Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information about a school record. Presley Bruskotter was the first male basketball player to score 1,000 career points at Classical Academy High School and history has been corrected.
LA JOLLA, Calif. — Anxiety can interfere with athletic success, even causing some athletes to drop out of sports altogether. But a La Jolla doctor believes he has the solution to keeping the kids on the pitch.
Dr. Ran Anbar from Central Medicine has spent over 20 years becoming a leader in clinical hypnosis. He says he’s helped thousands of kids, including Classical Academy High School basketball player Presley Bruskotter.
“Hypnosis can change people’s lives in a short time,” Anbar said.
Bruskotter recently carved out a place in school history by becoming the first male basketball player to score 1,000 career points. It was a monumental feat for the 18-year-old, and even bigger considering that not too long ago he was considering quitting the game.
He attended the Anbar sessions and feels it allowed him to be himself on the pitch.
“I was thinking about quitting basketball,” Bruskotter said. “There was a lot of pressure on me. I look back now and if I hadn’t come to see Dr. Anbar I wouldn’t know where I would be now.
Anbar, a pediatric pulmonologist, estimates that 90% of athletic performance is the result of mental processes. He encourages patients to implement deep mediation as a way to alter their individual state of mind. His methodology is laid out in his book published last year, “Changing Children’s Lives with Hypnosis: A Journey to the Center.”
“My version is that you learn to change your mindset by maybe thinking of a nice place,” he said, “and learning to quickly change your mindset in order to achieve calm. and focus.”
Bruskotter is now encouraging other athletes to consider using Anbar’s methods to improve.
“I would say just try no matter what,” Bruskotter said. “Because you never know, it might change yours like it changed mine.”
Comments are closed.