E n g L i s h jenni Currie Santamaria

Sickness and Health
|
157
C.
Reading strategy
Quickly read the first line of each paragraph. Then answer the question.
What are the seven “gremlins” that prevent athletes from doing their best?
_______________________ __________________________
_______________________ __________________________
_______________________ __________________________
_______________________
II. READ
Read the text. Mark the words you don’t know, but don’t stop reading to look 
them up.
What you think affects how you feel and perform. Training your brain is as 
important as training your body.
A person’s self-concept is vitally important. On his deathbed, Sigmund 
Freud said the essence of success in life is love and work. As individuals we all 
want to feel lovable and capable. If you don’t feel good about yourself, you 
tend not to perform well. Those who have a negative self-image ind ways to 
self-destruct. In psychology there is something we call the self-consistency 
theory. It means we act consistent to our self-concept—our self-image. If you 
don’t see yourself as successful, then your chances of succeeding are 
diminished. When good things happen, you tend to discount them.
We all have self-defeating thoughts and behaviors that undermine 
performance. I call them gremlins, the little invisible creatures that prevent 
athletes from performing their best. Here’s my gremlin checklist.
Fear
We all have a primitive ight-or-light mechanism built into us to survive. 
It’s a neurochemical response. We are ready to ight or lee whatever is 
threatening us. In reality, most dangers are not a threat to life or limb. They are 
a psychological threat to self-esteem and ego. Why else would a brain surgeon 
turn to jelly over a four-foot downhill breaking putt [a stroke to the hole in golf]? 
It’s a threat to self-image. Fear actually can paralyze you.
Anger
We have to learn to control our emotions or they will control us. Anger 
is born out of frustration and expectations.
Anxiety
This is a generalized feeling of uncertainty or dread; a sense that 
something bad is going to happen. We all become anxious, but people 
plagued by this gremlin get anxious about being anxious. This only leads to 
trouble.
Self-consciousness
Some athletes are afraid of looking bad or embarrassing 
themselves. They focus on the image of how they look instead of the task at 
hand. You can’t perform well if you’re afraid of embarrassing yourself.

---

158
|
Better Reading English
III. COMPREHENSION CHECK
Match the names of the “self-defeating” thoughts and mind-sets with the 
definitions.
_____ 1.
fear 
a. mind-set created by a fear of failure
_____ 2.
anger 
b. feeling a threat to self-esteem and ego
_____ 3.
anxiety 
c. unwilling to learn
_____ 4.
self-consciousness 
d. not having drive to be the best
_____ 5.
perfectionism 
e. strong feeling of uncertainty
_____ 6.
stubbornness 
f. focusing on the image of how one looks
_____ 7.
lack of motivation 
g. emotion born from frustration and 
expectations
IV. VOCABULARY BUILDING
A.
Words with the relexive preix 
self-
This excerpt contains many words with the relexive preix 
self-
. Read the 
following deinitions and sentences
. 
Notice that when using the relexive preix 
self-
, it is always connected to the following word with a hyphen.
Perfectionism
Self-critical, negative perfectionists can never do enough. Their 
mind-set often is fueled by a fear of failure. Perfectionists often have a very 
critical, self-condemning voice. I believe perfectionism often comes from 
conditional parenting. Children internalize criticism. Critical, condemning 
coaches who use fear and embarrassment injure a young person’s psychological 
health.
Stubbornness
Some people are stubborn, unwilling to learn. They’re not 
open to change. They believe the devil they know is better than the devil they 
don’t know. They aren’t going to take risks that will help them reach the next 
level. This is unfortunate because in sports you must learn how to fail 
successfully.
Lack of motivation
Some athletes simply lack the drive to become the best 
they can be. [
Drive
in this context means, “ the impulse to carry on with energy.] 
You can’t buy motivation. You can’t obtain it from someone else. “Motivation is 
something nobody else can give you,” Joe DiMaggio said. “Others can help 
motivate you, but basically it must come from you, and it must be a constant 
desire to do your very best at all times and under any circumstances.”
It is important to look at yourself and identify your gremlins. In sports, as in life, 
the first step to success is getting out of your own way.
Source: 
Mind Gym
, by Gary Mack, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001

---

Sickness and Health
|
159
self-conscious
to be aware of oneself, as well as realizing that 
others are also aware
She’s always 
self-conscious
 when she has to give a speech.
self-critical 
to be disapproving or critical of oneself
When he’s playing the game, he thinks he makes mistakes, and he’s
self-critical.
self-condemning 
to express strong disapproval of oneself
He makes 
self-condemning
 comments after he makes mistakes.
self-defeating 
acting to defeat one’s self
Thinking you will fail is a 
self-defeating
 attitude.
self-destructive 
destroying one’s self
Drinking in excess every night is 
self-destructive
.
self-esteem 
having respect for yourself and your abilities
Having a good relationship with my father helped my 
self-esteem
.
self-image
the way you think about yourself, your abilities, or 
appearance
She has a poor 
self-image
.
B.
Use the new words
Complete the sentences with the boldface words from Exercise A.
1.
She doesn’t like how her dress its, and she thinks others will notice how 
badly it its. She is _____________________.
2.
His drug abuse shows that he is ____________________________.
3.
Before the competition, he thought he would fail. These are 
____________________________ thoughts.
4.
He thinks his ears are too big and his muscles aren’t big enough. He has a 
poor____________________________.
5.
She’s conident about herself, and it shows in how she treats others. She 
has good ____________________________.
6.
He made ____________________________ remarks about how badly he 
spoke at the meeting.
7.
After performing in the show, she was very ____________________________ 
and counted all the mistakes she had made.

---

160
|
Better Reading English
V. UNDERSTANDING GRAMMAR: MODAL VERBS
A.
Modal verbs
Can 
is a modal. A modal is followed by the base form of a verb and has the 
same form for all subjects. Here are the present and past forms of the ive 
modals in the afirmative and negative: