"Caught in the Spotlight: Anxiety
and Performance"
-- The John W. Heisman
Club is proud to present: "Caught
in the Spotlight: Anxiety and Performance."
Speaker: Dennison Smith, Ph.D, Norman Henderson
Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology, Oberlin
College
Date: Saturday, March 17th, 11:00 a.m.
- 3:00 p.m.
Location: Craig Lecture Hall
To Register or For More Information: Contact Carla
Freyvogel at aida1898@yahoo.com
View
Panelist Bio's (.pdf) | View Flyer (.pdf)
Oberlin College’s John W. Heisman
Club is sponsoring a symposium on March 17 entitled “Caught
in the Spotlight: Anxiety and Performance.” Dr.
Dennison Smith, the Norman Henderson Professor
of Neuroscience and Psychology will be the lead
speaker. He will discuss the effects of anxiety
on performance in many arenas: athletic, artistic,
and academic. The talk will attempt to show how
anxiety associated changes in the nervous system
disrupt performance and show that knowledge about
the operation of the brain can help athletes and
performers overcome the negative impact of anxiety.
This symposium grew out of the commitment of the
John W. Heisman Club to expand its efforts beyond
athletics into the broader Oberlin community. Traditionally
an athletic booster club of sorts, the Heisman
Club was founded in 1978 with the objective of
strengthening Oberlin’s athletics program.
The club has been very successful. Through the
years, the club has funded major capital improvements,
as well as provided general financial support to
the athletics department and coaches. The Heisman
Club is also known for generating enthusiasm for
Oberlin athletics by hosting tailgate parties at
athletic events and by sponsoring the awards programs
that recognize athletes of the past and present.
The Heisman Club remains committed to working
closely with Oberlin’s athletics director,
Joe Karlgaard. Karlgaard regards wellness and lifelong
fitness as paramount. His efforts have allowed
integration of more wellness programs into the
scope of the athletics department, including the
introduction of a somatic studies class, a cross-registration
course with the dance department.
With this approach in mind, the Heisman Club is
seeking to promote wellness and to find areas of
interest common to both athletes and others on
the Oberlin campus. Last week, a drop-in pilates
class, funded by the Club, started at the crack
of dawn in Warner Gymnasium.
The topic of the symposium, “Caught in the
Spotlight: Anxiety and Performance,” was
the brainchild of Roger Laushman, a professor in
the biology department. Dr. Laushman is an accomplished
athlete himself.
The topic should have tremendous appeal
at Oberlin, as the campus is teaming with performers.
Of course, there are performers in the conservatory.
There are performers on the athletics fields. There
are certainly performers in the classroom. Almost
anyone can tell a good tale of a time they were
undone by anxiety and it compromised a performance.
Dr. Smith’s lecture will be followed by
a panel discussion. Participants on the panel will
include Sally Stunkel of the opera department and
Matthew Wright of the theater and dance department.
Both Ms. Stunkel and Mr. Wright are performers
as well as directors. Head Women’s Basketball
Coach Christa Champion and Head Men’s and
Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field
Coach Ray Appenheimer will also be on the panel,
along with Paul Treufaft ’64, a deputy coroner
of Lorain County and orthopedic surgeon. George
Smith ’87, a bureau reporter for ESPN news,
will moderate the discussion, which will focus
on anxiety and performance, preparation, coping
skills and suggestions, as well as personal tales
of failure and greatness.
Deborah Vogel, a neuromuscular educator for the
theater and dance department, and her students
will then lead the group through some exercises
and activities designed to address, cope with,
and redirect anxiety in a performance situation.
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