Are Sports Still Alive in this Economy?

SPECIAL REPORT FROM DR. JOHN F MURRAY: Are Sports Still Alive in these Tough Economic Times?

It’s been one of the most exciting weeks ever for sports, especially here in Florida. The Miami Dolphins won the AFC East after a 1-15 mark last year. The Florida Gators football team grabbed its second national championships in three years, making this author and all of Gator Nation extremely proud. But is all this sports hype justified in a time when the economy is tanking, shops are closing, and people are looking desperately for work? Read on …

Newsday and the Chicago Tribune: See the article in today’s Newsday and Chicago Tribune after I had a nice talk with John Jeansonne about the need for even more frivolity in sports

Florida Times Union: Mark Woods and I engaged in a similar discussion a few days earlier and you can find it here

Irish Tennis’ On the Line: Other nations are playing even more sports and learning about sports psychology. See my new article in Ireland’s top tennis publication, “On the Line” about sports psychology for kids

Speaking Engagements: I’ve been invited to deliver more speeches than ever recently. The consensus seems to be that sports should thrive even more in times of economic downturn as it serves a vital need in society to keep our spirits up. It was a pleasure this week to speak to the Palm Beach Flager Rotary meeting about coping with stress in these tough financial times. After the speech, I received the following endorsement from Stephen Millier, and thank him greatly for the invite and the quote:

John F Murray delivered a captivating talk at the Palm Beach Flagler Rotary breakfast meeting.
In these uncertain times, Stress was the topic of the day, John covered the topic in an interactive
manner engaging the entire group and leading to a lively discussion. We hope to have John F
Murray speak to us again. Stephen Miller, Speaker Chairperson, Palm Beach Rotary, January, 2009

It was also fun to deliver separate talks this week to almost 300 golfers and 30 tennis players at the Ibis Golf and Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens. I’ll be in touch soon with those details. Keep your schedules free for our February 21 workshop in Princeton, New Jersey. Contact me for details about that half day sports psychology seminar.

In sum, sports are not only surviving … they are … well … like what Joe Dimaggio represents in the song line “where have you gone Joe Dimaggo” … what we often turn our “lonely eyesâ€? to first in our times of greatest need.

All the Best!
John F. Murray, PhD
139 North County Road Suite 18C
Palm Beach, Florida 33480
Tel: 561-596-9898
Fax: 561-805-8662
www.JohnFMurray.com

Dr. Murray’s “high performance psychology” helps people in a variety of challenging situations in business, sports, academics and life. He is a best-selling author & columnist, and a frequent speaker and seminar leader. His commentary appears almost daily in the media. For example, Dr. Murray recently contributed to the Boston Globe, NY Times, LA Daily News, and Newsday, and he appeared as an expert on Fox Television, MSNBC and ABC Good Morning America.