Ex-Geneva athlete helps kids learn about mental strength

One could easily say that Pete Temple was “mentally tough” during his days in the early 1980s as a quarterback in football and point guard in basketball at Geneva High School.

But he didn't really know what that meant, and never heard any coaches talk about that aspect of sports.

In his professional life as a psychologist helping numerous teens cope with the pressures of school and life, he came to realize that his love of sports had taken a new direction: He felt he could help young athletes learn what it means and what it takes to be mentally stronger, thus helping overall performance.

“You would always hear someone say, ‘You have to be mentally tough and you have to let it go,' when things aren't going well in a sports event,” Temple said. “But how? What is the mechanism for doing it?”

Temple intends to answer those questions with Mind's Eye Sports Performance, a sports psychology aspect of the Dr. Peter Temple and Associates practice in Geneva.

“It really is the same as physical mechanics, and there are mental mechanics that are very transferable into all aspects of life,” Temple said. “It is all about getting your mind right.”

Temple said he has been talking to young athletes for many years, helping them deal with the pressures they were facing. But he wanted to formalize his approach through a set of tests, and by measuring the athlete's key attributes to assess strengths and weaknesses.

“There are some fundamental things, like breathing properly to ease anxiety, but so many kids are not exposed to it,” Temple said. “There are a series of things that will benefit an athlete well beyond the playing years.”

Temple points to hockey goalies as good examples of athletes who have to go through a mental process to put adversity behind them.

“They don't have a lot of time, from the time a goal is scored against them until that puck is dropped again,” Temple said. “There are mental routines to go through to let go of the adversity and get the mind-body working together.”

Those high school age and older are ready to learn about mental strength, Temple said, because it deals with fear of failure, of making mistakes, or of injuries, while also addressing why performance has hit a plateau or lessened.

“When kids are very young, like in youth soccer, they are still learning the physical skills and the fundamentals of the game,” Temple said. ”It is too soon to address the mental aspects. But high school athletes, after years of training in their sports, are often in need of this kind of help.”

Temple, who was inducted into the Geneva High School Hall of Fame in 2008, can provide more details about his program and its approach at (630) 232-7245.

Bag that photo

Our mayors have to deal with plenty of photo shoots, but Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke had a different sort at last weekend's showing of the movie “Bag It” at the Batavia City Council chambers.

A man in the crowd said he has known Schielke a long time, “but this has to be a first.”

That “first” had Schielke posing and smiling with a group of “bag ladies,” or should we say young girls, adorned in plastic bags to illustrate the work of the Batavia Environmental Commission in showing the film about the environmental dangers of plastic bags and other plastic items.

As for the movie, seeing pieces of plastic bags or plastic caps inside the bodies of dead fish and birds washed up on an ocean shore increases my willingness to avoid taking a plastic bag at a store whenever possible.

Lots of cities are banning plastic bags, and it seems sensible to consider a life without them in the near future.

Music to your ears

Fans of classical composers like Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak and Brahms are in luck. You can see students from the Tri-Cities and virtually every other community in this area on April 10 taking part in several chamber ensembles of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra's Chamber Music Institute. Performances are scheduled at 1, 2:15, 3:30 and 4:45 p.m. at the ATC Auditorium at Elgin Community College.

If you haven't been to see ECC's impressive theater setup, or have never heard the EYSO, then it is icing on the cake to your fondness for classical music.

Cost-effective signs

Geneva school board member Leslie Juby admits she's cheap, and she is showing it during her current re-election campaign.

She's using the campaign signs from a previous election, when she ran for a state office.

She used duct tape to cover the “State Senator” portion of the campaign sign and is posting them again for the school board race.

“I kind of wish I had the words ‘re-elect' on the signs now,” Juby said. “But I just couldn't see spending the money for new signs, and it shows how conservative I am.”

dheun@sbcglobal.net