First in a continuing series on the mental aspect of sports
How can I serve you? Let me count the ways. From determining focus and concentration, through the use of visualization, our mental approach to athletic performance is the difference between coming in first or second: between being very good and being great. Our mental attitude can lead to the perfect spiral pass, or creating tension causing a ball to clank the rim of a basketball net. Our mind can help us stand head and shoulders above our competition or hurl us down a path - losing control and our grip on performance.
Coaches and sport psychologists have long attempted to find ways of helping the athlete remain calm, and stay focused, while maintaining optimal levels of energy and in general, maximize all aspects of their ability – particularly in high pressure situations. In this continuing series on the mental aspect of sports, I will show you and at times prove to you how your mental approach affects performance. I will give you tips and exercises to help you handle pressure and make you a better performer. I will also respond to your specific questions that relate to your mental approach.
Tip # 1: Using your mind as a sophisticated guidance system
It is always important in sports to know what the ideal sequence of movements, and actions are for your best performance. This tip involves how to best accomplish this performance once it is identified.
I always impress upon athletes to “allow” the movement to happen, rather than trying to make it happen. Trying too hard results in tension that can impair accuracy. Under pressure situations, this effect becomes magnified. Allow assumes that your body “knows” the best way to effect the ideal action. Here is where visualization comes in. An unrecognized purpose for visualization is to set up the perfect goal behavior and pattern as a template. Once this is done, then “flow” involves allowing the body to respond with the visualized optimal pattern as the guide.
To start off, you need to have identified the optimal performance pattern. This comes from observation along with coaching. Next, you take quiet time, breathing in a relaxed manner, while you visualize this optimal performance. When you then perform the activity you will achieve some approximation of this optimal pattern. Mentally identify what you did and notice (without judgment) the difference from the optimal, as you again, visualize the optimal. This might mean noticing that a shoulder was too low, or your head came up to soon. The next time you perform the activity – swing, kick, shot, etc. – again precede it by visualizing the optimal.
By continually applying this process, you avoid the inappropriate tensing that comes with trying to control an action. By using visualization in this way, you allow your body to form pathways in the brain that facilitate their achievement in real life.
Good luck in trying this process. Please let me know how it works out.
Stephen Sideroff is the Clinical Director at
Moonview Sanctuary & Assistant Professor for
UCLA’s Department of Psychiatry