by Cheryl Bernard | Feb 28, 2014 | Blog
As I was watching the Sochi Olympics and remembered back to our 2010 Olympic run and the lessons we had applied to manage the stress of playing for Canada, in Canada at one of our biggest Olympics ever. I will never forget our sports psychologist, Penny Werthner telling us, “You have no hope at these Olympics if you can’t manage your stress, recovery time and maintain a healthy perspective.” As my marathon training progresses, I have been having some doubts about making it across that finish line in June. Life has been busy and am having a hard time fitting the training days in and then on top of that running in the cold and wind in Calgary has not been fun or very “confidence building!” So the Olympics got me thinking. Why not apply my curling training to my marathon training? These were the four items I focused on leading up to, and during those 2010 games. Be strict with your training routines, on and off the ice. Meditate and breath, before, during and after games. Maintain a healthy perspective, this is sport, something we love. Don’t make it more than that. We have a choice as to how we are going to react to the situations that arise in sport and life. In 2010 our curling team walked onto the Olympic stage with no prior World experience. I won’t kid you it was tough and stressful. However, I attribute our success during those Olympics to all the work we did under Penny’s guidance in the years leading up to, and during those 2010 Olympic games. Mental preparation...
by Cheryl Bernard | Feb 10, 2014 | News & Events
If you loved watching the Olympics in Vancouver, or if you enjoy watching curling, I am sure you are a fan of 2010 silver medalist, the skip of our Canadian Women’s curling team, Cheryl Bernard. I caught up with Cheryl for a quick chat. J: We all know you as the 2010 Winter Olympic Silver Medalist. What is it like to represent your country in the Olympic Games? C: That’s such a hard question to answer. It was beyond what we or anyone could have imagined. It was a lifetime of dreams come true for our entire team. I remember, well I am sure we will all remember, standing on the podium that day to receive our medals and I don’t think any of us just saw a shiny piece of medal. We saw our vision and what it took to achieve it. We saw our husbands, children and coach and the hours of support they provided behind the scenes. We saw our parents and our friends and their understanding when we couldn’t give them all the time they deserved. We saw early morning practices and late nights pushing ourselves and each other to that next higher level. We saw thousands of emails of support from people across Canada we had never even met. But mostly we saw each other and a dream realized. READ...
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