
Carol-Ann: My experiences are very dynamic. I worked with one of our Olympic fencers and he explained it beautifully, he said Carol-Ann, I see the sports psychologist and he supports me, I have my training and that supports me. But what Brain Gym did was the bridge between my sports psychologist and my training and allowed me to bring them together and bring about my whole performance.
Lisa: That is a beautiful feedback. Which sports areas do you have experience with coaching?
Carol-Ann: Fencing, Basketball, Fieldhockey, Softball, Gymnastics, American Football, Soccer. Grand Master in Marshall Arts … He was next in line to become the grand master. So this man had phenomenal movement and so we did some work with him supporting him to finish his process.
Lisa: How do you work with such people? A grand Master has such amazing movement skills …
Carol-Ann: You know the key thing to remember is we all have this incredible instinct to survive and so when pressure or stress gets large enough that we no longer have resources to balance it, we move into survival. So its that point where it tips into survival where you can work with anybody in the world no matter who they are.
The Tendon Guard response breaks down the core coordination in the body so physically I am no longer moving with the elite skills that I am capable of, instead I can revert back to the coordination that a baby has when they are in fight or flight or the Moro response.
Lisa: How is the work different if you work in team sports or in individual sports?
Carol-Ann: In individual sports it is me myself and I who is the team. When you are working with a team now you all have to contribute to the goals of your team and at the same time there is a wonderful dynamic that I talk to them about the contribution that they make and then they balance for themselves to individually raise their skill level so their contribution is a greater enhancement to the team goal. The goal in team sports is as relevant as it is in individual sports.
Lisa: Which Moment in your work with Kinesiology and sports filled your heart the most?
Carol-Ann: I am so blessed with the experiences that people had. I know we want to look at it as the sports success but it is really more about the persons success. They are a person in life, a whole being and sports is just one aspect of who they are. So there are many Olympians who may have won a gold medal but they crushed and burned afterwards and so I think when you see them take that aspect of their life (as in the sports) but their entire life opens and expands so that they as a human being have just grown and move into the incredible things that they are capable of doing and sports is just one aspect of their life.
Lisa: Thank you very much!