LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — It's a favorite time of year for many sports fans. The NCAA men's basketball tournament is affectionately known as March Madness.
And as you're looking over your bracket, wondering where there might be an upset, the college athletes are under all that pressure.
"Certainly, for some, they go into the March tournament feeling a little overwhelmed, but for some, you know, perhaps not shockingly, it's another day at the office," said Dr. Marc Cormier, an Associate Professor of Kinesiology and Health Promotion at the University of Kentucky. He's also the Director of Counseling and Sports Psychology Services for UK Athletics.
The college athletes he works with at Kentucky have already accomplished so much to get where they are.
"And I kind of refer to our athletes here at UK as, like, you're Ferraris," said Dr. Cormier. "You have big engines under the hood. You have a lot of potential, but some athletes don't necessarily know how to drive a manual transmission."
Dr. Cormier works with these top performers to ensure the components stay in check.
"In reality, it's probably 90% physical, and the mental piece is probably a small slice of that pie," he said. "But we always kind of say the mental piece is what controls the rest ... and so, coming to work with someone who's trained in mental performance is kind of like driver's ED."
So when the big stage comes calling, they're ready.
"And so, for a lot of these athletes, what we're trying to do is get them to check in with themselves and make sure that they understand how they're responding to the environment," said Dr. Cormier.
And an environment where anything can happen.
