MEMORY TRAINING TIP:

One exercise to improve memory recall is known as space repetition. It involves repeating, at increasing time intervals, the subject that you are trying to memorize. Research shows that this is the most effective way to commit something to long-term memory.

Mass repetition, which is what many of us are tempted to do, won't work. Repeating the subject 20 times in a row will not make any difference, say researchers.

Here's what will: Repeat the details at 30 seconds, 90 seconds, three minutes, five minutes, and you'll remember it for the rest of your life.

Holliday could bring to the Pirates such Army teaching techniques as workshops, simulations, on-field exercises, videos and MP3 audios personalized to each player, attention-control technology and biofeedback analysis.

The head and brain training techniques cover a variety of mental skill sets: from adaptation to analysis, from energy management to establishment of a purpose, from preparation to perseverance, from self-awareness to self-regulation.

He aims to help the players with their concentration and focus, something Mancini believes they were lacking. He will also work on their field awareness:

1. Reminding them of their defensive responsibilities and encouraging them to share the blame when the ball is in the back of their net.

2. Encouraging his full-backs to be more alert when the opposition has the ball, noting that other teams have consistently attempted to exploit their frailty when they don't have possession.

What constitutes the winning mindset? According to Peter Jensen, sports psychologist for Team Canada's women's ice hockey team, it comes down to four basic things: imagery, perspective, time management and focus. It's that simple and it's that complicated.

Using a simulation movement plate and tracking systems to measure body movements, the device can test performance such as cognitive ability and integration. Through a simulation program, participants are given multiple sources of information to test and train their ability to manage information and make rapid decisions.

"Sharp reflexes and the ability to anticipate the moves and the gestures of fellow players are superior strengths in sports performance," said the Lab's director Dr. Jocelyn Faubert. "Immersive systems such as the Icube technology from EON Reality support the natural training environment needed to get a realistic performance and allow us to evaluate capacities for improvement of perceptive and cognitive ability."

Perception training has proven to be a tool that helps athletes to improve their game and reaction and the capacity to absorb and process infield information. An athletic club who is looking to give their team an edge over their competitors is Manchester United. The football club will use 3D Multiple Object Tracking technology from Faubert's Lab to aid their athletes' visual perception and improve the overall team performance.

These alarming realities have compounded a brain injury epidemic that is crippling young athletes in New Jersey and across the nation, doctors say. In high school sports alone, more than 400,000 concussions occurred nationwide last school year. It's impossible to know how many thousands more occurred in youth sports from football to field hockey and soccer to softball.

The effects - memory loss, throbbing headaches, depression - are only part of more serious medical problems that could threaten every aspect of a young person's future.

Concussion awareness vaulted into the mainstream this past year when a study revealed the effects head injuries had on former National Football League players. However, that talk has been slow to trickle down to high school and youth athletes - even if the evidence shows that concussions are touching athletes at all levels in seemingly every sport.

His approach to his craft was legendary: the daily eye exercises with flash cards; practicing hitting against tennis balls screaming at him at 150 mph; not watching TV during the season; weighing his bats to the quarter-ounce on a kitchen scale.

However, after doing visual exercises for about a year, she learned in 2002 that that common belief is not true, that the brain is more "plastic" than traditionally thought.

By doing simple routines for about 20 minutes a day with items like a bead and a string (brock string eye exercises) or staring at cartoon faces (for memory training), she was able to re-teach her brain.

Nonetheless, the researchers say doing exercises like trying to find symbols on a computer screen as fast as possible can improve your reaction time, but not your memory. Completing sequences of letters can improve your logic skills, but not reaction time. And practicing word association techniques can improve memory, but not overall mental fitness.

Just attach soft alligator clips to your earlobes, slip a headband over your forehead, and the toy's microprocessor can start detecting your electrical resistance, or galvanic skin response. This is the same current used in standard lie detectors.

The microprocessor amplifies the variable current, which is hard-wired to a tiny fan. Your response level determines how high or low a foam ball hovers in the air.

The athlete controls the height of the ball with their mind. Relaxing makes your response change, slowing the fan and causing the ball to drop. Think about your penalty kick or championship putt and the ball might spring up, unles you've mastered your emotions.

Fourth quarter. Down 1, 2, 5, or 10. Up 1, 2, 5, or 10. He gets the ball. Every time. And seemingly every time the Lakers need the shot, he drills it. Often from impossible angles. Occasionally with the odds stacked against him. Possibly in a hostile, venomous environment. Perhaps over an elite, outstretched defender. But you always know what is coming: Swish. Buzzer. Win.

You just know that when the fourth quarter rolls around and the game is close, Bryant will take over the game, because selfishly speaking, that is his quarter. And that's what makes him great.