"In sport, mental imagery is used primarily to help you get the best out of yourself in training and competition. The developing athletes who make the fastest progress and those who ultimately become their best make extensive use of mental imagery. They use it daily as a means of directing what will happen in training, and as a way of pre-experiencing their best competition performances." - Terry Orlick-------------------------------
I love watching the Winter Olympics and, in fact, have entertained the possibility of seeing them in person one day, that is until a little over four years ago. I used to ski downhill before we moved South. Colorado was only six hours away, about the same distance as the beach is from my home in Alabama. I was never a competitive skier. I skied for relaxation and fun and, most of all, for the beautiful scenery. There is nothing more gorgeous than standing at the top of a run, looking out at the surrounding snow covered Rockies and soaking up the silence of a newly fallen blanket of powdery snow. Breathtaking!
My experience with skiing allows my appreciation of the athletic achievements of our winter Olympians. I remember watching Nastar competitions and sitting at the foot of a mogul field, amazed at the skill and speed of the competitors. Competitors that would surely smile at my clumsy efforts on the green and blue runs with occasional runs through the trees leaving a trail of gloves, hat, goggles, poles, and lastly, as I fall onto the snow, my skis. I imagined being compared to Goofy, the Disney character, flying down a snowbank and exclaiming "woo-hoo-hoo" as he loses his equipment before his final fall!
Four years ago, I watched the 2006 Winter Olympics from my hospital bed in the rehabilitation center after a day filled with trying to relearn how to roll over, sit up, and expand my shrunken lung capacity necessitated by an accident that paralyzed all but my right arm as the result of a spinal cord and brachial plexus injury. Three to four hours daily were spent on my own personal mini-olympics, interspersed with a plethora of medications, having my bodily functions that no longer worked correctly tended to, attempting to retain some of the nourishment provided by the high protein diet needed for healing between episodes of nausea and vomiting caused by vasomotor instability (low blood pressure) when I was turned from side to side or elevated to a sitting position.
Watching the Olympics was a welcome escape at the end of a tiring day and represented a touchstone of normalcy that had been abruptly taken away a few weeks earlier by a cell phone using, distracted driver. My family and friends were nearly 100 miles away. I lost myself in the games, remembering what it felt like to make my way down the greens and blues and to watch the daredevil
hotdoggers with red handkerchiefs tied around one thigh as they plummeted down the black, mogul dense slopes. I imagined the view from a mountaintop and the muffled sounds of the lifts and gondolas, my own guided imagery to help me sleep in unfamiliar surroundings and prepare for another challenging day.
I still love watching the Winter Olympics, imagining how it feels to ski down those slopes with the cold breeze against my cheeks and losing myself in the concentration and pleasure of each mountaintop moment. Even a catastrophic spinal cord injury cannot take away the pleasure of these memories or my vicarious enjoyment of the Winter Games.
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