RT Interview: International field hockey goalkeeper goes to the next level!

David Fitzgerald is an international hockey player who has combined hard work and a passion to be the best he can be with some of the techniques from Raising Talent to take his game to the next level. We are delighted that he can share some of his story with us. Thank you David.

 

jump joyCan you share a bit of background on your situation and how things were for you before you started using some of the Raising Talent principles and techniques?

I’m a 26 year old International Hockey Goalkeeper from Dublin, Ireland.

As a youngster I played mainly soccer and hockey would have been my second sport but around the age of 15/16 when I started to get selected for representative teams in Hockey and not Soccer, Hockey began to take over. I always felt I had belief in my abilities from a young age but struggled with performing consistently. I made the Senior Irish Squad in 2009 and really began to push physically and mentally. I felt that if I wasn’t playing well at any point I always believed the solution was to push harder in training technically and to become faster and stronger physically. This worked for me to a point but when I was at a point where I was happy physically and technically I would find myself seriously frustrated when I felt that my performances were not matching this. Around the start of 2011 is when I met Tim Goodenough and Mike Cooper

 

What was the most valuable thing that you got/experienced from using the techniques?

Real belief! I always felt that I believed myself and my abilities but at certain crunch times in my career my belief would slip and my headspace/thought process would change. It is a truly powerful thing to be able to go into a game and know you feel calm and certain in your beliefs about what is going to happen.

Another valuable thing I have gained from using the techniques is the ability to deal with issues/stumbling blocks. Often before I would have just worked and worked on the technical side of the game but in reality there was a mental block and worry which I would just ignore. Using the techniques in “Raising Talent” I was able to deal with the problems head on and find what they were about and move past them.

One of the most valuable things I have experienced from using the techniques is “my recipe for success”. From using the techniques and working with Tim I was able to find the mind frame that allows me to perform to my best. Knowing the recipe that was best for me allowed me to asses my mind frame before practice/matches and see if it matched my optimum recipe. This allowed me to be at my best more often than I have ever been before, both in practice and matches.

Specifically what techniques did you use, and how did they help you?

One of the techniques that worked well for me was creating movies. This allowed me to put myself in positions I wanted to excel in and experience mentally what it was going to be like so that when it arose in a match at a crunch time I felt comfortable in the moment because I had already played the situation in my head before.

Another technique which I felt really helped me was the “why” questions and the “what does that mean to you” questions as described in the book “Raising Talent”. Using these questions I found it easier to confront issues I was having in my game and feel confident that I had left these issues to one side. The meaning questions also really helped me focus my game and drive me in training. Its easy to go from session to session without purpose but using these techniques helped me focus and get in the right head space from a training session or game
team pic

Can you share a short testimonial on the impact of using these techniques for you in your life?

Firstly I could not believe the speed in which the techniques worked. I remember the first session I was part of that Tim did with the Irish Hockey team and can honestly say the training session I had that night after it was one of the best and one of the most comfortable I had ever had with the Irish team.

It’s a frustrating feeling when you feel you are pushing as hard as you can push both physical and mentally but are not seeing the rewards but from using the techniques described in Raising Talent I went from outside the tournament squad to part of that squad for the last few years. I put a huge amount of this down to the mental work I have been doing. The techniques have made me significantly mentally tougher which gives me a huge amount of confidence in my abilities. I am extremely pleased with my progress but by no means feel that all the hard work is over.

I have recently had an opportunity to work with Tim again where he showed me some of the latest Raising Talent techniques which had a powerful impact on my game during the recent  Irish Hockey League Finals weekend. My side Monkstown won the IHL Final (to complete a great treble for us this season) and we qualified for the EHL (European Hockey League). I was honoured to be awarded the goalkeeper of the tournament. I am looking forward to testing myself against the best players in Europe and am confident I know what to do to give myself the best possible chance to perform, as well as to deal with issues and challenges quickly if/when they arise.