The Games Behind the Game
Best in sports: Parachutes and wristbands put XC runners “in the zone”
In the slide show above, runners Mollie Zapata (CAS’09) and David Proctor (SAR’08) explain how they prepare for race day.
Boston University had its share of big sports winners this past year, and BU Today covered it all. We had stories about athletes breaking records, winning trophies, even going pro. But many of our favorite sports stories are quieter, smaller in a way, more inward, about personalities and quirks and challenges that don’t usually make headlines. Those are the ones we thought we’d return to this week: remarkable athletes in more intimate contexts.
Whether it involves pushing your body to the limit in the final stretch of a sprint or maintaining the composure necessary to make that last-gasp, game-winning shot, sports are as much a contest of the mind as of the body. Yet we rarely hear about the mental regimens that athletes use to maintain mental and emotional focus.
Track and cross country runners Mollie Zapata (CAS’09) and David Proctor (SAR’08) talk about the importance of prerace routines to performing at peak.
Edward A. Brown can be reached at ebrown@bu.edu.
This story originally ran November 24, 2008.
Comments & Discussion
Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.