Some days are better than others. It's an old saying and it applies to many aspects of life, especially our performance on the sporting field. Sometimes things just seem to go right for us, while at other times they don't. But how can this be when our physical abilities like strength, speed and stamina remain consistent? The answer lies in the working of the mind.
Our minds do more than just tell us how to carry out sporting activities. They also guide us through a vast range of emotions, attitudes and sensations that impact greatly on our sporting performance. The study of the human mind and how it relates to sports performance is called sports psychology. In this program, we'll take a look at sports psychology and some of the ways coaches and psychologists can influence an athlete's mind so as to maximize sporting performance.
We'll look at what is sports psychology, motivation, arousal, mental rehearsal and imagery, and goal setting, concentration and confidence. Sport psychology is all about developing psychological skills so as to master the mind and improve sporting performance. For a coach to help their athlete develop these psychological skills, it's essential they understand their athlete's needs. as a whole person rather than as a sports person alone. I think as a coach, your role is very broad these days.
Not only am I out there with her training, but I'm writing her a program. I monitor a variety of things. variety of things from how obviously she's feeling on the day and what's happening around her with regards to her life, her uni, everything else has impact on the ultimate result.
The first phase in developing psychological skills is the education phase. In this phase the coach talks to the athlete and ascertains the sorts of psychological skills they're currently using. In the second phase, the coach talks to the athlete and ascertains the acquisition phase, the coach focuses on the specific skills that are to be acquired by the athlete. Skills to be acquired may include controlling arousal levels so as to produce peak performance.
If an athlete is over-aroused, they may lose focus and perform badly. If under-aroused, their energy levels and concentration will be low and they may be unable to perform well. Another skill is using mental imagery to create positive sporting experiences.
Athletes can develop skills in visualising their match or event so as to mentally prepare themselves for the challenges that lie ahead. Other psychological skills to be acquired may include concentration skills, self-confidence, motivation techniques and goal setting. We'll discuss these skills in some depth later in the program.
During this phase, the acquisition phase, coaches must also take into account that every athlete has different ways of learning new skills. Some learn by listening, some by watching, some by doing. Because each member in your squad is an individual and they learn different ways and react differently to different scenarios.
So you need to have that relationship with each individual. So I guess from a psych point of view I need to know each individual and what motivates them to achieve their goals. The third phase is the practice phase. Here the psychological skills to be learnt become an integral part of training. With the help of coaches and sports psychologists, athletes can train their bodies and their minds to achieve improved sporting success.
However, it is important to remember that like everyone, athletes need complete and fulfilling lives. If they're not happy on a personal level, their sporting performance may suffer greatly. We'll spend some time with the athlete just understanding things like what's the balance you have at the moment? Is all you're doing and all you're into just about your sport and this goal that you have? Which of course is fine for them to be doing but at the same time there does need to be a balance.
Are you doing something on a daily basis? that is purely for you as a refresher? Do you meditate?
Do you do yoga? Do you have a swim? Do you surf? Do you do something that's a little outside your sport that's a mental refreshment, that's very much a switch-off?
Decreased concentration, decreased motivation, depression and anxiety are all psychological symptoms of overtraining, a situation in which athletes can't keep up with the demands of their sport. Psychological causes for this may be poor living arrangements, work problems, family problems or relationship problems. In these instances, athletic training must be reined in and personal problems addressed.
Sports psychology is about mastering the mind to improve sports performance. Coaches must understand their athletes as whole people so as to ascertain their level of psychological skill. Psychological skills include controlling arousal, developing mental imagery, concentration, self-confidence, motivation and goal setting.
Different athletes have different ways of learning psychological skills. Athletes must be happy in mind and body to train and compete well. In the competitive world of sport, an athlete cannot win without motivation. Put simply, motivation is an individual's personal drive to succeed.
Motivation is known to have two forms of drivers, intrinsic and indirect. and extrinsic extrinsic drivers are those external things that may lead an athlete to desire success for example a medal money fame or sponsorship setbacks however are common in the sport the sporting world. Success, medals and money can take a long time to achieve. For this reason, extrinsic drivers can't be relied upon to maintain motivation.
Intrinsic drivers are much more personal and have greater staying power. Intrinsic is basically the internal drives we have and so we can be motivated by things like the challenge, the feeling, the self-fulfillment of accomplishment. You might even be intrinsically motivated.
motivated by the neurochemical response, you know, adrenaline and endorphins and these feel-good chemicals that can go through, we can create by doing something. Most athletes are motivated by a mix of extrinsic and intrinsic drivers. Across my squad, 20 athletes, each of them will be motivated by different things.
Some might be hockey's been in the family for a long time and they want to impress their family. Some might be external things, want to get a gold medal at an Olympic Games. Others just to be part of a team sport. So motivation is very individualised, I think. Coaches may choose to develop an athlete's motivation levels via inspirational or pep talks, in which the value of victory is highlighted.
However, care must be taken when using these forms of speeches. As we'll see later, when some athletes become over-aroused, their performance can drop. Incentives for good performance and punishments for bad performance can also be used to enhance an athlete's motivation. These methods should also be used with caution.
In team sports, players may place earning their incentive over the good of the entire team. In the case of punishment, a lazy player may prefer their punishment, a set of 20 push-ups over their assigned task, which involves greater effort. Goal setting and feedback from coaches are both effective ways to maintain athlete motivation. Goal setting is effective as it provides clear objectives to be reached, giving the athlete a solid objective to work towards. I have a lot of motivation.
I have a lot of motivation for my athlete and for myself to want to achieve. I am a person that wants to achieve a lot, so I suppose motivation for me is getting to that next goal. Feedback from coaches is effective that gives the athlete a sense of forward motion in their training.
Through being instructed how to improve their performance, good results come quicker, leading to positive emotions and a positive attitude. A lot of the girls at this level thrive on feedback though, positive feedback, and want to know when they do something well, and vice versa, want to know when they don't do it well and why they don't do it well. That motivates to a certain extent so they can set their goals higher and higher each time. Motivation is an individual athlete's drive to succeed. Motivation drivers can be extrinsic or intrinsic.
Most athletes are driven by both. Coaches can enhance athletes'motivation with pep talks, incentives and punishments. Goal setting is effective for enhancing motivation as it provides objectives to work towards.
Feedback is effective for enhancing motivation as it helps the athlete improve performance, thereby improving their attitude. Athletes need to be mentally and physically ready when called upon to play sport. This sense of readiness is referred to as arousal and has three different forms.
Physical arousal is the extent to which the body is physiologically ready to play sport. Physical arousal takes into consideration muscle activation and adrenaline levels. Mental arousal relates to clarity of mind, focus and attention levels. Emotional arousal relates to an athlete's emotional readiness to perform. Emotional states can swing from strong competitive aggression to a calm, removed sense of composure.
Different sports require different levels of arousal. Gymnastics is a low arousal sport, as best results are achieved by a strong, removed sense of composure. are achieved with a high level of mental composure and precise attention to detail in movement.
Team sports are often high arousal sports as they can require extreme physical effort in short, sharp bursts as well as strong competitive aggression. While different sports generally require different levels of arousal, there is vast variation in terms of the level of arousal that works best for each individual within those sports. Some athletes naturally perform better when they are calm and composed.
Others are able to channel better performance in a highly aroused state. Ideally everyone as soon as they step over the white line to play hockey is at the optimum arousal. And again that's different for the 16 individuals that walk across the park. I have to address the group before we run out to play and then maybe spend more time on individuals that lack the arousal or are over aroused. Each individual's optimum arousal is often referred to as being in the zone.
In this state, a footballer may find every kick goes exactly where he or she wants it to. A tennis player may find every shot's a winner. This is because the individual athlete has aligned their physical, mental and emotional arousal at the point that best suits them.
Arousal levels and its relationship with sporting performance is visually depicted on a graph known as the inverted U hypothesis. In this graph, maximum performance is reached at the point of optimum arousal. From this point, if arousal increases or decreases, performance falls down on the U-shaped curve. Over-arousal causes problems due to muscles tensing up and the inability to make the most appropriate split-second decisions. Under-arousal causes problems as concentration drops and the body becomes less responsive.
Yeah, I think some people get too excited or nervous or something like that and they lose the edge or they've wasted so much energy on being... nervous or and then there's the opposite where you're not heightened up about it at all and that's very difficult to get going then after that so I think there is a heavy medium you know you want some excitement you want some energy going through you system but you don't want to run out on your kind of thing. Athletes can learn specific techniques for controlling their arousal levels.
Listening to dynamic music, short sharp breaths and fast sprints can help lift arousal levels. Muscle relaxation exercises, relaxed breathing and focusing on the sport itself rather than your competitors or spectators can help reduce arousal levels. A lot of arousal is about where you're focusing.
If you're focusing on something that's a bit boring, you're just going to be cruising, you're going to be low arousal. If you're focusing on something that's very exciting, then your arousal is naturally going to go up. Arousal defines an athlete's level of readiness to play sport.
Arousal can be physical, mental and emotional. Different sports require different levels of arousal. Different athletes function best at their own specific arousal levels. The inverted U hypothesis depicts the relationship between arousal and performance. Under arousal and over arousal lead to poor performance.
Arousal levels can be managed with specific exercises. The human mind has vast potential to visualize, to imagine and to create mental imagery. This ability allows us to imagine what may lie ahead in life and take the necessary steps to prepare. Athletes can use this ability to great effect.
By using mental imagery, they can have an imaginary rehearsal of their race, match or competition. In doing so, they're preparing themselves for the challenges ahead. head.
Consider the challenges of a major sporting event. The crowd is huge, the level of competition is very strong and the emotional stakes are high. All these things can distract an athlete from achieving best performance. Mental imagery however allows an athlete to prepare for these experiences thereby enhancing their chance of success.
So if you can simulate that experience in your mind and therefore how you can deal with it, then when you're there you're going to feel more confident, you're going to have that mental skill. While mental imagery and rehearsal can be used to overcome the distractions of game day, it can also be used to prepare for the specific skill-based challenges of match conditions. Athletes can use imagery to rehearse a specific new skill, as well as rehearse just how to evade a competitor. This form of imagery can be used as pure mental activity or in conjunction with physical training.
Yeah, they're putting themselves in game situations. It might be just hats around the park, but they've got to picture those hats as defenders or attackers, opposition. So when they get in a game situation, they've already trained for that particular moment.
Importantly, mental imagery... can also be used to visualise exactly the kind of performance the athlete would like to have. By visualising a focused performance, or a victory, the athlete can build confidence and make it more likely to happen. I seem to have the ability to be able to see it from outside, looking down on my own race, or I can use my imagery as me in the race, and I can visualise where I want to be, what's going to happen.
try and get myself as mentally prepared as possible. Kinesthetic imagery is a style of imagery that allows an athlete to conceptualise the feeling of a successful performance. Kinesthetic senses are those senses that allow us to feel our body as it carries out different actions.
This sensory perception is possible as the sensory nerves in our muscles, joints and tendons are constantly giving us feedback. Using kinesthetic imagery, the athlete can rehearse the body sensation of a successful performance, making it easier to recreate in match conditions. This style of imagery is particularly useful for a sport like gymnastics, as it allows for a very thorough rehearsal in the mind of complicated body movements. So for most athletes it's a very important skill and it's one that... Most of them want to learn and most of them do see the benefits in terms of being able to simulate and rehearse performance and create an ideal feeling state.
Simulation is similar to imagery and mental rehearsal in that it prepares the mind for competition. It's different though in that it doesn't ask the mind to imagine match conditions. Simulation makes training conditions as similar as possible to real match conditions.
For example, by using real competitors and training in front of spectators. In doing so, the mind is made ready for competition. Mental imagery and mental rehearsal is the visualisation of sporting activity.
Mental imagery assists in practising new skills, preparing for pressures of match day and visualising success. Kinesthetic imagery is the conceptualization of the feeling of successful performance. Simulation makes training conditions as close as possible to match conditions.
Goals are an important part of an athlete's life, providing clear points of achievement to be reached by a certain time. This helps to focus and organise the athlete's attention, encourages perseverance, contributes to a positive psychological state and helps to develop motivation. Goals are best achieved when divided into short, medium and long-term goals. This system provides a realistic path for the athlete to travel down when working towards their long-term goal.
Athletes can pursue different kinds of goals depending on their broader objective. Process goals focus on improving physical movements and game strategies. Performance goals focus on improving an individual's performance level, independent of the performance of other competitors. Outcome goals focus on winning. These are the most difficult goals to obtain, as it's not possible to control a competitor's performance.
Concentration is a key skill in the search for sporting success. Concentration allows an athlete to selectively direct their attention and focus on what's most important, maintain focus over long periods and make good strategic decisions. Concentration is a skill that can be developed with practice.
The whitewater canoeists that I work with, their performance is between 100 and 120 seconds usually on most courses. So what you do is set up a situation where for 100, 120 seconds the goal... is to maintain a pure focus.
Now, what they might do is do a mental rehearsal for 120 seconds of a race. What they might do is just for 120 seconds use imagery or a focus strategy to maintain the composure or the feeling that they want. Choking occurs when an athlete's concentration is distracted from the sporting task at hand.
If during their event an athlete focuses their attention on past failure... or the repercussions of a failure in the future, their best efforts cannot be directed to the task at hand. Confidence is a state of positive mind in which an athlete is sure of their ability. Confident athletes are more likely to stay calm under pressure, work to achieve their goals and achieve success.
Success in training situations and then in match or race conditions helps develop an athlete's confidence. Positive feedback from coaching staff can also help develop an athlete's confidence. Even with the performances that are not so good, being able to come back to them and analyse them and then when they're in that position again, they know what they did wrong and where they can improve and we can work on that through training.
For optimum performance, athletes need to reach their optimum confidence levels. As the inverted U hypothesis indicates, overconfidence can lead to rash decision making and a related decrease in performance. Underconfidence also leads to a decrease in performance through anxiety. Successful athletes maintain an optimum confidence level by focusing on the specific detail of their race and what they need to do to succeed. For a successful athlete everything else is irrelevant.
I'm always being told that I I have to control the controllables and what I can't control I should let it go because there's nothing I can do about it. I have to get back to me and what I can make the most of that situation at that time. So I've got to get back and refocus on my event.
I've got to not think about what's going on around me. It's very difficult. Goals offer targeted points of achievement and help develop motivation.
Goals can be defined. ...added into short, medium and long-term goals. Goals can be focused on process, performance or outcome.
Concentration is an athlete's ability to focus. Losing concentration can lead to choking in moments of pressure. Confidence is a positive state of mind.
Overconfidence and underconfidence both lead to poor performance. Top sport performance is not possible without a finely tuned body. But a finely tuned mind is equally important as everything we do in life, including our performance on the sporting field, is controlled by our minds. Sport psychology offers athletes the tools they need to control their minds, make the most out of their physical ability and head towards higher levels of success.
Thanks for watching!