[quote="The Postgame"] In moments of fear, the human body produces cortisol, which helps its fight-or-flight mechanism. When you hear a story about a mother lifting a stalled car off her child to save his life, that's cortisol at work. But cortisol is not what a great athlete needs in a defining moment. In fact, cortisol may get in the way of an essential ingredient for athletic performance: Testosterone. "That's what comes with ability to stay in the moment -- frontal cortex activation, motor cortex activation and elevation in testosterone," Davis says. Translation: Athletes who "stay focused" (to use a cliche) keep producing testosterone, which stimulates the part of the brain wired for motor skills such as shooting or dribbling. "What we've seen in winners is huge testosterone-to-cortisol balance," Davis says. "When they're on their game, we see evidence that there may be an elevation of testosterone. When people are losing, they are overwhelmed with emotion. That's cortisol." Now here's the twist: Davis has found that when top athletes have a traumatic experience in a game or event, and then return to a similar moment (such as the fourth quarter of the NBA Finals), they often start producing cortisol. Davis has worked for years with the Canadian Olympic team, and he's seen swimmers do perfectly well for years, in every competition, and then fall apart when they get to a scenario reminiscent of one where they struggled four or eight years earlier. It's the exact same stroke or race, but it's a completely different moment. The athlete responds not to the event, but to the moment. Link The article goes on to talk about the ways that this can be overcome in the future. It's pretty interesting in my mind. I'm not a big fan of Lebron myself, but I wonder if there is any merit to this theory.
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