Can top sportsmen slow down time

Soccer is already slow. No need to slow down time during a soccer game.

Now, tennis, that's a different story all together, with serves as high as 120 mph +.

Originally posted by TKDRL
When you have trained so much that you have loads of different "moves" down to reflex, it enables you to clear your mind, and step back to "watch" your body in motion. It's just a different state of mind really. Time does seem slower in this state, because your brain isn't racing like normally. At least that is how it seems in my experience.

The most basic example I can think of is self consciousness verse self awareness.

When you're conscious of yourself, time slows down; when your just 'being", unaware of your voice or your appearance, time seems to just pass by. Life can seem like one moment when you're just being. Whereas self consciousness breaks life down into temporal divisions...

One psychologist described the difference as being "in" your body as opposed to outside it. When you're watching yourself i.e. outside your body - time becomes much more real, but when you're in your body, it's felt very differently. sort of like being in a train and watching the scenery as you pass by it, verses being outside the train and watching it go by.

In those incredible moments of high level play, you are IN your body, and only when your attention is undivided and concentrated in one thing, do you think with such acuity.

Of course, physical training, repetition, and innate prowess play their roles, but concentration is what makes it or breaks it.

Sometimes when I play chess I'm aware that within a 1 second span I can think of far more moves than at other times...It seems too that 'time slows down'; perhaps I'm making more efficient use of it? Whatever it is, time appears to be conditioned by our relationship with reality.

Originally posted by babybunnies
Soccer is already slow. No need to slow down time during a soccer game.

Now, tennis, that's a different story all together, with serves as high as 120 mph +.

i refer u to this link i posted earlier

worldcupworld.wonderhowto.com...

Actors speak of it all the time. They are asked to speak about a performance onstage, or a scene they just did, and they cannot even recall the details from moments ago. They are so in the moment that their focus even stops their memory. There is nothing but that moment.

It is, as some have already said, a level of focus that most simply do not have the discipline to achieve.

Originally posted by Idonthaveabeard
I know the odds are stacked against the keeper, but even so to even think about attempting taking a penalty in such an arrogant way in those circumstances is unthinkable. He would have got absolutely slaughtered all round europe if he had missed and cost his team a place in the semi finals. Also he is renowned for being a highly professional player so I really dont think he would have risked his teams place in the semi finals unless he was 300% sure where the keeper was going. I really do believe he made up his mind where he was putting the penalty in the split second before he hit the ball.

i remember when i played keeper, we had a rival christian school team we would play, we lived in small town and there star striker, was the same kid ive been playing with\against since we were five and he was also my teammate during club soccer during the high school off season. by senior year he was the top scorer i was the top keeper, twice we met in penalty's and twice i stooped him because i knew were he was going because of all the info i had compiled on him over the years. point being knowalage is power and can greatly affect the outcome of high pressure situations, because of the thought and work that goes on before those high pressure situations

reply to post by dontreally


good thing I read your whole post Phil Jackson is a good coach. I think he brings out the ability to 'BE', as you put it, for all his players.

I saw Jordan score 63 points against the Boston Celtics in 1986, i think, and he definitely lived with this ability all his life...unfortunately for him, he can't seem to transfer it to owning and managing a team and his sons don't appear to have it either...but when he played it was incredible to watch him do this over and over again.

to bring this out in myself or others, I encourage them to remember what it was like to play as a child....in some ways, I think maturing and growing-up inhibits our ability to 'BE'.

reply to post by michaelbrux


Michael Jordan was as good as he was because many different factors came together in one individual; he was a phenomenal athlete with good size (6'5 without shoes, 6'6 in shoes), a long wingspan, and an above average court awareness.

And Phil Jackson helped to hone those talents with his invaluable 'philosophy' of how to go about becoming a better player.

Kobe Bryant as well; incredible athlete, long wingspan, very good size for his position (6'7 in shoes)..and Like Michael, he had an above average intelligence (being able to speak fluent italian is a testament to that).. And Phil Jackson came in and helped him approach the game differently.

Some players have so much physical talent - take Demarr Derozan on the Raptors, or the newly drafted Andre Drummond. These guys are incredibly athletes with tremendous size for their positions. But intellectually - mentally - they are nowhere near the level Jordan, Kobe, or even Lebron are able to reach.

When athletic ability, size and agility coincides with mental maturity - that's when a great player is born.

This is a really interesting topic. I was watching some Mike Tyson videos yesterday, and I was amazed at how he was able to dodge a flurry of punches with what seemed to be very little effort. Some boxers have a strike that is faster than that of a cobra's strike, and yet Tyson ducked out of the way like they were nothing. You should go take a look at some of Tyson's videos and see for yourself.

On a personal level, I have played ice hockey for over 20 years and I know there are times when I surprise myself with my reactions to the puck and other players' movements, some of which are not even in my field of view, and afterward I ask myself "how did I do that?" The mental state required for this can only be described as meditative and thoughtless.

I am also able to catch flying insects out of mid air, but usually only if I'm not thinking about it. If I sit there and think "I'm going to catch this fly" it becomes much more difficult and takes at least a couple of tries to catch it. It would be interesting to see a scan of the brain when such an action is being performed, and how the instinctual reaction compares to the "thinking" reaction. I'm sure they would be different.

reply to post by OrchusGhule


which Tyson fights do you recommend?

I was looking at his fights when he was young, specifically when he fought Michael Spinks, and to be honest...he seemed indifferent to the very idea that another Heavyweight Champion was even trying to hit him.

its almost as if he were in a fight where the outcome had already been decided and concerning himself with his opponent was a waste of mental energy.

reply to post by michaelbrux


The beauty of this video is that for a few seconds, Tyson stood in that ring as the ONLY unified Heavyweight Champion of boxing ever in the World and it took even his trainers a few seconds longer to realize it and embrace him with Congratulations. He was only 20 years old, but Robin Givens is on deck.

There are several things at play here.

The game on the field is different then what is being viewed.

The game being viewed on TV is different then the game being viewed in the stands, and is different then the game being viewed on the field - speaking only of "viewing" here.

I have seen pro basketball games from the TV, the Stands and the Bench. They are all different games, with the TV version being a total distortion of the bench version. So, what you see, depends on where you see it.

Now, on to the actual question. No, athletes do not slow down time. What the good ones do, what is called the "zone," is stay in the present moment. An athlete who states "I was just making all the right decisions" is saying "I was totally in the present moment." The athlete that says "I just couldn't do anything right," is saying "I was nowhere near the present moment."

In the present moment, there is all the time you need to make the right choices. If you are thinking about the next play, or the last bad play, you are weak, confused and out of the present moment. If you are thinking about your wife, your dead dad, or something not a part of the game, you are way out of the present moment and disaster will ensue. Pitchers suffer this the most, those who are in the present moment just pitch. Those who are out of the present moment, try to steer the ball, and there are some who could no longer find the present moment and then could no longer find the plate.

reply to post by michaelbrux


Search "tyson defense" in youtube and there are several highlight videos.

reply to post by dontreally


but, in my opinion, for the athlete to get a ring and end their career with Hall of Fame type statistics.

they have to abandon all physical and mental measurements.

they become a different creation, possessing a physical body only for historical recording purposes.

What makes Wilt Chamberlain different from Kareem Abdul Jabbar? for example. what makes either different from Bill Russell?

the material world is meaningless.

reply to post by crankyoldman


I wouldn't say pitchers suffer that the most, but they definitely are pressed in a way differently from other professional athletes in terms of staying involved with the present i.e. with the game itself, and not worry about themselves. Point guards in basketball and quarter backs in football have a similar need to keep focused on the present, but pitchers differ in that baseball is a much slower game, which means there's so much time in between plays for them to think and dwell on the previous play.

It definitely requires a military like diligence to keep yourself focused at all times.

reply to post by dontreally


watching last years World Series, of Baseball for the international audience, in Game 6.

I watched as the Texas Rangers' 'closer' didn't even appear to want to win the game. He was 1 (ONE) pitch away from glory, but couldn't end it. the Cardinals came back to win that game.

in the next game, Game 7, the Cardinals closer came out and shut the game down for the title.

two men, beneficiaries of equal training, background and compensation, perform differently in similar situations.

one was able to comprehend the situation, while the other was not...is my conclusion.

Originally posted by Idonthaveabeard
Not literaly obviously but in a mental sense. When you watch them in high pressure situations that most of us would panic over and rush, but these guys just play it like its a training match.

For example watching football (soccer) a couple of weeks ago most european members of this site will have seen Pirlos winning penalty against england where he just dinked it carelessly down the middle. Now to sum it up, hes the last penalty taker of the 5 and its his penalty to win the game, millions of people watching him on tv and tens of thousands physically watching him in the stadium. The pressure would have been immense.

But what he did was jog to the ball and waited until the last minute to see where the goalkeeper was going to dive then made his decision about what he was going to do which was so audacious in that situation. So its safe to say he was nailed on certain where the keeper was going.

But in real time all of this happens in a split second, so just how does he (and others) process so many thoughts and decisions under so much pressure and in such a quick space of time? Is it some sort of super high state of conscious which does in someway slow down time inside his mind?

The short answer is yes...You have answered your own question...People whom opperate on the edge ,,Criminal...Military..Sportsmen..Have an ability given a situation to slow down time...It works on the same principal as a slow motion film.Wich apears to show events unfolding slowly.The illusion is acheived by actually photographing 500 shots per second as opposed 60...To the veiwer it looks like slow motion...The same thing happens with top athletes at crucial momments.A top tennis player calculates wind speed flight of serve or ball oppenents height strengths weaknesses basicly 500 percent more calculating an spacial info than the brain normally processses T A MUCH QUICKER RATE.It gives the illusion of slowing time around yourself.

Adrenaline will cause the mind to perceive time as being slowed down. When a striker is nearing the goal, adrenaline kicks in and they're focus increases. The same happens to people who experience life threatening events, look at statements from fire fighters, police, people who have been in car accidents and especially military members who have been in combat. The brain releases chemicals cause hyper-awareness, as a result things seem to move slower and the body reacts quicker.

Heres the penalty for those who wanted to see it, I know on 1st viewing it seems a bit underwhelming. But you have to take into consideration the extreme pressure hes under, but his demeanor suggests hes just stepped out for a quick walk to the shops.