Dr. Tim Herzog has established competence as a sailor and as a sailing coach which helps him understand nuances of performance in a sailing context. Tim coached sailing for over 20 years, taught at six different yacht clubs, served as a Level I IT, a Level II CT, and was Level III certified. Tim’s coaching career also included stints as Head Coach of Boston College (5th at North Americans + 4 All-American honors) and Assistant Coach at the US Merchant Marine Academy. He is currently involved with the Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis, as a member of the Junior Sailing Committee, and as the fleet captain of the Vanguard 15 Class where he has rebranded the class locally as a parent/child boat. He’s recently been active in the J70 class and was tactician for Geoff Becker at 2016 Midwinters where they finished in 4th place. He’s also an avid team racer.
His sailing background helps him to better apply what he knows about optimal performance. In fact, on occasion, he still sometimes coaches technical or tactical aspects of sailing, being careful to be mindful of his role and expectations of coaches and sailors. He frequently works with coaches and sailors, near and far, individually, in pairs, or in large groups.
And he has explored sailing through an academic sport psychology lens. If interested in some denser reading, check out: Sailing Video-Imagery: Impacts on Imagery Ability – published in the Journal of Imagery Research in Sport and Physical Activity.
Here’s how you can think about the structure of mental training for sailing:
1) Learn Mental Bow to Stern: Building mental skills vocabulary and conceptual knowledge
2) One size does NOT fit all: Everyone has different needs, especially at the highest levels. Assess individual strengths and growth areas
3) Setting mental course strategy: Develop game plans for working on growth areas
4) Mental tactics training: Meetings/Correspondences as regularly as you want (weekly is common), in a format that works for you
5) Tuning your mental rig: Check-ins may become more periodic and need-based as you “set it and forget it,” but frequent enough so that our working relationship is strong
Contact Tim today to see how you can collaborate.
