You get what you focus On! Positive Mental Attitude and Performance

Are you a glass half-full or glass half-empty thinker? As a coach, do you look at your athletes and see their weaknesses, the skills that have yet to be mastered, or do you see their strengths, the potential that has yet to be realised?

Sports psychology 2 encourages coaches to consider the power of the mind by demonstrating how thinking positively generally leads to positive actions being taken and how thinking negatively generally has the opposite effect – or leads to no action being taken at all.

“My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you’ll win…channel your energy. Focus.” – Carl Lewis (sprinter)

Learning how to see things positively doesn’t mean wearing rose-tinted glasses. In fact, it means being able to see things exactly as they are but also being able to see the potential for things to change. World renowned psychologist Carol Dweck considers this state of mind to be a growth mindset.

A person in a growth mindset believes:

• Who they are and where they are now (in life) can potentially be changed by dedication and effort
• Nothing is set in stone
• ‘Natural’ abilities or talents can always be improved or developed further
• Further learning and/or practice can lead to greater things

A sportsperson in a growth mindset will always be a glass half-full thinker and open to making changes. Failure to win is therefore never seen as out-and-out failure but as an opportunity to learn. Being open to further learning means things can be changed and improvements can be made.

Without a growth mindset, a person becomes locked in a fixed mindset.

A person in a fixed mindset believes:

• Who they are and where they are (in life) is just how things are and nothing they do is ever going to change that
• Everything is what it is and we’re stuck with it
• Any ‘natural’ ability or talent is just something they were born with – a given
• Further learning or practice won’t change anything, things are just the way they are

A sportsperson in a fixed mindset will always be a glass half-empty thinker and completely closed-minded in terms of making changes. Failure to win is therefore  viewed as simply failure. An athlete in a fixed mindset will often judge themselves harshly and a poor performance will always be seen as conformation of their lack of ability – which can’t be changed – so a negative, downward spiral begins.

Clearly, developing a growth mindset is essential if an athlete is to stand any chance of achieving their full potential or to make any progress at all in their sporting career. Mindset can be changed. An athlete in a fixed mindset can be coached into a growth mindset but obviously this requires a coach who already possesses a positive mental attitude themselves. Sports psychology 2 equips coaches with the necessary skills to recognise and understand their own mindset as well as that of their athletes.

Thinking positively allows positive changes to be made. Analysing a less than perfect result can remain a positive, motivational experience focussing on strengths and areas to develop further rather than a negative, de-motivating experience which can leave an athlete wondering if there’s any point in staying with their sport at all. Sports psychology 2 not only helps to keep athletes in a positive climate but coaches too, allowing a positive partnership to grow and progress – onwards and upwards.

Building Confidence

The Sports Psychology 2 Model of Confidence

One of the most common hurdles facing coaches of competitive athletes is competition nerves. Why is it that some athletes appear to rise to an occasion yet others appear to fall apart? Excessive nerves can be the result of a lack of confidence but this is often over-looked when the athlete in question seems to be completely confident in training.

Sports psychology 2 techniques can help coaches to spot the symptoms and develop effective coping strategies to make under-achieving in competition a thing of the past.

What is confidence?

• One dictionary definition is: the belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something.
• The sports psychology 2 definition is: confidence is a state of mind, it’s all about how you are thinking and what you are focusing on.

“You need to play with supreme confidence or else you’ll lose again, and then losing becomes a habit” – Joe Paterno (American football coach)

If an athlete has confidence in their abilities, self-belief, they’ll perform confidently – even when the pressure is on. So how do you build that confidence?

A lack of confidence generally stems from a fear of some sort. In competitive sport, a lack of self-belief can simply be a fear of the unknown. As an athlete, you may find yourself standing on the start-line of an important race when the ‘what ifs’ strike: “What if I can’t do this; what if I‘m not ready?” or “What if I get left miles behind and look like an idiot?”

This sort of self-doubt will have a negative impact on performance so as a coach, it becomes an important part of your role to limit the potential for ‘what ifs’ to enter an athlete’s mind. Sports psychology 2 can introduce coaches to mental training tools that equip them with the skills to help athletes banish the ‘what ifs’ by developing greater self-confidence.

The Sports Psychology 2 Model of Confidence

• Skill Set

Based on the pillars of performance, developing equal strength in the four key skill areas – technical, tactical, physical, psychological – will give athletes a solid structure on which to build self-confidence.

Negative ‘what ifs’ become positive ‘what I haves’ giving athletes belief in their abilities.

• Values or Philosophy

A coach with strong values and a clear coaching philosophy will inspire confidence in his athletes. Knowing what you believe and knowing what it is you’re all about makes it much harder for the ‘what ifs’ to interrupt your thoughts.

• Capabilities

Identifying where strengths and weaknesses lie allows you to build on strengths and develop weaknesses to match those strengths. Experiencing progress through training and practice builds confidence in the knowledge that change is always possible. With a growth mindset, there can be no limit to your capabilities.

With the help of sports psychology 2 techniques, coaches can learn to identify the source of each athlete’s ‘fear’ and turn unknowns into familiars. Positive experiences in training will boost confidence in competition. After all, an athlete is unlikely to under-achieve through fear of the familiar!

NLP and Mastering your Emotions, Slowing Down to Speed Up

Your emotional state can trigger physical as well as psychological effects in your body. Sports psychology 2 methods encourage coaches to become more aware of each athlete’s emotional state and how it may be affecting their physical performance. Understanding that an individual’s state is dynamic and has constant potential to change becomes key in terms of coaching athletes in pursuit of ever greater achievements.

“You have no control over what the other guy does. You only have control over what you do” – A J Kitt (Alpine ski racer)

As a coach, the quality of your coaching is dependent on your state. Imagine yourself feeling a bit pushed for time. You begin your coaching session knowing that you don’t have enough time to get through all the practice drills your team needs before a big match at the weekend. You would normally take great care to explain exactly what you’d like each player to do at the start of each drill and receive conformation from each player individually that they’ve understood their role before beginning but with the clock ticking you decide to skip the explanation and just get started. How might this affect the team’s performance?

Chances are it’ll cause chaos: your emotional state as the coach has caused you to change your normal behaviour: the change in your actions has caused changes in the physical and emotional responses you can then expect to receive from your players.

Sports psychology 2 teaches that state can be controlled. As a coach, you can learn how to control your emotional state so that you, as the coach, remain in control of your performance in coaching sessions. This allows you to then teach your athletes how to manage and control their own state so they also learn how to remain in control of their performance not only in coaching sessions but in competition.

The first step is to develop an awareness of your state at any given time. Without this awareness, you’ll remain unaware of how a changing emotional state can be changing your physical actions. Try this simple sports psychology 2 exercise:

Imagine yourself arriving at an international coaching conference. You’re in a room full of people and you don’t know anyone:

• How do you feel?
• Are your emotions affecting you physically?

Now imagine you have to stand at the front of the room and give a talk about who you are and what you do. Chances are you feel uncomfortable, perhaps self-conscious. Your emotional state may well be causing physical tension in your shoulders or a dry mouth; you may struggle to think of anything to say and then blurt out everything you can think of at high speed so as to get the ordeal over with.
So the big question is:

• Has your state at that particular moment in time allowed you to present a true picture of who you are and what you do?

You are now in a better position to understand how your athletes may be feeling on competition day! Their emotional state may be affecting their physical performance but without this awareness, nothing can be changed. The common tendency to physically rush through psychologically stressful situations will continually prevent athletes from performing at their best or demonstrating their true potential when the pressure is on.

Sports psychology 2 teaches mind training techniques that allow coaches and athletes to realise the benefits of slowing down to speed up. By slowing down and taking the time to understand your emotional state, management strategies can be developed and put in place to allow you to stay in control of you state rather than your state controlling you. It takes time for new practices to become routine but once they do, psychological and physical progress is no longer blocked so you can get out of the dead-end alley and back on the speedway to success.

Sports Psychology and Visualisation

Visualisation, also known as mental rehearsal, is a technique that has been used for many years and to great effect by many top professionals in sport. Sports psychology 2 encourages coaches at every level of sport to introduce their athletes to the benefits of learning this skill and to promote the need for time to be devoted to mental skill training as well as physical skill training.

“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision” – Muhammad Ali

Sports psychology 2 takes the concept of visualisation beyond simply ‘seeing’ success to actually experiencing it through the use of every sense – sight, smell, sound, touch, and perhaps even taste.

It’s widely accepted that to be most effective, visualisation sessions must focus on positive experiences that can be recounted through the athlete’s minds-eye. This means that being able to re-live an actual winning moment by being able to re-create the processes that lead to that winning moment will be of much greater benefit than trying to visualise a set of circumstances that have yet to be realised.

However, sports psychology 2 can help coaches and athletes develop visualisation skills that allow every positive sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste experienced in training or in competition to be utilised and built into a ‘winning’ experience.

Young athletes or less experienced athletes may not have an actual winning experience to replay in their minds during a visualisation session so as their coach, it becomes important to encourage these athletes to focus on every positive experience they have. Just because they haven’t won a javelin throwing competition doesn’t mean they haven’t experienced the feel of a winning javelin throw! A visualisation session can focus on any number of small positive moments that can be built into a bigger picture of success.

By gaining an understanding of sports psychology 2 techniques, coaches can help athletes build bigger pictures by focusing on every small detail. For example:

• How did the javelin feel in your hand when you achieved a successful throw?
• What was in your line of vision as you prepared to throw?
• What could you hear on your run up?

It will often take a great number of throws to capture enough ‘winning’ moments to form a picture of success but focusing on being able to re-live each and every one of those moments through the use of visualisation can potentially bring even greater rewards than an actual winning experience. Research has shown that an athlete skilled in the use of visualisation techniques can continue to enhance the neural pathways that effectively train their body to perform a precise series of movements, without actually moving.

Mental rehearsal is a learned skill and like all new skills, it takes time to master it. Sports psychology 2 equips coaches with the necessary skills to be able to pass on the benefits to their athletes. Don’t just dream of success; see it, hear it, smell, touch, and taste it too!

Developing a Winning Mentality

It’s often said that if you can’t believe in yourself, then others can’t believe in you either. In competitive sport, it’s essential that athletes believe in themselves but it’s also important that their belief is based on what they know themselves to be capable of rather than what they, or others, say they’re capable of.

Sports psychology 2 methods give both coach and athlete the ability to prepare for competition, physically and mentally, so that when the pressure is on, actions will always speak louder than words!

“I am the greatest” – Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is a great example of a sportsperson who had a lot to say about his abilities but his beliefs were always firmly based on what he knew himself to be capable of achieving. Sports psychology 2 can help coaches create the same ‘winning mentality’ in their athletes by developing a system of preparation that includes mind training as well as physical training.

The four pillars of performance – technical, tactical, physical, psychological – provide coaches with a solid support system on which to build greater strengths in the abilities of their athletes as well as their own coaching. Knowing where your strengths lie as a coach is of great importance but being able to identify where weaknesses lie is equally so.

It’s not uncommon for coaches to develop a coaching style which is based on their strengths, effectively allowing them to hide from any weaknesses, but this can have a direct effect on how athletes view their performances – or their potential to win. For example, an athlete under the guidance of a coach who is particularly strong in the area of physical fitness may begin to believe their failure to succeed in competition is purely down to a lack of fitness. In reality, the lack of success is much more likely to be down to lack of psychological fitness or some other aspect of preparation but until the coach recognises the weakness, appropriate action can’t be taken.

To be able to view themselves as potential winners, athletes must be given the opportunity to develop confidence in their abilities across all aspects of competition preparation – all four pillars. A coach with a balance in all four pillars will be able to produce equally balanced performers. Sports psychology 2 techniques allow coaches to develop a winning mentality in their athletes without fear of promoting an over-confident attitude but to do this, coaches must first have an awareness of where each athlete believes their own strengths and weaknesses to be. What an athlete believes and what a coach sees can be quite different. An athlete with superior physical ability is not guaranteed to win over a weaker opponent if he doesn’t believe himself to be superior.

Developing a winning mentality is a process just like any other aspect of training and preparation for competition. Telling an athlete that they’re in winning form on competition day will have little effect if the athlete doesn’t believe it themselves. Putting sports psychology 2 practices in place long before competition day allows coaches and athletes to feel positively prepared and feeling positively prepared creates a positive, winning mentality – “You are the greatest!”

Creating a Path for Success

The process of goal setting creates focus in a sportsperson’s training plan. Having that focus helps to ensure that training sessions remain specific and on target to achieving recorded ambitions. Most coaches are familiar with the process but sports psychology 2 techniques enable coaches at every level to gain a greater understanding of how setting individual goals can also help to create a motivational environment tailored to the needs of each individual.

“A goal properly set is halfway reached” – Abraham Lincoln

Coaches of team sports sometimes fall into the habit of setting team goals. When the team fails to achieve a goal, such coaches generally feel that ‘team talks’ are the answer and will try to improve on lack lustre performances by addressing the team as a whole with motivational pep talks. Although well intentioned, this approach is unlikely to be effective across the board.

What motivates any individual is very much down to personal preference in each case so what one team player finds motivational isn’t guaranteed to have the same effect on another. To be effective as a coach, an understanding of what motivates each individual player in the team is key. Sports psychology 2 can equip coaches with the necessary skills to develop this vital understanding and in doing so, will also help to create a positive climate in which individual players, as well as the team, can continue to grow.

Sports psychology 2 techniques can also be of great benefit to coaches of non-team sports. Setting individual goals is just as important in the preparation of training plans for solo competitors but less experienced coaches could fall into a similar routine of setting generic goals for groups of athletes who all perform individually – track athletics for example. A coach may have a number of 800 metre runners in his squad but they all have individual needs in terms of setting motivational goals. Without appropriate goals in place, motivation is likely to suffer and without motivation, athletes or players are unlikely to perform at their best or achieve their true potential.

Setting goals can be motivational but sports psychology 2 highlights the need to set process goals rather than outcome goals if motivation is to be maintained throughout a training plan. If winning (outcome goal) becomes everything, consider the de-motivating effect of failing to achieve each goal set. An example of a process goal might be aiming to achieve a series of passes in a team sport. The end result on the day may not be a team win but the goal of perfecting the passes has still been achieved.

Motivation can be:

Intrinsic

This can best be described as coming from the inside out. An intrinsically motivated athlete competes for the enjoyment of the sport and is rewarded by the way the activity makes them feel.

Extrinsic

Or coming from the outside in. An extrinsically motivated athlete competes for rewards from external sources. These may take the form of trophies or prize money.

The small difference between the two words can make a world of difference in terms of creating a positive motivational environment. An effective coach will not only have a good understanding of the different forms of motivation, they will also be aware of what form achieves the best results with each athlete they coach – individually!

Sports psychology 2 takes coaches beyond the basics of setting smart goals and allows the process of goal setting to become a mutually motivating exercise that gives both athlete and coach unlimited potential to reach every goal they set and achieve every ambition they have.

This is my club I belong here!

Many young people are introduced to sport through organised sessions at school. Others join after-school clubs and take part in activities they’ve already established an interest in.

The same can be said of most adults as many will have discovered their interest in a particular sport through school sessions and then continued to take part, or returned to taking part, by joining a local club in their adult years.

Part of the initial attraction is simply to be with others who share the same interests so sports psychology 2 encourages coaches to consider the promotional benefits of gaining an understanding of the value participants place on feeling a sense of belonging.

“While anonymity is appealing in some ways, to be constantly anonymous devalues our self-worth. When someone acknowledges our humanity, even by something as simple as knowing what drink we like, it reinforces…our sense of belonging” – Melinda Messineo

One definition of a sense of belonging is: ‘the spirit of a group that makes the members want the group to succeed.’ In sports psychology 2 terms, a sense of belonging could also be defined as ‘team spirit.’ Members of a team with team spirit all share a sense of belonging but the same can be said of individual participants who join a sports club where the coaching sessions provide members with the same sense of belonging to a team.

Team spirit can only be created through open, honest communication between coach and athlete or, in the case of team sports, between players themselves. To be able to communicate in this way means  that everyone involved must feel their thoughts and opinions are valued.

It becomes the responsibility of the coach to ensure that coaching sessions provide frequent opportunities for feedback to be shared. It’s important that everyone must value truthful, honest feedback but it’s also important that a positive climate is maintained in the process.

Quite often, team spirit and a sense of belonging develops naturally among athletes or players who spend a lot of time in training together but sports psychology 2 can help coaches learn practical methods of  promoting open communication in all of their coaching sessions.

At grass-roots level, a sense of belonging can be a valuable source of encouragement to young athletes who perhaps lack confidence in themselves and their abilities. The team spirit they feel when taking part in training sessions will create a positive climate in which they can grow.

Growing confidence will then lead to improved performance and a much greater possibility of them staying in the sport long term. This, in turn, provides greater opportunities for them to achieve their true potential.

At top competition level, the same sense of belonging can provide a powerful source of motivation when the pressure is on so, at whatever level you coach, time spent developing sports psychology 2 techniques will be time well spent as a sense of belonging can not only attract newcomers to your sport but keep them in your sport. Today’s beginners may be tomorrow’s champions.

Creating a Motivational Environment: The Power of Role Modelling

Most interviews with successful sportspeople contain the question, “Who has been a role model for you in your career?” and most sportspeople answer by naming other successful players in their sport. Occasionally, inspirational characters from other areas of life are noted and every now and again their coach gets a mention!

“People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher and better than themselves” – Tyron Edwards

To coach an athlete to international success is the stuff of dreams for many coaches but the majority of people who choose to coach do so simply for the love of their sport or to “give something back” to a sport that has given a great deal to them. At grass-roots level, the coach can be the biggest influence in a young person’s sporting life but that doesn’t mean they have to be a caped-crusading-all-knowing-super-hero. Sports psychology 2 techniques can help coaches at the entry level of sports find the most effective methods of motivating people to become involved in sport and, perhaps more importantly, stay involved.

Newcomers to sport, particularly children, will often learn most in the initial stages through a simple ‘monkey-see-monkey-do’ system. A coach’s enthusiasm will rub off on his players; a coach’s ability will become matched by his players; and a coach’s attitude and behaviour will also be mimicked. Being a good role model therefore carries with it a great responsibility and a major part of that responsibility is to identify where your strengths and weaknesses lie as a coach.

It’s important to remember that although newcomers to your sport may look upon you as some kind of hero, being an effective coach and a good role model doesn’t mean having to don that cape! Sports psychology 2 techniques allow coaches at every level to build on existing strengths and to shine a light on areas that could use further training or practice. The key is to continue developing your own coaching skills so that you are in a position to continue developing your players skills.

Being an effective motivator is just one element of being a good coach and through sports psychology 2, coaches can learn how to understand what motivates their players and themselves. Effective coaches don’t rely on gadgets or gimmicks to inspire their athletes, they rely on the fundamentals of good coaching.

The pillars of performance – technical, tactical, physical, psychological – form the basic structure on which all sports psychology 2 techniques are built and strong sports performances grow from strong supporting pillars. As coaches, an important step towards creating a motivational climate for your players is to look at your current skill set in relation to those pillars and ensuring a balance by developing equal strength in each pillar. Develop any weak areas you discover through being open to further learning, talking to experts or attending classes.

Hiding behind strengths can be tempting but this will only stifle progress in the long run. Weaknesses should be viewed as opportunities to grow. Sport psychology 2 gives you the opportunity as a coach and a role model to encourage your players to remain open to learning by leading through example. After all, each new player who comes to you has the potential to go on to international success so give yourself every opportunity to be one of those motivational role models they mention in their interviews!

To learn more about sports psychology 2 techniques, check out the *NEW* updated Coaching Edge Mental Skills for sport course coming  soon! To register interest e-mail support@zonedinperformance.com

Creating a Motivational Environment: What is a Positive Climate?

With sports psychology 2 techniques, coaches involved in any sport at any level can learn how to get the best from themselves and their athletes in every session.

Creating a positive coaching climate is key to allowing athletes to achieve their true potential and it’s also an essential element of ensuring the best version of you is always presented whenever you coach.

“In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently”  – Tony Robbins

As people, we are generally creatures of habit so in terms of coaching this tends to mean we stick to what we know best. Unfortunately, a coaching style that motivates one athlete can actually be a style that de-motivates another.

In many cases, coaching a session becomes so routine that the coach is unaware of how his methods – or lack of them – are affecting those he coaches. Sports psychology 2 techniques allow coaches to identify strengths and potential weaknesses in their coaching style which can help change training sessions from one-size-fits-all experiences into much more motivational ones for all concerned.

What motivates an athlete can be complex but it’s essential that the coach learns to understand each athlete and, in the case of team sports, each player as an individual. For some, coaching is simply a case of yelling a lot and when things are not working out, yelling louder but without a positive climate in which to train, athletes or players are unlikely to perform well in the long run.

Positive coaching methods allow athletes to develop and grow. Negative coaching methods rarely achieve anything other than frustration and disappointment. For example, try the following simple sports psychology 2 exercise to understand a little more about coaching climates.

Here are two ways a coach might approach an athlete struggling to perfect a javelin throw:

1. “You’re not getting the distance because you’re doing it wrong. How many times have I told you, if you keep throwing like that you’re not going to qualify. Go and do it again but get it right this time…”
2. “That run up was much better so now let’s think about where you’re looking as you prepare to throw. Keep that run up and let’s try…”

Which method is likely to achieve the best results? The above are examples of verbal feedback a coach might give during a training session but even without spoken words, a positive or negative climate can be created by the coach’s body language or general attitude. Imagine the de-motivating effect of seeing your coach shake his head in disgust at your performance or of noticing that there’s no real point in actually trying to ask a question right after he’s said, “any questions?” because he always turns his back and walks off!

An effective coach will take time over creating a positive climate in which to nurture the potential of each individual athlete under his guidance. A positive coaching attitude will help to develop athletes with equally positive mental attitudes and positive attitudes lead to positive actions.

Sports psychology 2 techniques allow coaches to build on existing strengths and develop mind training methods that will keep them and their athletes on track to being the best they can be.

To learn more about sports psychology 2 techniques, check out the *NEW* updated Coaching Edge Mental Skills for sport course coming  soon! To register interest e-mail support@zonedinperformance.com