JohnFMurray.com

ATP Tour tennis pro Vince Spadea owns the longest losing streak and arguably the biggest comeback in tennis history. In a new book titled “The Greatest Comeback,” Spadea and his sport psychologist will attempt to inspire millions by revealing for the first time ever the undiagnosed ailment that contributed to his plummet in the rankings, and how proper clinical diagnosis and treatment contributed to a complete reversal of the longest slump in history.

Palm Beach, FL (PRWEB) February 28, 2008 — ATP Tour veteran tennis professional Vince Spadea still owns the longest losing streak in the history of tennis, having lost 21 straight matches between October of 1999 and June of 2000. His ranking disastrously plummeted from 19 in the world to 227 until he got help, built a new support team, and engineered arguably the greatest comeback ever. He rose again to 18 in the world and won his first title in Scottsdale in 2004.

While many have heard the story about Spadea’s record losing streak and equally amazing resurgence, nobody has yet heard the entire story or the perhaps the most important part of it. The full story has been guarded very carefully by Spadea until now.

While Vince benefited from the motivation provided in mental coaching, a brand new team of helpers, and a new attitude, the book about to be co-authored by Spadea and his longtime sport psychologist and sometimes traveling coach, Dr. John F. Murray (www.JohnFMurray.com), will finally tell the whole story.

This new book tentatively titled “The Greatest Comeback” will reveal for the first time the undiagnosed mental ailment that most contributed to his losing streak, and how proper diagnosis by a licensed clinical/sport psychologist was needed to unravel the mystery and get to the true source of the problem. Proper diagnosis and treatment, along with mental skills training and support led him on a path toward recovery and ultimate glory.

Spadea recently asked Murray to co-author the book with him while they were having their regular sport psychology session together in Boca Raton, FL before Vince flew off to play the Australian Open last December. Spadea and Murray had been browsing the self-help section of the bookstore when they came upon books on comebacks that were written by authors telling other people’s stories, but the authors had not lived the experience. Spadea then exclaimed, “we’ve been working together 8 years since that losing streak and comeback, and now we can tell this story much better than anyone else because we actually lived it.”

Murray agreed to Spadea’s book proposal and the two are now sharing equally as co-authors in writing about an experience they both lived day to day. The book, which should be ready by 2009, will be a no holds barred and honest account of what actually happened, what it was like to endure an historic losing streak, and what contributed to it clinically that has not yet been publicly revealed. In the book, Spadea credits proper psychological diagnosis and treatment by Murray, a licensed psychologist/sport psychologist, as crucial in helping get him back on the right track, make a full recovery, and end up a champion in the process, rather than a player who quit tennis prematurely.

Spadea’s record comeback story will not only set the record straight for the first time, but this truth is better than any fiction story aims to inspire millions of people who are struggling in various aspects of life to make their own personal comebacks. Through Murray’s straight talk about psychological problems, it also aims to throw open the door for many more people to seek help, and to never be ashamed about seeking counseling or psychological treatment when they need it. Vince Spadea recently achieved a career milestone of 300 wins. If a top and proud athlete can seek help and recover, then certainly anyone else can too without shame or embarrassment. The book will also show why sport psychology training needs to be of the highest standard to properly recognize and treat clinical problems when they occur, and why sport psychologists need to be properly trained and licensed as psychologists in their states too.

Dr. Murray’s professional work extends to challenging clinical and performance situations in all sports. He has helped NFL quarterbacks, PGA Tour golfers, NCAA division I basketball teams, and hundreds of other athletes and teams, business executives and sales teams. While in graduate school at the University of Florida he conducted his Ph.D. dissertation on the 1997 national champion Florida Gators football team coached by Steve Spurrier.

Dr. Murray is available for interviews by calling 561-596-9898. His website with hundreds of articles, videos and audios can be found at www.JohnFMurray.com.

John F. Murray, PhD
Licensed Clinical and Sport Psychologist
340 Royal Poinciana Way Suite 339J
Palm Beach, FL 33480
Telephone: 561-596-9898
Web: www.JohnFMurray.com

Vince Spadea
ATP Tour Tennis Professional

The event will be limited to 12 participants and held again at the unique Sutton Junior Tennis Centre in South West London, 4 miles from Wimbledon. This is also the site of the Sutton Tennis Academy which meets the training and practice requirements of professional, full-time or aspiring junior performance players and is a training base for many world-ranked players.

The context of Dr. Murray’s event is tennis, but the lessons and principals benefit anyone in a high performance situation including but not limited to other sports, performing arts or business. Acceptable ages are 11 to adult, but children will need to be accompanied by an adult to provide consent.

The workshop will take place from 9AM to 5PM with a break for lunch. Dr. Murray conducts this personally and participants receive:

1) Signed copy of Dr. Murray’s best-selling book Smart Tennis: How to Play and Win the Mental Game cover endorsed by Wimbledon champion Lindsay Davenport
2) Full powerpoint presentation on 8 mental skills for success
3) Discussion, exercises and strategies for higher performance on and off the court
4) Full professional sport psychology evaluation followed by an 8 page written report with advice
5) Full year of mental coaching support via email and tracking forms over the internet based on the report

To book you place for this exciting and exclusive event in London, and year of training, please send an email to Dr. John F Murray at johnfmurray@mindspring.com or call 561-596-9898 in the USA. Cost for workshop, signed copy of the book, evaluation, 10 page report and year of training is 275 Sterling, payable in advance by credit card using paypal. This is a special package discount, as a professional sport psychology evaluation alone would cost 300 Sterling.

On Saturday the Cougars destroyed the Rebels right back, 74-48, at the Marriott Center in Provo.

If you are scoring at home, or even watching The mtn. on cable, thats a 55-point turnaround. Those are New Hampshire primary numbers. Or the 2006 Detroit Tigers. As turnarounds go, it was like executing a bat turn in downtown Gotham City after the Batmobile was retrofitted for fuel injection.

It was further confirmation that theres no place like home in college basketball.

To extend that analogy, when the Rebels clicked their ruby red high-tops and found they weren’t in Kansas, or at least the Thomas & Mack, anymore, a house fell on them. Only it wasn’t inhabited by Munchkins. It was inhabited by 6-11 guys named Plaisted and Miles and a 6-foot-6 guard named Lee Cummard, the Wicked Witch of the East, at least when it comes to tormenting the Rebels.

The severity of the beating had a lot of Rebels fans raising their eyebrows like John Belushi in one of those old Samurai Delicatessen skits with Buck Henry. But they shouldnt have been surprised.

For starters, BYU has won 44 games in a row at home. Thats the nations second-longest home winning streak behind No. 1 Memphis State (47 games).

Last year, when the Rebels were 30-7 and made nonbelievers such as Digger Phelps apologize like Andy Pettitte for underestimating them, UNLV beat BYU by eight at home. And lost by 27 on the road.

In a perfect world, when they played a third time, in the conference tournament championship game, it should have been on a neutral court. But because theres nothing perfect about the Mountain West, with the possible exception of Commissioner Craig Thompsons hair, the rubber match was played at the Thomas & Mack.

The Rebels won, 78-70.

Just as Dorothy said they would. Toto, too. (But not Digger Phelps.)

The home court advantage is so significant in college basketball that Lon Kruger believes even referees are influenced by it.

absolutely, the UNLV coach said. “If you and I were out there, and the crowd was going crazy, no question we would be influenced, too.

Thats not a knock at all. Thats human nature. There are probably two, three, four calls a game that are influenced by the crowd. In a game that is going down to the wire, two, three, four possessions is a lot.

The NCAA doesnt keep statistics on calls that can go either way that are whistled for the home team. But think about it. When was the last time you saw a home team go on an 8-0 run, and the crowd was going crazy, and there was a collision under the basket where the home team player may or may not have established position that was called a blocking foul instead of a charge?

Thats what I thought.

Kruger attributes much of the home court advantage in basketball to the proximity between players and fans.

“You get to that eight-minute mark in the second half and both teams are getting a little fatigued, the home team gets energized a little bit, he said about the effect of a raucous crowd.

Youre confined. Youre not in a big open-air stadium. Its not like baseball and football. Its continuous action. The crowd is more into it.
Mind game experts agree. The home court advantage and Tiger Woods are two of the best arguments for sports psychology,said John Murray, a noted sports psychologist based in Palm Beach, Fla.

Like Kruger, Murray said the sensory experience derived from positive and negative feedback from fans is more pronounced in basketball than in other sports. That explains why its a lot easier for a visiting team to find the open man in Fort Collins, where there are few fans in the stands, than in Provo, where a sellout crowd of more than 22,000 turned out for UNLV-BYU on Saturday.

True, you also have to factor in Colorado States inability to hit the broad side of a barn with a jump shot. But the experts say the setting of a college basketball game can be just as important as who is playing.

Im a big believer in performance, Murray said. But obviously, theres much more to performance than raw ability or the ability to move the basketball from one point to another.

In that way, Murray said, sports are no different from other audience-driven pastimes, such as playing guitar in a rock band. Put a musician in an empty concert hall, and he plays one way. Put him onstage at Live Aid and see if his amp doesnt go up to 11.

When you see all the great Olympic track records broken, its during the games, not the trials, Murray said. What does that tell you?

Well, it tells Kruger the Rebels arent interested in returning to the foot of the Wasatch Mountains to play basketball anytime soon.

Great atmosphere, very good players, he said when asked what makes BYU so tough at home. Thats a good combination.

“It’s still fresh in our minds,” defenseman Bryan Allen added. “It’s something you can’t just forget about. It was a pretty traumatic experience. But we have to try to go on, especially now that we know it looks like he’s going to make a full recovery.”

Zednik was upgraded from stable to good condition Tuesday afternoon and moved from the intensive care unit to a patient room, according to a statement released by Buffalo General Hospital.

He’s expected to be released by this weekend. The rehab time for his team’s psyche, though, is unknown. Center Olli Jokinen said he hadn’t slept much the past two days.

“I think every single guy in the locker room has been feeling the same,” Jokinen said. “You’re going to remember that the rest of your life, but you just have to find a way to deal with it and live with it.”

The Panthers, who were within two points of first place in the Southeast Division through Monday’s games, will play the first of their final 24 regular-season games tonight at home against the Canadiens. The challenge of making the playoffs for the first time since 2000 just became harder.

“It’s going to have an impact of some sort,” Hall of Fame defenseman and Panthers broadcaster Denis Potvin said of Zednik’s gruesome injury, when a major artery was nearly severed and teammates feared for Zednik’s life. “The key is for them to channel it into a positive impact.”

How will the incident affect them on the ice? More specifically, how will it affect Jokinen, the team’s captain and leading scorer? Jokinen is a close friend and linemate of Zednik’s, and he’s the player whose skate cut Zednik.

“Personally, I definitely am concerned for him,” Allen said. “It’s a tough situation. It could have been anyone’s skate, anyone’s neck. Unfortunately it was his [skate], but it was not his fault and nothing he could prevent. I asked him [Tuesday] morning how he was feeling. I’m sure it’s something that’s gone over and over and over in his mind.”

Atlanta-based sports psychologist Jack Llewellyn said that in his 30 years of working with athletes, he has found hockey players to be the strongest mentally.

Llewellyn said experiencing what the Panthers did can aid their performance.

“When things are not going well, one way really to get away from that is to play,” he said. “What usually happens is the focus of the players will be as good and even more so than it would be otherwise. I’d be surprised if it had a negative impact on their play.”

John Murray, a West Palm Beach sports psychologist, said he doesn’t think the aftereffects of Zednik’s injury will linger.

“But you have to understand, there’s a whole world out there below the surface that involves thoughts and feelings,” Murray said. “It’s another stress on an athlete. There could be a possible post-traumatic response to that.”

The team held a meeting before Tuesday’s practice and Panthers coach Jacques Martin said he spoke to Jokinen twice the past two days about Zednik. At this point, Martin said, the Panthers “must rally as a group” and “continue to go about our business.”

While stressing he doesn’t know Jokinen, Murray said an analogy for how Jokinen might feel would be if Jokinen was driving a car in which Zednik was a passenger and a crash occurred. Even though Sunday’s slash wasn’t Jokinen’s fault, there might be some feelings of guilt and anxiety.

“If I had to guess, 90 percent of them will probably put it behind them completely and there will never be anything more than, ‘Ooh, that was a nasty experience,’” Murray said. “But what about the other 10 percent? I wouldn’t at all be surprised if none of them had trouble dealing with this, or one or two or three of them.”

Lineup changes
With Zednik out, Martin said, Ville Peltonen will take Zednik’s spot on the first line and right wing Rob Globke, who was called up from the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in Rochester on Tuesday, will play on the third line. Left wing Rostislav Olesz (hand) resumed practicing with the team Tuesday and could return Friday.

Center Stephen Weiss didn’t practice because of the flu.

I should have paid closer attention to Dr. John Murray, a West Palm Beach sports psychologist I wrote about last year. Murray, whom The Washington Post once touted as a football Freud, sent out his annual assessment of the Super Bowl combatants and declared the Colts would bust up the Bears big time.

What makes Murray more credible, I think, than your average prognosticator is that he bases his predictions on grades that are based in teams’ performance, play by play. The goal on each play is perfection. To attain perfection, each player on each unit must focus and execute flawlessly on each play. Obviously, that’s not possible. But the team that is able to focus and execute at the highest level most of the time should win, barring bizarre circumstances.

For the past five years, Murray has tracked playoff teams through his Mental Performance Index. When Super Bowl time arrives, he compares the MPI for each team – overall, plus half a dozen specific categories – and renders a prediction. The only time that the team with the higher index did not win was last season, but as you will recall, that game turned on a couple of big plays and a couple of widely criticized calls by the officials.

This year, the Colts performed with a .547 overall MPI in the playoffs, while the Bears were at .520. The Colts also performed better than the Bears in every breakdown category, with a whopping .570 to .507 edge in total pressure situations.

Based on those facts, Murray predicted Colts dominance. Based on a lot of things”not-unfounded thinking that the Bears get some bizarre breaks being in there, but my own stupidity being No. 1” I didnt buy it.

Oh, well.

New England enters the game 18-0 with a chance to make history. With a victory over the Giants, the Patriots would be the first team since the 1972 Dolphins to complete a perfect season with a Super Bowl. In addition, theyd become the first team in the 88-year history of the NFL to finish a season 19-0.

It’s a challenge that leaves quarterback Tom Brady in awe.

I think its the biggest game of all of our lives, Brady said yesterday. My life, the entire team, our coaches, were going to be remembering this game for as long as we live, win or lose.

Were going to have great memories of this experience, or were going to look at it truly as a missed opportunity.

Bradys characterization of Sunday’s game as an all-or-nothing proposal for the Patriots is dead on, according to sports performance psychologist Dr. John F. Murray.

“If the Patriots lose this game, on perhaps the biggest world stage ever, they will be crowned the greatest choke of all time, said Murray, whos studied New Englands run to perfection closely all season. On the other hand, if they win this game ” especially if they win handily or with a clutch performance ” they will indeed go down as the greatest-performing team in the history of the NFL and perhaps the greatest team ever.

But for many right now, the talk of becoming the greatest team ever can wait. Theres one more game to consider and plenty of things to worry about. On offense, dont expect the Patriots to feature many exotic looks.

Now that theyre out of the Foxborough cold, expect the Patriots to throw more than theyve done in their two previous postseason outings, especially if New York leaves Randy Moss alone in single coverage. On defense, New England will likely focus its energies on stopping the Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress combination (as well as running back Brandon Jacobs) thats carried the Giants to the Super Bowl.

Rodney Harrison says that if all that happens Sunday, there will be time to bask in their accomplishment. Until then, theres work to do.

Once were done with this game and we take care of business, then well have the rest of our lives to sit back and reflect on that and tell people how great we thought we were, Harrison said. Right now, thats not the time or place to think about it.

Not long after, my parents signed me up for the wrestling team. Although it was a radical upheaval from my previous pressure-free lifestyle, I developed a penchant for exercise, and my interest in video games vanished.

Until a few months ago.

That’s when many of my cohorts began extolling the wonders of the Wii. Manufactured by Nintendo, the Wii is the sixth evolution of its console. But unlike other game consoles, users must stand up and move around to play the Wii sports games, such as boxing, baseball, tennis and more.

A small study in the British Medical Journal, funded by a Nintendo consulting firm, found that children playing an active Wii game burned 60 more calories per hour than those playing Microsoft’s Xbox 360, although not as many calories as the real thing. Another small study, published in the current journal Pediatrics, found similar results. Slightly obese children increased their energy output nearly fivefold by playing the Wii’s dancing game and using the Sony PlayStation 2’s EyeToy, which allows people to catch objects interactively.

Nintendo is capitalizing on this new way to exercise. Demand for the $250 console at Christmastime was similar to the Tickle Me Elmo phenomenon a few years back.

There’s even an online “WiiHealthy” fitness forum that users can join. And some gyms are now offering Wii workout stations, including the Cooper Aerobics Center at Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.

“The kids love it, and we’ve gotten several positive responses from their parents,” said fitness director David McGarry. “They tell their mom and dad that they want to go to the fitness center because they want to go play.”

I had to see for myself what all the fuss was about. Time for some method journalism.

{}Batter up! (Sort of)

My local gym lacked a Wii workout station. However, the living room in Adam Pachowka’s home in Pike Creek offered a makeshift one. The self-described “gamer” has owned 10 consoles and got the Wii in November of 2006.

I helped him push his couch away from his TV to give us ample space to play the baseball game.

Pachowka, 26, went first. He brought the Wii controller behind his head with his left hand. A second after the pitch was released, he uncoiled, lining the ball into the outfield for a hit. He slapped another hit on the second pitch. Of the 30 pitches thrown, he hit 22.

“The first time I played this game I whiffed on every single pitch,” said Pachowka. “But even then I felt like it got the heart rate up a bit, and it burned some calories.”

I was up next. Crouching into a stance, I felt like I was at the batting cages. I stepped into the pitch and swung my Wii remote, which vibrated upon virtual contact. A ball sailed toward the centerfielder for an out. In the end I got 15 hits, but I swung at every pitch. I was being active, but I was wielding only a 2-ounce remote instead of a Louisville slugger. Nary a bead of sweat graced my brow.

“It’s not going to build any muscle,” said Pachowka, a former high school soccer and lacrosse player. “It’s not going to replace a workout. The few times I go to the gym I feel a lot more tired. But if you’re getting zero exercise, this is a great way to start.”

McGarry said ideally, the Wii could be used to complement exercise, like a warmup. But for overweight children — and adults — it may at least kindle an interest in exercise.

“We have such a problem with childhood obesity, so you want to target those kids and find a way to get them physically active,” he said. “If this is something that will help us we should use it. Long-term, you see the cost of health care now.”

{}’It won’t compare to a workout’

In the British Medical Journal study, teens burned 179 calories playing Wii tennis and 174 calories playing Wii boxing. At rest, they burned an average of 72 calories per hour.

The researchers also found, however, that those kids burned twice as many calories punching an actual boxing bag.

“It won’t compare to a workout because it’s far less beneficial,” said Michael Rogers, an exercise physiologist and research director of the Center for Physical Activity and Aging at Wichita State University in Kansas. “But the bottom line is that if you can get people to be more active than they are normally, it’s going to have some benefits.”

And not just for youngsters. At some retirement communities, senior citizens who’ve never played a video game in their life are having trouble putting the Wii controller down. The biggest hit with the older crowd is the Wii bowling game, in which players simulate the hand motion involved in rolling the bowling ball.

“[Traditional] bowling can lead to a fall, and so can tennis,” Rogers said. “But one could argue that this is safer for older adults and a good way to promote physical activity.”

{}Come on, get hyper

Next, I visited Heather Takayama at her home in Middletown. Takayama, a personal trainer at the Zone Fitness and Wellness Center in Bear, has owned a Wii since December and her children, 8-year-old Jacob and 12-year-old Sophia, love it.

First, I played tennis against Jacob. There was no running back and forth to stretch for balls. I simply turned my hips to the right and swung the remote for each forehand; I went to the left for each backhand. The Wii vibrated with each swing. It felt like a slow version of ping pong.

Jacob, on the other hand, looked like Jimmy Connors circa 1974. He jumped when he served, darted to his left for backhands and to his right for forehands. He seemed to be burning a lot more calories than I was.

“I’d rather have him play outside,” Heather Takayama said. “But he’s a bit hyper, so I feel like he’s using up some energy when he plays this.”

We moved on to pugilism. The day before, boxing with Pachowka felt more like playing the drums. You only scored solid hits when you snapped your elbows at the bag — the soreness from this movement is now being referred to as “Wii elbow.” Takayama, who teaches kickboxing, said the shoulders can be strengthened by having to block punches. But to maximize the energy expended, she gets creative when she boxes on the game.

“I do my own bobs and weaves when I play,” she said. “It makes you more active, and it gives your abs a workout.”

One popular game that doesn’t come with the Wii but can be bought separately can, in fact, give you a lot of exercise. In Dance Dance Revolution, a musically synchronized video game series, players use their feet to push pads on a mat, responding to arrows that appear on the screen. Kids love it, and it can provide an aerobic workout.

Newark resident Brett Giblin, who works out five days a week, said it’s the only Wii game that challenges his heart rate. But even then, he said, it won’t be an alternative to the gym.

“You’d have to do that game every day if you want to get in shape, and who’s going to do that?” said Giblin, 23. “In the end, it’s a video game.”

{}Tougher workouts ahead

I found that Giblin is right. The Wii is a lot of fun — much more so than my Nintendo Entertainment System of old — but it is still just a video game. I didn’t get a workout, let alone even break a sweat, while playing baseball or boxing.

But who knows? Maybe a decade from now, games you play in your living room will be as challenging as biking in the Alps.

To that end, Nintendo recently released Wii Fit in Japan, and it will hit the U.S. market by midyear. The game uses a plastic step as a controller that senses the pressure of the player’s feet. Wii Fit, which features aerobics, yoga, ski and soccer, also tracks the player’s activity and body mass index.

Like many others, sports psychologist John F. Murray of Palm Beach, Fla., believes the games can promote activity, especially among the couch-potato set. But he also thinks enough time is already spent in front of a computer or television screen. And he said the Wii isn’t going to be the key to reversing the nation’s obesity trend.

“There’s no substitute for the real thing,” he said. “We need to encourage the exercise over the gimmick.”

“But,” he added, “it’s a step in the right direction.”

{}The Wii thing vs. the real thing

A Nintendo-funded study in the British Medical Journal compared Wii workouts to real ones. Researchers tracked a dozen girls and boys ages 13 to 15 and measured how many calories they burned playing Wii tennis, boxing and bowling. The kids burned more calories playing Wii tennis and boxing than traditional video games. But they burned twice as much energy boxing with a punching bag than playing the Wii boxing game.

A study in the journal Pediatrics looked at two groups of children. One group had their energy output measured while they sat and watched TV and played a traditional video game. The other group played activity-required video games and watched TV while walking on a treadmill. The energy output for the latter group tripled in children of normal weight and quintupled for mildly obese children.