Mental Skills Training methods & Techniques

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Mental SkillsTraining methods Techniques

• Year 12 PE Studies
• Unit 2A / 2B

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Training Methods Techniqes

• Mental skills are not only a crucial aspect of
  performance, but also very specific to each
  individual athlete, and the competitive situation
  in which they must perform
• There are several methods and techniques which
  can be used by athletes to enhance their mental
  skills and improve their performance

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1. IMAGERY

• The process of using the senses to create
  pictures of your performance in your mind.
• There are 5 main categories
• 1. Motivational-specific involves seeing
  yourself winning an event, receiving a medal etc
• 2. Motivational general-mastery seeing yourself
  coping in difficult circumstances
• 3. Motivational general-arousal imagery that
  reflects feelings of relaxation, stress, anxiety
  or arousal in relation to sports competitions.
  Can be used as a psych-up strategy

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• 4. Cognitive specific involves seeing yourself
  perform specific skills eg tennis serve or spike.
  The most effective choice for learning and
  performance
• 5. Cognitive general involves imagery of
  strategy and game plans related to a competitive
  event eg performing a fast break in basketball
• Imagery should involve as many of your senses as
  possible kinaesthetic, visual, auditory
  tactile.

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• Imagery Performance
• Imagery can enhance performance by
• Improving neural pathways b/w brain muscles
• Focussing attention on task at hand
• Enabling athlete to prepare for situations they
  are likely to encounter during competition
• Enabling athletes to review their performance
• Managing stress through imagining a relaxing
  envirionment
• Enabling mental practice during rehabilitation

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• Types of Imagery
• INTERNAL
• Imagining the execution of a skill from w/in your
  own body. For eg if serving a volleyball you
  would see only the things in your normal range of
  vision
• EXTERNAL
• Viewing yourself from the perspective of an
  external observer, as if watching yourself on
  video replay.

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• Effective Imagery
• To be effective the following must be considered
• You must have vivid image of the skill or
  situation in mind
• Imagine the entire performance associated with
  the skill
• You should be in a relaxed state when using
  imagery
• The image you create must show the desired
  outcome of the performance eg serving an ace,
  perfect dive, scoring the goal

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2. RELAXATION

• Effective for athletes who experience high levels
  of anxiety and tension to the detriment of their
  performance.
• There are 3 methods of relaxation
• 2. Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)
• Involves a series of exercises that lead to the
  progressive relaxation of muscle groups and
  eventually total body relaxation
• Tense one muscle gp at a time for 10 secs,
  followed by release of tension
• Assists in achieving state of mental calmness

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• 2. Meditation
• A form of relaxation based on selective attention
  focusing on certain cues blocking out others.
• You focus on a single thought, sound or object
  relaxation response of the body.
• Widely used as a method of controlling pre-comp
  anxiety and focussing attention prior to event or
  game.
• 3. Self-hypnosis
• Used to block out ve thoughts replace them
  with ve ones

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3. SELF-TALK

• Self-talk is about talking/thinking to yourself.
• There are 2 types
• Positive self-talk can be motivational (eg I
  can do this) or instructional to remind you
  about a technique or tactic (eg bend your
  knees)
• Negative self-talk is self-critical or demeaning
  (eg my backhands useless), or recalls past
  failures (eg Ive missed my last 2 shots), or
  is pessimistic about the situation (eg Ill never
  get into the top team)

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• Uses of self-talk
• ve self-talk can enhance performance in a number
  of ways, including
• Skill learning
• Changing bad habits
• Motivation
• Building self-confidence
• Focussing attention
• When ve thoughts creep into self-talk they need
  to be stopped. This is achieved through thought
  stopping (using a trigger cue then
  concentrating on a ve thought

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4. PERFORMANCE ROUTINES

• An excellent aid to mental preparation. 3 types
• 1. Pre-performance routines take place just
  before initiating a performance. For eg, before
  free throw in basketball step up to line, 2
  bounces, deep breath, shoot etc. Helps to take
  attention from irrelevant thoughts to the task.
  Reduces anxiety and enhances self-confidence.
• 2. In-play routines take place during breaks in
  the action of games. For eg, in tennis a player
  may sit and have drink, imagine next move and use
  cue words to refocus during change of ends. Keeps
  athlete mentally focussed

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• 3. Post-performance routines take place
  immediately after the execution of a skill. There
  is a natural tendency to focus on ve aspects of
  performance post-performance routine can
  include a strategy to clear the mind for the next
  skill execution.
• Performance routines can vary greatly
• It is important that the routine is comfortable
  for you, effectively focuses your attention and
  regulates arousal in order to perform

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5. GOAL SETTING

• Goal setting improves performance by focusing the
  athletes attention, increasing their effort and
  persistence and motivating them to learn new
  techniques and skills.
• 3 basic types of goals
• Outcome goals focus on outcomes of
  performance/competition eg. To win the game,
  finish on top of the ladder etc
• Performance goals specify a result of the
  performance that will be achieved by the athlete
  independently of the team eg take 10 rebounds in
  a game

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• A conflict can arise if an athlete places their
  personal goals above the team goals.
• Process goals focus on specific behaviours
  demonstrated throughout the performance eg
  keeping head down while executing golf drive
• Setting effective goals
• Short-term can be achieved in a limited period
  of time. Stepping stones to achieving long-term
  goals
• Long-term can be achieved only over a long
  period of time

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Goals should be set according to the ability,
confidence motivation of the performer. 2
acronyms have been developed to guide goal
setting.

• SMARTER
• Specific
• Measurable
• Action-orientated
• Realistic
• Timely
• Effective
• Reviewed

• SCCAMP
• Specific
• Controllable
• Challenging
• Attainable
• Measurable
• Personal

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• Important points when setting goals
• short-term goals important as they provide
  opportunity for immediate feedback mortivation
• Goals need to be set at correct level not too
  easy but achievable
• Goals should be written down to facilitate
  measuring and monitoring
• You should reward yourself when a goal is
  achieved and then reflect on the process used to
  achieve it
• Team as well as individual goals should be set
• You should include a mix of process, performance
  and outcome goals