Kinesiology’s John Eliot is a master of the mind

Kinesiology’s John Eliot is a master of the mind
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BY ELLEN CHANG
Rice News Staff

In his final
semester of playing golf at Rice University, Chris Connolly
encountered one of his worst fears. While practicing, he
broke his collarbone and had to sit out for eight weeks.

But Connolly,
who graduated last year with a degree in sport management,
didn’t sit by idly. He began working with John Eliot,
a Rice University lecturer in the Department of Kinesiology
who teaches performers such as athletes the psychology of
excellence.

Eliot taught
Connolly how to practice mentally. Connolly spent countless
hours each day visually practicing shots and playing rounds,
which enabled him to heal in only six weeks after being
told he would be out of golf for the rest of his college
career.

When Connolly
returned to the golf course to play his first tournament
after practicing only one round of 18 holes, he played as
well as when he left off, thanks to his mental preparation,
Eliot said.

The experience
gave him back the mental aspect of the game after focusing
solely on his technique for many years, Connolly said.

Eliot taps into
the unison of mind and body for professional athletes, musicians,
surgeons and executives to help them achieve peak performance.
He studies what happens when performers run into obstacles,
reach a slump or fail to reach an objective.

Now the director
of performance enhancement and sport management at Rice,
Eliot researches and teaches what it takes to succeed from
an attitudinal or psychological perspective. He studies
success from a holistic viewpoint, including the mind, body
and environment.

“People
will tap the physical part first because it’s hard
to see what the mind is doing,” he said. “The
physical part is tangible, it’s concrete.”

His focus is
to teach performers to use their minds. Eliot enjoys the
challenge of working with performers to help them get over
their mental blocks or working with those who feel they
could be doing better.

“The challenge
of champions is to feel good when things aren’t going
their way,” he said. “Very few people can do this,
but those who can have lots of potential and an edge over
others.”

Eliot, who works
with many Rice athletes, teaches them to focus on their
positive attributes and success.

During last year’s
baseball season, shortstop Jose Enrique Cruz felt he wasn’t
playing his best and allowed those doubts to bother him.
After working with Eliot, Cruz said he improved his mental
game when he learned to trust himself and his ability.

“I feel
10 times better than I did last year,” said Cruz, a
sophomore majoring in social sciences.

For Connolly,
the one-on-one sessions with Eliot helped him reach the
point where he could picture golf swings and shots while
interacting with other people. During his games, Connolly
learned to block out other distractions and also learned
to get in the mindset of playing the best that he could
for that day instead of trying to achieve the lowest golf
score. He went on to finish second in a qualifying tournament
in April, just months after his injury.

“John really
helped me believe in myself again,” Connolly said.
“Because if the conditions are terrible, you’re
not going to shoot the low score that you want to, but you
still have to figure out a way to play the best that you
can on any given day.”

But some athletes
who already are successful still strive for more perfection.
That drive can produce negative effects because athletes
can move toward a perfectionist mode rather than playing
their sport because they love it.

The most successful
people are the ones who are able to maintain a connection
between enjoying their work and excelling at it, Eliot said.

That connection
was what Jamie Kent, a trumpet player in the Shepherd School’s
orchestra, wanted to achieve. Kent, who has a master’s
degree in music, measured success by the amount of work
and time he put into practicing. But Kent learned that he
worked too hard, causing mental fatigue and burnout. With
Eliot, he learned to play with passion.

Feeling nervous
during a performance, Kent said he played poorly in the
beginning, but later recalled what Eliot had said about
performing in a relaxed and loose manner during stressful
times.

“Rather
than letting my mistakes make me tense and nervous, I decided
to relax and really go for it,” he said. “I ended
up playing exceptionally well and was thrilled with my overall
performance.”

Charlie Rizzo,
Rice’s assistant football coach, said Eliot helps the
athletes understand that when they perform well, they need
to stay levelheaded, but when they perform poorly they need
to concentrate on how to avoid their errors and to keep
their emotions out of it.
“We’re coaching reaction,” he said. “He
coaches the mind. Those two complement each other. I see
it in their attitude.”

When he is not
teaching, Eliot works with groups, teams and businesses
on how to create a culture of performance — an environment
that promotes success and happiness. He is a consultant
for performers such as former major league pitcher Tommy
John, University of South Carolina football coach Lou Holtz
and long jumper Kareem Street-Thompson, as well as organizations
such as Evergreen Golf, the University of Virginia Medical
Center, NASA and Xerox, helping them reach their potential.

A book by Eliot
about human performance is due out early this summer. The
book will focus on what makes ordinary people do extraordinary
things and will feature anecdotes and stories about people
such as Holtz and John.