff.com/sports/2008/aug/11msg.htm
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200808111656.htm
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Gold
for Biofeedback: Abhinav Bindra wins India's first ever individual
Olympic Gold Medal
Timothy
Harkness
Sports Psychologist
I
first mentioned the "G-word" to Abhinav after a
training session at my house in South Africa in early July.
I don't often talk about results to clients, but we had just
completed an advanced respiration session (using a technique
I had learnt from Bruno Demichelis from AC Milan) that demonstrated
such a close link between control of heart-rate and shooting
outcome, that I finally began to feel that we had cracked
the code of shooting success, and a gold medal was a possibility...
Read
More |
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Chris
Kaman Reveals Childhood Misdiagnosis on ESPN’s "Outside
the Lines"
On
Sunday, January 13th Clippers' center Chris Kaman revealed
on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that as a child he
was misdiagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD).
Watch
the Video |
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Berlin,
Germany ---- Holding
their BFE Lifetime Achievement Awards for their contribution
to the field of Biofeedback and Neurofeedback in Sport, in
both Professional Football and the Olympics are Dr. Bruno
Demichelis and Dr. Vietta 'Sue' Wilson. Their lectures opened
the Biofeedback
Foundation of Europe's 11th annual Meeting Scientific
Program, in Berlin.
Dr.
Bruno Demichelis gave a ninety minute lecture on AC Milan's
use of the Mind Room and Sport Psychology /Sports Medicine.
The MindRoom, which includes Thought Technology’s ProComp
Infiniti/ BioGraph Infiniti, is considered their secret weapon
that helped them defeat Manchester United 3-0 and win the
Champions League Football final May 23rd, 2007 in Athens,
Greece. Dr. Demichelis demonstrated the remarkable increase
in Heart Rate Variability that the AC Milan athletes had achieved,
and how important all the players now take this part of their
training, as well as their successful use of Biofeedback and
Neurofeedback to prepare for penalty kicks and ‘regenerate
after a strenuous workout’. take this part of their
training, as well as their successful use of Biofeedback and
Neurofeedback to prepare for penalty kicks and ‘regenerate
after a strenuous workout’.
Read
More
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One
of my greatest thrills was touring AC Milan's Milan Lab at
Milanelo,
seeing our FlexComp Infiniti™
being used to assess muscle fatigue by the best athletes in
the world. Twice a month all players are measured, and their
training is adapted depending on these results. Bruno Demichelis
spent 8 hours, discussing in depth the most advanced application
of Sports Science we have encountered. He showed me his copy
of Mind Over Muscle in his office – and how far he has
taken its applications using our ProComp Infiniti to individualize
training with the team. As a North American I can only begin
to appreciate the magnitude of the impact this will have on
billions of ‘Football’ (soccer) fans around the
world. He then visited us twice, for 10 days, to develop the
most advanced Sports Science system on the globe.
Lawrence
Klein
Vice President, Thought Technology Ltd.
Peak
Performance with Telemetry Ad
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Dr.
Vietta ‘Sue’ Wilson is a
renowned sports Psychologist at the 2005 Association
for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AAASP)
which has emerged as the largest applied sport, exercise,
and health psychology organization in the world.
Vietta
E. Wilson, Ph.D., has taught at York University, in
Toronto, for over 30 years. She has worked since 1971
in sports (Olympic performers from archery to yachting),
education (elementary to university), medicine and business.
She has taught sport psychology, counseling and biofeedback
assisted self-regulation courses at the graduate and
undergraduate level. Her current research is psychophysiological
profiling and EEG brain mapping of elite performers.
She is a co-author of Learned Self Regulation, Owners
Manual for the Brain and Body and the author of the
"Optimal Health and Performance Suite" for
BioGraph Infiniti.
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Here
is Milos training EEG. He is a Junior Davis cup player.
After
training EEG on screens, move to training EEG while
thinking of receiving the serve (note the cast - brain
training continues while he is recovering from a broken
foot)
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Wes
Sime
"With
the telemetry I can now take the assessment and training to
the court, field or gymnasium. Which is the last step in the
link of training athletes in sport psychology."
The
most exciting innovation in psychophysiology for sport is
the wireless Infiniti Biofeedback System from Thought Technology.
Combining EEG assessment of high level focus and concentration
during pre-shot routines together with peripheral feedback
of stress and tension throughout the body is going to be the
wave of the future.
Tele-Infiniti
ProComp2
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Military
Pentathlon Gold Medal Team
Norbert
G. Laderoute, former athletic director of the Canadian Combat
Arms Training Center at Gagetown, New Brunswick.
"In 1980-81, while a BPER (Base Physical Education Recreational
Officer) for CFB Gagetown, I acted as the coach/psychologist
for the Biathlon (cross country skiing & sharp shooting)
in CFB Valcartier, Quebec."
"The
team approached me as they heard of my success with the Canadian
Military Pentathlon Team and Bisley Rifle Team and they wanted
help in their training as 'they could not hit the side of
the barn door' after their cross country skiing."
Read
More |
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Women's
Canadian Olympic Downhill Ski Team
In
1982, Currie Chapmen, then coach of the Women's Canadian Olympic
Downhill Ski Team, used a dozen Mind Over Muscle programs,
with GSR2's, for the entire team. Major Nory Laderoute and
Lawrence Klein had conceived of MIND OVER
MUSCLE in answer to Mr. Klein's question; "Would
racers be faster through the gates if they memorized the course
in a state of relaxation with biofeedback as opposed to trying
to do it in a normal waking state?" After their success
with the Canadian Military Pentathalon team, Laderoute and
Klein worked with the women's team to tone their visualization
and mental training skills. Laurie Graham, Jerry Sorenson
and Lisa Zavajarvi all won numerous world cup downhills. |
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Dr.
Erik Peper
In
1988 Dr. Erik Peper, past president of the Biofeedback Society
of America and Director of Holistic Healing Studies at San
Francisco State University was co-psychologist with Gold Medallist
Andrea Schmidt who used Mind Over Muscle/GSR2
with the US Olympic Rhythmic Gymnastic team. His studies were
published in SOMATICS Journal and led to several trips to
Tokyo, Taipei, and Hong Kong, teaching hundreds of psychologists,
coaches and athletes at their National Sports Institutes,
and conducting numerous TV and newspaper interviews.
Peak
Performance Training with Electrodermal Biofeedback |
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Dr.
Shane Murphy, psychologist for the US Olympic Ski Team
In
1984 Dr. Shane Murphy, psychologist for the US Olympic Ski
Team, bought a dozen Mind Over Muscle/GSR2 for the Colorado center. Subsequently
the US Olympic Center purchased Thought Technology's 8 channel
ProComp multi-modality computerized system to evaluate and
train the athletes.
Read More |
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Coaching
Association of Canada
In
1982 the Coaching Association of Canada began selling the
Mind Over Muscle system to the coaches in over one hundred
sports. That same year every Olympic Coach in Canada was given
Mind Over Muscle/GSR 2 by the Coaching
Association of Canada. |
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Montreal
Police Officers
In
1984, 15 Montreal Police Officers ran for a Guinness World
book of record, 7500 km 'continuous marathon' to the Los Angeles
Olympics. The 15 policemen used the Mind
Over Muscle program to focus their minds and use energy
more efficiently. |
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C.J.
Mueller, Speed Skier
While
on his tri-annual ski coaches course, Lawrence Klein bumped
into speed skier C.J. Mueller. I cleared off the wax bench
to make way for his "sheath" of 240 cm skis. "How
fast? Klein asked. "124.4 mph," was Mueller's reply.
"Exciting" Mueller ventured, "Ah, its all hurry
up and wait; wait for the wind to die down or the course to
be repaired, the snow to stop." "Great time for
visualization and biofeedback" said Klein. Mueller had
never heard of either. They never ran that race, but Klein
gave him a Mind Over Muscle/GSR2 program.
On August 1, 1987 Mueller sent the following letter. "Dear
Larry, ...You first showed me the GSR2 in 1985, and I began
to use it at that time. In 1986 I finally broke the 200 km/hr
barrier. I also won for the first time in an international
event, taking 1st in New Zealand in September. Then in 1987,
I won again, this time in Finland. And on April 17th, I became
the first skier to break the 210km/h, 130-mph barrier, skiing
212.0 km or 131.74 mph. The GSR2 helped to make this achievement
possible. Many, many thanks."
Read
more |
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Dr.
Jean Louis Etienne
In
1986 Dr. Jean Louis Etienne became the first man to ski solo
to the north pole. To quote from the Medical Tribune special
edition that devoted an entire 36-page edition to his accomplishmen,
beside a photo of the GSR/Temp 2X it summarized "....this article describes
the role of biofeedback in helping Dr. Etienne prepare his
North Pole expedition. Biofeedback was used to achieve cold
weather adaptation and to control stress associated with the
anticipated hazards of the trip. Cold adaptation facilitated
by skin temperature biofeedback was practiced in a walk-in
fridge in which he was able to raise his hand temperature
2.2 °C (5F). Additional psychophysiological training with
GSR and a portable skin temperature device at home further
increased the explorer's sense of self control..."
After
reviewing the clinical use of biofeedback for conditions such
as Raynaud's disease, this article describes the role of biofeedback
in helping Dr. Etienne prepare his North Pole expedition.
Biofeedback was used to achieve cold weather adaptation and
to control stress associated with the anticipated hazards
of the trip. Cold adaptation facilitated by skin temperature
biofeedback, was practiced in a walk-in fridge in which he
was able to raise his hand temperature 2,2°C. Additional psychophysiological
training with GSR and a portable skin temperature device at
home further increased the explorer's sense of self-control.
Finally, the role of psychological variables such as self-control
is discussed as a determinant of any expeditions success. |
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Grand
Prix Racing Drivers
In
1991, Dr. Dan Marici, head of Sports Psychology at McGill
University, also psychologist for the Canadian Olympic downhill
ski team, used a dozen Mind Over Muscle/GSR2 with the entire
men's Canadian Olympic Team. Soon after Ed Podivinski won
bronze at Lillihammer. Dan was also psychologist for several
Grand Prix racing drivers including Emerson Fittipaldi and
the late world champion Ayerton Senna. GSR is only one modality
used with athletes. Dan has two of Thought Technology's 16
channel multi modality Flexcomp computerized systems. |
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European
Academy of Sports Vision
Since
1992, Sports Vision, in partnership with Bausch &
Lombs, has tested the visual acuity of thousands of
Olympic athletes. Sports Vision has 5 centers in Italy
and uses Procomp, along with a variety of other techniques,
to teach visual acuity. Sports Vision told us that a
great Italian ski champion used a MyoTrac in training.
The EMG, attached to his chest, emits a warning signal
if he breaths thoracically (in the upper chest) to encourage
diaphragmatic breathing. |
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Pat
Hickey
Peak
performance starts in the mind
By
Pat Hickey
"If
there is one point that is being amplified by the Dubin Inquiry,
it was the fact that athletes are forever seeking an edge,
that something extra that spells the difference between being
an also-ran and a medallist."
Read
more |
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