UWM professor plays key role in Olympic gold medalist's training
Alisa Camplin (left) and Barbara Meyer
Update: Camplin edged China's Xu Nannan for the bronze medal on Feb. 22. See the NBC Olympic web site for details.
Australian Alisa Camplin, gold medalist in aerial skiing at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, describes UWM’s Barbara Meyer as her "secret weapon. I wouldn’t be the aerialist I am today without her skills, experience, friendship and loyal belief."
Camplin is now in Turin to compete in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, where she carried the Australian flag at the opening ceremonies. Australia’s Herald Sun newspaper quotes "team boss" Ian Chesterman, who said that Camplin holds a special place in winter sports history. "She also embodies that great Australian spirit that allows her to overcome huge obstacles."
While weather always can disrupt the event schedule, qualifying trials for aerial skiing are planned for Sunday, Feb. 19, and the final competition for Wednesday, Feb. 22.Meyer, a sport psychology consultant and associate professor in the Department of Human Movement Sciences in UWM’s College of Health Sciences, is in Turin to watch Camplin compete.
Camplin and Meyer have endured a roller coaster of emotions since last October, when the athlete injured her ACL (for the second time). She stunned medics with her swift recovery, and was back on skis by Christmas Day. Camplin still had to earn a place on the Australian squad, however. She did so with a fourth place at a World Cup event in Lake Placid last month.
Meyer’s work with Camplin began in 2001, about a year prior to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Facing increased competitiveness with her own teammates on the Australian team, Camplin decided to pursue her own training regimen. One of the first things her new coach, Todd Ossian, suggested was that Camplin consider working with a sport psychology consultant.
Camplin with the 2003 Fédération
Internationale de Ski World Cup
Champion Globe
Camplin already had read books on sport psychology, but her new coach pointed out that there was a "skill set" of mental tools she could add to her competitive arsenal. And there were specific things Camplin felt she could improve on – being too distracted and highly strung during competition, for example.
"Research tells us that what really separates elite athletes from the rest is mental preparation," Meyer points out. Particularly in a high-risk sport such as aerial skiing, eliminating extraneous variables is all-important. There are so many things - wind, changing temperature and snow conditions. It becomes essential to be calm, balanced and focused.
Beginning the "Olympic assault," Camplin and Meyer began emailing in April 2001, three months before they met in person. All three – coach, athlete and sport psychology consultant – forged a tight "triangle," working as a close-knit team. Camplin gave her two mentors permission to discuss her progress directly with each other.
Meyer credits Camplin with giving her "what I need to do my job." Alisa trusted Meyer enough to let the professor inside her head and her heart. The two of them built routines and processes for every type of situation they could imagine happening. Using real simulations and creative mental imagery, they tried to prepare for any eventuality.
It all came together on Feb. 18, 2002, when Camplin’s two jumps in the Olympic finals earned her an Olympic gold medal. When the results were announced and Camplin leaped into her coach’s arms, she told him, "You have to ring Barbara!" The ensuing months of celebration and celebrity brought many rewards, but also many challenges.
Meyer points out that in sports-crazy Australia, athletes are the crème de la crème of celebrityhood. About four months after the Olympics, burnt out and exhausted, Camplin headed for a visit in Milwaukee with Meyer. She enjoyed visiting the shops on Downer Avenue and watching movies at the Oriental Theater as a "regular person."
When she returned to competition, she was no longer the underdog. "Anytime you have success in sport, you become the hunted, instead of the hunter," Meyer says. Camplin confirmed her mastery, particularly during the 2003-04 season, when she finished on the World Cup podium 10 times.
Then, while water training in Park City, Utah, in October 2004, a devastating injury occurred. She snapped the ACL in her right knee, spending months in painful rehab. Still, Meyer journeyed with Camplin to Turin in February 2005. They did their preparation exercises – photographing different points at the site of the aerial skiing competition, checking out the food situation and devising plans for dealing with everything from traffic jams to media attention to security lines. "When I’m standing at the top of this mountain and preparing to jump, this is what I’m going to be seeing."
Camplin successfully returned to World Cup in September 2005. She traveled to Lake Placid this October to water train. Meyer was there when Camplin landed what looked like a great jump, but in the water the athlete knew something was wrong. It was a devastating repeat of the old injury.
Surgery followed, and yet more rehab. Since she couldn’t practice on skis, Camplin watched videotapes of herself jumping, continually in touch with Meyer. She still had to put herself in a place, physically and mentally, where she would do the best jumps she could. And she accomplished that goal through grit and determination.
Meyer points out how her work with elite athletes such as Alisa brings "real world" impact to her students. (Meyer also consults with performing artists and corporate groups.) "These experiences have helped me provide students with guest lectures delivered by individuals who have achieved personal and performance excellence," says Meyer, "and using case studies, I’ve been able to integrate theory and practice in the classroom."
For these students, the "thrill
of victory and the agony of defeat" is the core of their academic pursuits
and professional aspirations.
URL: http://www.uwm.edu/News/Features/06.02/Meyer_Olympic.html
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