Mental, personal and lifestyle management of playersathletes

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Mental, personal and lifestyle management of
players/athletes

• Level 3

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Psychological Myths

• Sport Psychology
• Is only for elite performers
• Is only for the mentally sick
• Will cause revolutionary changes in performance
• Is a quick fix for pre-match nerves
• Is not useful

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Psychological practice

• Come and Go
• Just Visiting
• Fire Brigade
• Team Member
• Client-Orientated

• Immersion
• Goodness of Fit
• Time
• Accreditation
• Effectiveness

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Technical/Tactical capacities

• What are the effects of psychological preparation
  on technical execution and performance?

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Why Sport Psychology?

• To improve performance
• To deal with competition
• To assist in injury process
• To assist in training and implementing
  psychological skills
• To provide information to performers about their
  psychological/ multidimensional profile

• Fast results
• Fix it
• Lack of trust
• Commitment
• Transference
• Multiple demands
• Ethical issues

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Profile

• Personal Construct Theory (Kelly 1955)
• Current feelings
• No wrong answers
• Little prompting
• Discover perceptual- from within rather than
  coaches external perception

• Tactical
• Technical
• Physical
• Mental
• Individual
• Team
• Multidimensional

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Performance profiling

• Perfection is not always attainable, but if we
  chase perfection, we can catch excellence
• Performance profiling a method of increasing
  coachs awareness whist acknowledging the
  importance of the performers perspective

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Performance Profiling

• Identifies strengths and weaknesses
• Sharing of information and needs
• Increasing communication channels
• Productive in sharing responsibility in training,
  planning, organising-Sensitivity
• Increases empowerment of athlete

• Active participation
• Considers what the athlete values as important
• Encourages training and coaching tailored to meet
  needs of performer
• Visual display
• Matching of athlete and coaches perspectives
• Establishes important areas to work on
• Monitors progress

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Performance Profiling

• Identify qualities that the performer thinks are
  necessary in order to achieve a top performance
• Rate these attributes on themselves (as they are
  at present)
• No limit to number of qualities
• Clarify quality and its meaning

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Performance Profiling

• Rate from 1 (not so good) to 10 (excellent)
• Coach rates athlete on same constructs
• Discrepancy / mismatch or on the same wavelength
• Communication intervention
• Video / 3rd party
• Reverse roles
• Set goals
• Monitor progress over the season
• Evaluate coaching

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Psychological Skills

• Goal setting
• Focuses attention
• Mobilises effort
• Enhance persistence
• Encourage performer to develop strategies to
  achieve

• Difficulty
• Specificity
• Acceptance
• Feedback
• SMART
• SMARTER
• ACE

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Goals

• Phrased positively
• Improve of backhand serves close to net height
• Performance tasks
• Controllable
• Specific
• Achievable

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Goal Setting

• Process or outcome?
• Imposed or Agreed?
• Long, short and medium goals
• Written down
• Provide support
• Communication
• Improvement in coaching climate (morale,
  laziness)

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Motivation

• DIRECTION OF EFFORT- WHERE INDIVIDUALS SEEK ARE
  ATTRACTED TO SITUATIONS
• EFFORT INTENSITY-WHERE PERFORMERS EXERT EFFORT
  /-
• RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIRECTION AND INTENSITY
  APPROACH/AVOID

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Motivation

• INTRINSIC- self-determination, display
  competence, autonomy, control
• EXTRINSIC- external rewards, status, low
  perceived control
• Perceived competence, if reflected upon result
  rather than performance can have significant
  effect upon motivation

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Guidelines to build Motivation

• Situations and trait motivate people
• People have multiple motivations for involvement
  (social approval, competition, self-mastery,
  recognition, emotional release, family)
• Change environment (Competition or recreation
  adjust to individuals within groups)
• Leaders influence directly and indirectly
• Use behaviour modification to change undesirable
  participant motives

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Achievement Motivation

• A persons orientation to strive for success,
  persist in the face of failure, and experience
  pride in accomplishments (Gill, 1986)
• Competitiveness
• Choice of activity
• Effort to pursue goals
• Intensity
• Persistence

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Need Achievement Theory
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Developing Achievement Motivation

• AUTONOMOUS COMPETENCE
• SOCIAL COMPARISON
• INTEGRATED
• ATTRIBUTION

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Implications and Applications

• Recognise interactional factors in achievement
  motivation
• Emphasise performance goals
• Monitor and alter feedback
• Assess and correct inappropriate attributions

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Anxiety is?

• an unpleasant emotion, characterised by vague
  but persistent feelings of apprehension and
  dread (Cashmore 2002)

• Is it?

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Anxiety - Multidimensional

• Cognitive (Fear of failure, apprehension about
  negative evaluation from others, self-talk,
  worry)
• Somatic body
• Self-Confidence

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Anxiety

• The challenge is hitting good golf shots when
  you have to..to do it when the nerves are
  fluttering, the heart pounding, the palms
  sweatingthats the thrill (Tiger Woods, 2001)
• Competitive anxiety Anticipatory excitement
• Lazurus (2000) too little anxiety can be
  counterproductive

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ANXIETY- Measured?

• Physiological hr, bp, sweat, breathing, tense
  musculature, adrenaline.
• Self-Report CSAI-2, DM-CSAI-2, MRF

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Anxiety

• Inverted U
• Drive
• Catastrophe
• ZOF

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Factors that effect anxiety

• Practice
• Perceived readiness
• Training factors
• Prior knowledge of opposition, track, course
• Uncertainty about outcomes
• Gender ?

• Paralysis by analysis
• Interpretation of anxiety
• Time to event
• Skill level
• Importance of competition
• Influence of Coach

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Practical Issues

• Trait anxiety?
• Negative attributions
• Perfectionism
• Fear of failure
• Competition specific

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Practical techniques

• Positive focus
• Social support
• Progressive Muscular Relaxation
• Mantra
• Breathing
• Routine and pre-competitive planning

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Practical techniques

• Biofeedback
• Hypnotic suggestion
• Limit attention (crowd, themselves, race ahead)
• Meditation
• Self-talk
• Visualisation

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Anxiety Control

• Interpret arousal signs constructively
• Pressure is a perception not a fact!
  Restructure the situation
• Physical relaxation
• Giving oneself specific instructions
• Adhering to Pre-Performance routines
• Simulation training (1988 Aus. Women's Hockey)

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Anxiety

• The mind is something to think with, not just
  for worrying
• if you play as if it means nothing when it means
  everything, youve got it (Steve Davis)
• The guy who thinks positively will win (Daley
  Thompson)

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Butlers Approach (2000)

• Develop clear thinking- Donts
• Believe in the possible (challenge)
• Have a route planner
• Keep a sense of proportion (Becker)
• Weaknesses can be improved
• What ifs So?
• Flip it over (self-doubt)
• Be your own judge
• Bag the preoccupations
• Use humour

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Choking -the failure of normally expert skill
under pressure

• Harder they try, the worse the problem
• Somatic symptoms (panic)
• Inability to complete task

• Excessive concern with mechanics
• Distraction
• Investment of effort
• Non-judgemental
• Give up and go for it

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Concentration

• if your mind is going to wander during practice,
  its going to do the same thing in a match (Rod
  Laver)
• I was in my own little world focusing on every
  shot. I wasnt thinking of what score I was on or
  anything..
• (Clarke, 1999)

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Concentration is

• Focusing attention on the relevant cues in the
  environment and maintaining that attentional
  focus (Weinberg Gould, 1995)
• Successful marathon runners (2 hrs) reportedly
  use associative attentional strategies (bodily
  functions, hr, breathing rate) and dissociative
  strategies (distractions).

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Concentration/Attention

• Zoom in Selectively
• Mental time sharing Divided Attention
• Concentration Deliberate mental effort

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Where is your attention?
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Concentration

• Attention as filter
• Attention as spotlight or zoom lens
• Attention as a resource

• Cocktail party problem
• Exact focus
• Automatic, multi-tasking (practice implications)

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Concentration

• if I had not got a medal already, I might have
  fought a little harder..it was probably only for
  a lapbut thats all it takes for a race to get
  away from you.. (Sonia OSullivan 2000)
• Anxiety effect on concentration

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Nideffers types of Attentional focus
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Concentration principles (Moran, 1996)
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Why do performers lose their focus?

• Attending to past events
• Attending to future events
• Attending to too many cues
• Overanalysis of body mechanics
• Choking is an attentional problem!
• Self-talk
• Attending to things they cannot control
• Wegners (1994) theory of ironic control

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Self-Talk

• Thought stopping
• Countering from negative to positive
• Motivation and technical
• Use of affirmations

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Practical Issues

• Concentration grid
• Watching the oscillations of a pendulum
• Looking at a clock and saying Now to yourself
  every 5 and 10 seconds

• Simulation training
• Establishing routines
• Breathing techniques
• Imagery
• Meditative eastern philosophies
• Single focus
• Video games

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Concentration techniques
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Confidence

• Is to expect success
• Is belief in ones own ability
• An awareness of how well a person will match up
  to the task before them

• Self-efficacy
• Performance/ mastery experiences
• vicarious experiences (watching others succeed)
• verbal persuasion
• physiological states

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Confidence benefits

• Positive emotions
• Concentration
• Effort
• Momentum
• Goals
• Game strategies

• Is there an optimal level of confidence?
• overconfident?
• Expectations
• Coach
• Athlete

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Confidence Building

• Strengths
• Improvements
• Achievements
• Preparation
• Edge
• Previous performance

• Praise (immediate)
• Feedback (KR, Immediate)
• Positive statements
• Reflection and analysis (attribute internally,
  assess)
• Performance focus
• Emphasise readiness

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Confidence Techniques

• Clustering
• Affirmation list
• Performance reviews
• Video, media articles
• Reminders
• Focus words

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Self-Confidence

• Praise and Feedback
• Positive statements
• Quality training
• Accomplishments
• Reflect and Visualise
• Emphasize readiness

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Visualisation / Imagery

• Sewell et al. 2005 (p353-5) MR
• Represent experiences of stimuli
• Visual
• Auditory
• Kinaesthetic
• Vividness
• Controllability
• Multi-sensory experience

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Visualisation / Imagery

• Psychoneuromuscular pattern of faint muscle
  movements, strengthening neural pathways
• Symbolic understanding and acquiring movement
  patterns, motor programme, blueprint is formed

• Internal
• External
• Written script
• Relaxed state
• Use with pre-performance
• Can help control other psychological skills
• Focus on real time images
• Use video to enhance

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Visualisation / Imagery uses

• Learn and practice sports skills
• Formulate game plan (strategy)
• Error correction
• Recovery from injury
• Self-confidence

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Motor Learning Control

• a set of processes associated with practice or
  experience that leads to relatively permanent
  changes in the capability for movement (Schimdt
  Lee 1999)
• Learning versus Performance
• Stages of Learning

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Stages of Learning

• Cognitive Stage
• Understanding of the nature and goal of the
  activity to be learned
• Initial attempts at the skill - gross errors
• Associative Stage
• Practice on mastering the timing of the skill
• Fewer and more consistent errors
• Autonomous Stage
• Well coordinated and appears effortless
• Few errors
• Automatic performance allows attention to be
  directed to other aspects of skill performance

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Information Processing Model

• Input
• Information from the environment through the
  senses.
• Decision-making
• Input evaluation and integration with past
  information .
• Response selection
• Output
• Response execution
• Feedback
• Information about the performance and quality of
  the movement. Information gained here can guide
  future interpretations, decisions, and responses.

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Factors Influencing Learning

• Readiness
• Physiological and psychological factors
  influencing an individuals ability and
  willingness to learn.
• Motivation
• A condition within an individual that initiates
  activity directed toward a goal. (Needs and
  drives are necessary.)
• Reinforcement
• Using events, actions, and behaviors to increase
  the likelihood of a certain response recurring.
  May be positive or negative
• Individual differences
• Backgrounds, abilities, intelligence, learning
  styles, and personalities of students

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Motor Learning Concepts
Ten

• 1. Practice sessions should be structured to
  promote optimal conditions for learning.
• 2. Learners must understand the task to be
  learned.
• 3. The nature of the skill or task to be learned
  should be considered when designing practice.
• 4. Whether to teach by the whole or the part
  method depends on the nature of the skill and the
  learner
• 5. Whether speed or accuracy should be emphasized
  in teaching a skill depends on the requirements
  of the skill.

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Motor Learning Concepts
Ten

• 6. Transfer of learning can facilitate the
  acquisition of motor skills.
• 7. Feedback is essential for learning.
• Knowledge of results (KR)
• Knowledge of performance (KP)
• 8. Learners may experience plateaus in learning.
• 9. Self-analysis should be developed.
• 10. Leadership influences the amount of learning.

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Phases of Motor Development

• Early reflexive and rudimentary movement phases
• Hereditary is the primary factor for development.
  Sequential progression of development but
  individuals rates of development will differ.
• Fundamental movement phase
• Skill acquisition based on encouragement,
  instruction, and opportunities for practice.
• Specialized movement phase Refinement of skills
• Turnover Hereditary and environmental factors
  that influence the rate of the aging process.

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Fundamental Movement Phase

• Initial Stage ( age 2)
• Poor spatial and temporal integration of skill
  movements.
• Improper sequencing of the parts of the skill
• Poor rhythm, difficulties in coordination
• Elementary Stage ( age 3 4)
• Greater control and rhythmical coordination
• Temporal and spatial elements are better
  synchronized.
• Movements are still restricted, exaggerated, or
  inconsistent.
• Mature Stage (age 5 or 6)
• Increased efficiency, enhanced coordination, and
  improved control of movements.
• Greater force production

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Effective instruction
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Practice

• Blocked/constant
• Better for practice
• Poor retention
• Tedious
• No memory impact

• Random/variable
• Better for learning
• Meaningful, distinct
• Easier application and transfer
• STM use to compare

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Practice

• Variable practice random with children (but not
  huge variation) as opposed to constant practice
• Contextual interference context of practice
  retention and transfer help organise practice
  sessions
• Blocked practice overlearning not necessarily
  habit!
• Distribution of practice massed or distributed

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Benefits of practice

• Automaticity
• Proficiency
• Consistency
• Adaptability
• Transferability
• Error detection and correction

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Feedback

• Precision your leading leg was too high or
  your leading leg was 0.5cm needed over the
  hurdle (skill level)
• Timing of feedback summary, immediate

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Instruction Feedback

• Intrinsic extrinsic- Information
• Kr and kp type, correction
• Thorndikes (1927) Law of Effect
  Reward/motivation
• Too frequent feedback produces dependency
• Immediate best for learning but!

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Motor programs

• How do we produce so many movements so quickly?
• What controls them?
• How are they combined to form a whole movement?
• Can these movements be controlled without
  awareness?
• Are they organised in advance?
• How can they be learned?

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Motor programs

• Open loop
• Input
• ?
• Executive
• ?
• Instructions
• Effector
• ?
• Output to environment

• Specific Advance instructions
• Sequence and timing
• Program operates without modification
• No capability to detect errors

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Motor programs

• Open loop
• Input
• ? Stimulus Identification
• Response selection
• Response programming
• ?
• Motor program
• ?
• Spinal cord
• ?
• Muscles
• ?
• Movement
• ?
• Environment
• ?
• Feedback ?

• Practical applications
• Avoid asking learners to attend to rapid action
• Let it run automatically
• In an unstable environment closed loop
• Feedback role

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Motor programs

• Generalised
• Storage issue
• Novelty problem
• when I make the shot, I do not produce something
  new, and I never repeat something old (Bartlett,
  1932)

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Sport expertise

• Information processing
• With practice, knowledge becomes embodies into a
  larger schema/program that frees up memory for
  other tasks such as anticipation?

• PRACTICE
• Anticipation
• Decision making
• Identifying patterns of play (recall/recognition)
• Using advance visual cues

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What are the main differences in motor learning
between novices and beginners?

• Skill/Practice
• Experts are
• Faster and more accurate in recognizing and
  recalling patterns of play
• Superior in anticipating the actions of an
  opponent using visual advance cues
• Display more efficient and effective visual
  search strategies
• Perceiving the minimal essential information
  underlying skilled performance

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End of task Generation of answer
Start of task Presentation of stimulus
Processing Step 1
Processing Step 1
Processing Step n
Outcome Measures

• Pre-task manipulations
• Film occlusion
• Point-light displays
• Distortion of image

Response Time/Accuracy
Fixation
Fixation
Fixation
Visual Search Behavior
Process Measures
V1
V1
V1
V1
Concurrent Verbalizations

• Post-task observations
• Retrospective reports
• Post-experiment
• interview

Williams and Ericsson (2005)
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End of task Generation of answer
Start of task Presentation of stimulus
Processing Step 1
Processing Step 1
Processing Step n
Outcome Measures

• Pre-task manipulations
• Film Occlusion
• Point-light displays
• Distortion of image

Response Time/Accuracy
Fixation
Fixation
Fixation
Visual Search Behavior
Process Measures
V1
V1
V1
V1
Concurrent Verbalizations

• Post-task observations
• Retrospective reports
• Post-experiment
• interview

Williams and Ericsson (2005)
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End of task Generation of answer
Start of task Presentation of stimulus
Processing Step 1
Processing Step 1
Processing Step n
Outcome Measures

• Pre-task manipulations
• Film Occlusion
• Point-light displays
• Distortion of image

Response Time/Accuracy
Fixation
Fixation
Fixation
Visual Search Behavior
Process Measures
V1
V1
V1
V1
Concurrent Verbalizations

• Post-task observations
• Retrospective reports
• Post-experiment
• interview

Williams and Ericsson (2005)
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Practice history profiles of elite and sub- elite
soccer players 8-16 years
data from Ward, Hodges, Williams, and Starkes
(2004)
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Is expertise a by-product of experience?

• Anticipation
• Recall
• Recognition
• Perceptual and cognitive skills improve with
  experience
• Practice implications!

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Practical issues

• Success at start
• ?
• Interest increases
• ?
• Regular practice habits
• ?
• Instruction
• ?
• Commitment

• Video simulation

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Thank you