Seminar examines comprehensive fitness

Somer Breeze-Hanson/Northwest Guardian

Valerie Alston knows everything there is to know about the game of softball.

Her knowledge, skill and talent led to her career at the University of Minnesota. It was on the field where she was at her best. Alston was confident, her attention was focused and she was a goal setter.

Alston hoped her playing days would turn into a coaching career, but they led her down a different path. The former collegiate softball player earned a master’s degree in sports and performance psychology, and now uses her education to train others to develop the mental skill sets similar to elite athletes.

“I really have a passion for sharing knowledge and teaching,” Alston said. “To me (coaching) is what I’m doing. I’m just coaching the mental side of things.”

Alston as well as Kelly Jones of the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Performance and Resilience Enhancement Program for Joint Base Lewis-McChord, conducted a one-day Performance Enhancement seminar Nov. 30 at Albanese Hall.

The eight-hour course was open to Soldiers and civilians and taught how to develop mental skills integral to perform at an elite level.

“It’s a great opportunity for them to understand what the components are that go into performing at a high level and how they can best adapt to what they do on a daily basis,” Alston said.

Soldiers, spouses and civilians attended the quarterly course. The students were pro-active and engaged in discussions with the instructors in the voluntary course.

The Armywide seminar was divided into six chapters: mental skills foundations, building confidence, attention control, energy management, goal setting and integrating imagery. About an hour was spent on each topic and included worksheets, relevant video clips and hands-on activities.

Alston taught the students to think outside of the normal and average, and that optimal performance is a state of mind.

“Being excellent, you have to think in an excellent way,” she said.

While those who take the seminar leave with an abundance of new knowledge including a new perspective for many areas of their every day life, its instructors also learn from their audience. Soldiers share personal stories of their experience with physical fitness tests, training and combat.

“They’ve given me a lot of great personal examples. They give you a different perspective on things, which I think helps me as a civilian better relate to Soldiers,” Alston said.

Jones is the newest addition to the CSF-PREP staff and the course was her first full day of teaching within the program. There are seven trained Performance Enhancement Specialists that rotate to teach the course multiples times a year.

The Center for Enhanced Performance was established at West Point in 1993. The first CSF-PREP site opened in 2007 and JBLM Soldiers were first introduced to it in 2008.

The next Performance Enhancement Core Education course is Feb. 29. Contact the CSF-Prep office at 968-7642 to reserve a seat.