MSUM ADVOCATE

Gearing up on game day

Dragon athletes think about diet, exercise and visualization — but they keep their own quirks

By JOHN HANSEN

FEB. 5, 2009

All athletes know that game day feels different from other days. But they deal with the big day in their own ways.

Hours before the opening horn, Dragon athletes think about what to eat, how to stay loose and how to find their psychological comfort zone. If they take the right steps, competitive success often follows.

Above all, Dragon athletes find ways to be themselves as the event nears. Here’s a four-part game day guide.

How to eat

Athletes need energy, but they also want something they can digest. It’s well-known that protein makes for good game fuel.

“You want to have protein so it sticks with you,” said soccer player Laura Kohtala, who will be a junior in the fall. “It has to last you three or four hours through the warm-ups and games. You don’t want to drink milk because that might not sit well. I’ll have eggs or sometimes a bagel.”

Lauren Baalman, a senior on the swim team, takes a different tack.

“I don’t eat wheat on game day, just because it personally affects me different,” she said. “But a lot of swimmers eat a lot of bread, bagels, extra carbs. I usually eat lots of bananas.”

Wrestlers are happy to get one banana, especially if they are dropping pounds for the weigh-in.

“Everyone has to make weight, so usually you can’t eat very much,” said senior Matt Nelson.

He meets his weight by running a few miles in multiple layers of clothing. Afterward, he’s able to eat “a banana and maybe drink a pound of water.”

How to exercise

Coaches have a general timeline for their team. For a 1 p.m. game, Rollie Bulock’s soccer players arrive at the training room at 10 a.m., go over the game plan at 11:45 a.m. and hit the field at noon.

Spiess’ wrestling squad and Todd Peters’ swim team also have routines. However, at the Division II level, coaches expect athletes to prepare on their own, too.

“They’re college athletes now, so they need to know what to do individually,” Peters said. “As freshmen, I wean them off high school, where they were told specifically what to do.”

Baalman takes a typical approach: “We usually have to be here about two hours before the meet. I probably stretch for 15 minutes and warm up for 30 minutes. Then I stretch for 30 minutes again, then I do a smaller warm-up. … Before my race, I do a lot of swinging my arms, jumping up and down, just getting loose.”

How to focus (and relax)

Baseball player Yogi Berra once said that 90 percent of the game is mental (adding that the “other half” is physical). This mental emphasis carries through all sports; MSUM coaches teach “visualization” as much as strategy.

“The really good ones can sit there with a stopwatch, close their eyes, go through their whole race and hit the button when they think they’ve hit the finish pad,” Peters said.

“And they come up with a time close to what they swim.”

Kohtala visualizes games so well that she dreams about soccer the night before.

“I’m an outgoing person, so when I get nervous or excited about a game, I just talk,” she said. “And I know there’s people who need to be quiet — it’s their ‘in the zone’ thing. But I’m not one of those people.”

Nelson, on the other hand, is.

“I have been told by my roommates that I’m not as talkative (on game day),” the wrestler said.” It’s part of staying focused.”

For athletes who can’t “talk off” their nervous energy, Spiess has a few suggestions.

“You can find a friend that keeps you loose, you can watch a movie that makes you laugh (or) you can read a book,” he said.

How to find what works for you

Dragon athletes all get into a competitive headspace in their own way — some like a routine, some are downright superstitious.

Baalman takes a page from the playbook of a certain Olympic sensation.

“Michael Phelps likes to stretch with his left leg first, otherwise it throws him completely off,” the swimmer said. “I always do the same pattern. I think, ‘This worked for me one time, so it’ll work for me again.’”

Kohtala just needs a quick pick-me-up sometimes.

“I have a couple different cards from past coaches that are inspirational,” she said. “They make me more confident before a game.”

Coaches are happy to let successful athletes do their own thing. After all, they were once competitors themselves.

In his wrestling days, Spiess borrowed a pre-game routine from Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw.

“I’d like to do a little bit of weight lifting just to get my muscles firing, so I’d look a little bigger on the weigh-in,” the coach said. “Something mental to get an edge on the guy.”