Steelers Super Bowl Victory - Hypnosis and Mental Training Insight

As Pittsburgh Steelers fans celebrate the team's sixth Super Bowl victory, many of them will be talking about James Harrison's 100-yard interception return for a touchdown, Ben Roethlisberger's two-minute drive to win the game, and Santonio Holmes' outstanding catch in the corner of the end zone. Professional athletes such as the Pittsburgh Steelers have the ability to make big plays even under intense pressure. Dan Vitchoff, MS Ed., CHt., Pittsburgh's expert on Mental Training, Performance Coaching, and Sports Psychology points out that sophisticated fitness training, better medical care, and a variety of other factors combine to minimize the differences in one sports team over another.

"With as many well trained, talented athletes as are competing today in every sport, the difference maker is often which athlete or which team has the best mental training and preparation for competition." Vitchoff, founder of the PA Hypnosis Center, and the mental coach who helped Olympians, Walton Glenn Eller and Vincent Hancock win gold, says the Steelers' mental preparation was critical to winning Super Bowl XLIII. He notes that techniques such as Hypnosis, NLP, Visualization, and Imagery also help people lose weight, quit smoking, reduce stress and improve their lives both personally and professionally.

"Confidence was high in the huddle and MVP Santonio Holmes said he could see the catch before it was made; that's visualization, and that's key in Mental Training and Preparations whether you are winning the Super Bowl or ending your smoking addiction." Dan Vitchoff adds that a key to winning came because Big Ben Roethlisberger went into Super Bowl XLIII with a different attitude than he had three years ago in Super Bowl XL, where many believe the Pittsburgh Steelers' victory came in spite of their quarterback and not because of it. Roethlisberger's Mental Training, according to Vitchoff, helped him put together a two-minute drive, under intense pressure, to win the game. "At the PA Hypnosis Center, we use the same techniques with our gold medalists and other successful performance athletes, as we use with anyone who comes here to lose weight, quit smoking, or reduce stress and anxiety."
As proof of the power of hypnosis and mental training, Dan Vitchoff and Catherine Dolgos, a Certified Consulting Hypnotherapist, and Fitness and Nutrition Specialist at the PA Hypnosis Center, frequently cite two similar success stories of their clients. In 2008, Billy Brown, a Pittsburgh resident, set a goal to walk 621 miles and lose 200 pounds. By last November, he had already logged more tha
700 miles and achieved weight loss of over 70 pounds. Clearly, Billy can't give up eating; instead he used hypnosis weight loss and mental training to help him learn to make better food choices. In his battle with obesity, Billy Brown is a champion.

Using the same type of techniques that helped Billy Brown claim victory, on a very different stage, Vincent Hancock turned to Dan Vitchoff's Mental Training and Conditioning techniques to help him to quell his nervousness and beat Norway's Tore Brovold in an intense shootout for the gold medal during the 2008 Olympic Summer Games, Men's Skeet competition. Hancock and his opponent, the only two competitors in the world to post perfect scores in international skeet competitions, were tied after the final series. Hancock stayed calm, hitting his targets, while his opponent missed his target and wound up settling for the silver medal. Nineteen-year-old Vincent Hancock, by his own admission tends to be a jittery person and his ability to remain confident and relaxed was a direct result of the Mental Training and Preparations that he did with Dan Vitchoff.
The success of Billy Brown with his weight loss and of Vincent Hancock and Walton Glenn Eller in the Olympics validates the effectiveness of Pittsburgh Hypnosis Experts Dan Vitchoff and Catherine Dolgos. Dan Vitchoff explains, "Whether it's the Super Bowl, the Olympics, or a battle for your life over obesity, the techniques of visualization, mental coaching, and hypnosis are the competitive edge and the difference between victory and failure."