Sept. 6, 2002
Baltimore, MD -
Johns Hopkins Assistant Swimming Coach Chris Conlon will be speaking Friday at the American Swimming Coaches Association convention in Las Vegas.
The topic of Conlon's speech will be the mental training program he developed which was successfully used with the Hopkins swimming teams during the 2001-02 season. The premise of Conlon's program is that swimmers can train their minds to be an asset during competition and, with goal setting and regular practice with visualization, can attain peak performances. In the program, swimmers participate in weekly mental training sessions throughout the season in addition to using the visualization techniques regularly throughout practice sessions.
The program's lesson topics include the pros and cons of mental training, imagery in practice settings, imagery in competition, affirmations, building a dream race, and positive self-talk. The program was successfully implemented with the Blue Jay sprint teams last season, and the entire JHU swimming program will participate in the program this season.
Conlon will begin his fifth year as a JHU assistant coach this fall, and three times has been on the staff that was named NCAA Coaching Staff of the Year. He received his undergraduate degree from Hopkins in 1993, and received his master's degree of arts in teaching from JHU in 1996.
The ASCA convention being held this week includes over 1200 swimming coaches of all college divisions and club teams throughout the country.
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