1 . 15 years ago, when I was playing basketball in one of Australia’s premier basketball leagues, I remember a sports psychologist we had for the season. As young professional athletes with high egos (自我价值感), the team were not quite convinced the techniques of psychology would ____   performance, especially when it didn’t involve using the physical strength and endurance needed to _____ the weeks of training and games. I, ____ , was interested.

We were trained in a visualization technique used before games. It involved moving ourselves into a meditative (冥想的) state and taking ourselves on a journey into the ____ to recreate the experience of a game, From ____ home, getting to the stadium, being in the change room, walking out onto the ____ and then finally visualizing how we would play and see ourselves ____ . The most important part of the ____ was to bring to life the vivid details of each stage, while also focusing on the ____ that came with it. We were trained to ____ fear, doubt and learned to go beyond them, so that by the time we got onto the court, we were grounded, ____ and ready to play.

What I learnt most from this technique was that winning games was important but how we ____   to play was even more vital. And ____ visualization was a powerful way to see through to the ____ , there were absolutely no ____ in the hard work of getting there.