Post No.: 0597
Furrywisepuppy says:
Many athletes think and worry so much about an upcoming big game in the days leading up to it that, by the time that game arrives, they’re mentally exhausted from playing and replaying what might happen over and over inside their heads.
It’s better to focus on one’s pre-game plans and to follow the required training schedule, and to switch off when done each day. This is easier said than done without a method though – the best way to not think about something is to simply do something else that occupies the mind. This could be spending time with friends, watching movies or pursuing unrelated hobbies, rather than discussing what might happen in the upcoming game or how one is going to feel if one wins or loses.
Some players find certain religious or spiritual beliefs help. It can be a psychological boon to offload concerns to ‘it’s God’s will’ in order to let go of the past or to reduce the concern for what the future may or may not hold. Such beliefs can help us to accept that a lot of things are outside of our control (which they are) because they’re in the control of some higher power – so that we can concentrate on the things that we can control.
What many religions and philosophies both agree on is that having talent isn’t an achievement but a gift! It comes from a source(s) other than what we ultimately chose, earned or therefore deserved. Even if one wants to claim that one’s work ethic and commitment was completely down to one’s own choice and making (as if one chose or earned one’s own genes, parents, upbringing or wider environment), one still needs to be grateful for the opportunities and coaching, the assistance from numerous people along the way or even the entire country (national sports funding), who or that supported and developed one’s talent from birth, for instance. Gratefulness encourages us to not waste that talent because we shouldn’t take it for granted.
Some believe in superstitious rituals or charms. Even if these won’t directly affect a game’s outcome, they can help ease or ignite the mental side of one’s game if one needs it, which could then affect one’s performance during a game or during those days one doesn’t feel like training. It’s about understanding that divine intervention is no substitute for diligent practical training and a good game strategy yet sometimes we cannot dismiss the placebo effect. If superstitions work for you then fine. However, we cannot force or fake our beliefs in them – we’ll either believe they’ll work or won’t!
Listening to music, or even singing for some, is a common way many professional athletes prepare in the lead-up to a game, to get them pumped up and ready, or to calm them down if they’re too pumped up, depending on the music.
Other techniques or fluffy facets that might help or affect the mental game include setting goals – that means determining our overall goals, and then breaking these down into manageable SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed) sub-goals. There’s also visualisation and imagery, such as utilising the PETTLEP (physical, environmental, task, timing, learning, emotional and perspective) model. This isn’t about visualising oneself holding the trophy aloft but, for example, visualising the stance and implements used when taking a conversion kick, the competitive environment of an away ground, the nature of the task of perfectly kicking the ball, the real-time timing of the steps one needs to execute it, updating the script as one learns from the changing wind, being mindful of one’s emotions during the moment, and taking all that from usually a first-person (but it could be a third-person) perspective. Breathing exercises, body posture exercises and other relaxation techniques can also be helpful.
Motivational and instructional self-talk works for some – positive valence self-talk, such as covertly or overtly telling ourselves ‘I can do this’ is good to keep us motivated and optimistic. Positive affirmations such as telling oneself ‘I am the best’ might work too, but arrogance is a huge risk – for every person who tells him/herself they’re the greatest and turns out to be the greatest, there are thousands of people who say that but are nowhere near the greatest(!)
Not every technique will work for everyone. Plus these techniques might work for the moment but produce only transient states of optimal performance. Meanwhile, traits like self-acceptance and self-compassion are more beneficially robust and long-lasting when developed, and can’t as easily be disrupted during a moment of distraction or weakness.
Even when the going gets tough and an athlete isn’t sure of what to do – self-acceptance and self-compassion maintains a more optimistic outlook. Beliefs like ‘I can succeed’, ‘I won’t give up easily just because things are getting difficult’ and ‘even if I don’t succeed this time, I’ll still be okay, and I could try again another time’ lead to less pressure, less fear of failure, thus a better chance of success actually materialising. Self-compassion (which is related to self-esteem but without any narcissism or seeing oneself as superior to others) is a consistent mental position that one can develop to ingrain as a trait, in order to help one consistently access ideal mental states for performance. Confidence, in comparison, can depend too much on recent results so is more of a temporary state of mind than a persistent trait like self-compassion.
Self-compassion and the understanding of intrinsic self-worth is probably one of the most important skills for a child to develop in life in general – more so than how to catch or throw a ball. It’ll help them to succeed and be happy in most areas of life and throughout their lives. Woof!
Optimists tend to use external explanations – things outside one’s control – for any failures, without blaming others (‘we were unlucky’). Optimists see any failure as just a small part of their overall life or journey (‘it was just one bad game’) and see setbacks as only temporary (‘I’ll be right again next time’).
When something is one’s own fault however – because it is under one’s control – such as not putting in as much training as one could have or making not-so-smart decisions, then that needs to be learnt from or improved upon. Those who have a tendency to make excuses, especially the same ones repeatedly, don’t learn because they don’t want to learn. They’ve already rationalised the failure as someone else’s fault. To grow, we need to admit to our own errors. We shouldn’t ever think we already know it all.
Pessimists, on the other paw, tend to blame themselves too harshly or for things that weren’t reasonably within their control (‘I should’ve predicted that’). Pessimists might blame their own entire person (‘I am a failure’ rather than ‘I failed at this’) and attribute any failure as something that’s permanent (‘I’ll never get out of this rut’). So on balance it overall helps to think more like an optimist.
Don’t personalise failure as a systematic personality trait (‘I’m useless’) but view failure as simply an event in one’s life (‘I couldn’t do this today’). Treat it as an event that one can learn from and try again at, to improve as a skill and possibly obtain a different result next time.
What often happens is that a pessimist starts to compensate by tightening up their grip and trying too hard in such wrong ways, which means proper mechanical form goes out of the window, which in turn means the slump will likely continue, which leads to more frustration – and it’s only after they surrender the struggle and accept the situation, relieve the pressure on themselves and from others, and stop over-thinking, does their form come back. So letting go of the struggle can bring form back for some. We must realise that, in terms of technique at least, it shouldn’t be a case of ‘it’s always a good penalty shot if it scores’ and ‘it’s always a bad penalty shot if it misses’ as what most sports fans and even pundits think i.e. it’s not always our physical technique that’s at fault. Thus trying to ‘correct’ that aspect of our game can actually introduce problems. Therefore don’t be overly fixated on fixing technique when on a slump because technique is seldom the reason for it. Such an inward focus can scupper flow. Post No.: 0518 explored the issues of focus, flow, ego, preparation and concentrating on our processes and things within our control.
Somewhat similarly – according to most pundits – the entire competence (rather than success) of a manager can seemingly sometimes hinge upon the tenth shot in a penalty shootout in a cup final! Whether they’ll be labelled as a superb or dismal manager apparently depends on that one moment. Such an extreme swing in opinion based on one kick out of tens of thousands must be a fallacious assessment because, when we take a step back, how can the entire competence of a manager depend on just one kick within a whole season? Even pundits themselves regard penalty shootouts as lotteries. Either winning that trophy will have merely hidden that manager’s frailties or losing it will have been overly harsh on them. What we ultimately care about is whether they’re still the right person to bring success in the yet-written future or should they be replaced with someone with better prospects, if available?
For others, it might be because they’re mentally fatigued, for which rest is the answer. It’s easier to determine if an athlete has been physically overworking (e.g. through measuring to see if their resting heart rate changes over time) but it’s not so easy to determine if it’s a case of mental burnout without the athlete recognising this and pointing this out him/herself.
For others still, it’s a loss of motivation, inspiration or purpose for why they’re putting in all the time and effort training, as exhibited by a lower commitment to training. If so, one needs to revisit whether one still wants to play the game? First try changing the environment – lots of athletes stop not because they no longer like the game they play per se but because they don’t like their current environment, which might include the coach’s attitude and behaviour. The best players absolutely play with enjoyment hence enjoyment is a key component to success. (Some may argue that it’s the success that makes something more enjoyable but there’s a bi-directional relationship.) Sometimes it’s off-field distractions or issues – if so, as a coach, these must be attended to by seeing the player as a person first and an athlete second, and allowing them the safety to open up and disclose what’s on their minds. When they give an initial answer, ask, “And what else?” because it often takes time for people to open up and reveal their deepest and most vulnerable thoughts and feelings.
Togetherness is easier when you’re winning(!) but squad harmony is obviously utterly paramount in team sports whether you’re winning or losing. The right kind of internal competition is good as players fight for places in the first team, yet we don’t want a ‘I hope my teammate plays badly or gets injured so that I get a chance to get off the bench’ attitude but a ‘I hope I can raise my own game and we raise each other’s standards to win together and lose together’ attitude.
Woof! It’s not about going easy on players, but when retired players are asked who they would’ve loved to have been coached by but weren’t during their careers – most choose a coach who showed embracing compassion rather than cold ruthlessness. As a coach (in any kind of context, not just in sports) – you want to be physically tough on your players to push them to become the best they can be, but this is best served through understanding their hearts and minds.
Comment on this post by replying to this tweet:
