Sport psychology is a science in which the principles of psychology are applied in a sports setting to enhance performance. While sport psychology cannot replace physical and technical training or increase an athlete’s physical potential, it can their improve ability to remain in control under pressure, increase consistency, and help athletes to perform at their highest ability level (USA Swimming 1). A neurologist noticed, “When people are just beginning to learn a new task, many different areas of their brains are active simultaneously…But as people become more proficient at a task, their brain activity becomes more singularly focused on the brain circuits directly involved in producing the movements” (Allman 2). Sport psychology is a rapidly growing technique with many athletes, proven by the increase from one sport psychologist on the U.S. Olympic team in 1988 to over one hundred by 1996. Richard Suinn, the first sport psychologist on the Olympic sports medicine team, said that sport psychology focuses on the mental skills of “stress management, self-regulation, visualization, goal setting, concentration, focus, and even relaxation” (Tolson 2). Sport psychology effectively uses ritualistic behavior to improve athletic performance at both the amateur and elite levels.
Goal setting provides direction, feedback, and motivation for athletes. Goals must be continually acted upon to make progress. Athletes can motivate themselves to work toward their goals by making goal setting charts, writing goals down, or telling them to other people (USA Swimming 2). Competitors should concentrate on doing their personal best rather than on uncontrollable factors such as other competitors’ performance or the judging of an event (Allman 2). Systematic goal setting uses different lengths and types of goals to keep athletes motivated and to encourage progression. Short-term goals typically last for a few weeks. They allow an athlete to monitor their progress toward a long-term goal while still feeling accomplishment (USA Swimming 2). The positive feedback from achieving short term goals leads an athlete toward completing their long-term goal by increasing self confidence (Allman 2). Long-term goals are goals that usually will not be reached until the season or many seasons have passed (USA Swimming 2).
Performance is related to thoughts, expectations, and self-talk. Self-talk includes all of the thoughts that an athlete allows to run through his brain. Self-talk can be positive or negative. Athletic performance decreases when athletes allow negative thoughts into their minds Athletes need to become aware of their self-talk to identify the negative and positive thoughts. Negative thoughts should be excluded and a conscious effort should to be made to include thoughts that help performance. Thoughts should focus on the present competition because rethinking past errors tends to cause similar mistakes to occur again (USA Swimming 4).
Self-talk is a method that can be used to get an athlete back on track after encountering an unexpected occurrence. If the athlete thinks negative thoughts about what just happened, they will experience anxiety, a change in breathing pattern, and a waste of energy. However, if they think positively and remind themselves of past success, they will be successful again (Allman 3). Weaknesses should be worked on only during practice, because thinking about them during competition will only destroy an athlete’s confidence and lead to a poor performance (USA Swimming 4).
The ability to deeply concentrate on activity at the right time is an important skill in acquiring and perfecting athletic skills (Allman 1). Michael Phelps said, about concentrating before his events, “I always have my headphones on to block out all of the other distractions and I’m just focused on doing the best I can” (Townsend 1). Successful athletes are able to block out unnecessary distractions while still being able to respond to important cues (USA Swimming 6). Bachrach, a swimming coach of the 1920s, noted the importance of concentration in swimming by saying, “In most sports [opponents] have a physical effect on your performance, in swimming only psychological. If you worry about what your rival is doing, you take your mind off what you are doing and so fail to concentrate on your performance” (Townsend 1). Mental energy should be focus on factors the athlete can control, such as his own performance rather than that of a competitor. A 1992 Olympic swimmer said, “Immediately prior to competing, I’m focused on my breathing. I’m aware of that. I also focus on the lane. When I’m on, it is almost silent except for the referee’s whistle” (USA Swimming 6). A state of intense concentration helps achieve peak performance. “Profound changes” take place in the brain during such levels of concentration (Allman 1). Concentrating on mistakes that might happen negatively effects concentration because that makes them more likely to happen (USA Swimming 6).
The time spent between moments of peak concentration also effects overall performance. “Down-time refers to a break in the competitive action during the game. Examples…include the time between pitches in a baseball game…or between points in a tennis match” (Pacelli 1). Tennis players are not playing tennis 75% of the time they are on the court, so it is important that they spend their down-time thinking constructive thoughts such as “savoring a winning point or dismissing an error, relaxing, and psyching up for the next serve” (Allman 1). Athletes should respond to mistakes with a positive physical response, such as holding the head and shoulders high, because it will help them to refocus faster. Mentally rehearsing proper skills during down-time gives a mental example for the athlete to physically follow on the next point. Once an athlete can practice consistent positive actions during down-time, they will be able to achieve an optimal mental state in a few seconds to refocus and become successful (Pacelli 2).
“Self-confidence is the belief in one’s ability to succeed” (USA Swimming 7). Confident athletes have an inner belief in themselves to perform well regardless of the external environment. “Confident swimmers are more likely to view failure as a result of lack of effort, participation, concentration, skill execution, or other factors they can change” (USA Swimming 7). They try harder when they do not reach their goals instead of deciding they lack ability. Confident athletes work hard in practice and follow a routine because they know confidence will come to them if they believe in their work (USA Swimming 7).
A routine can help to comfort athletes during the stressful period prior to competition because it makes their preparation consistent and structured (USA Swimming 9). A fixed routine before competition controls the buildup of energy and allows the body to perform at optimum potential (Allman 2). A study done after the 1996 Olympics showed that athletes who adhered to mental preparation plans performed well (USA Swimming 9). Athletes must allow their mind to take over the movement of their muscles. Since the body has performed the same task numerous times before, the brain has developed “muscle memory” to do it again (Allman 2). Researchers did a study to test the effects of a pre-performance training routine on free-throw shooting. There was a 7% increase in the free-throws made after using the routine versus not using it. They concluded that “mental imagery in conjunction with arousal control was an effective pre-shot strategy to enhance free-throw shooting performance of young athletes” (Behncke 4). Psychologists can train athletes to get their mind in the zone by setting up a mental routine for them to go through prior to each competition (Allman 1). Successful athletes learn to use pre-competition routines to get them into the zone where they personally perform successfully (USA Swimming 9).
The zone “is the mental state which produces super-human performances, amazing times and winning streaks” (Townsend 1). Getting into the zone takes practice and should be experimented with in training so that the athlete can determine which method works best for him. A swimmer explains how he gets into the zone by saying, “First I just try to clear my mind of everything. Then I get this weird feeling of being almost inside my brain…Then right before my swim I just go into a total focused mode where I pay absolutely no attention to anything around me except the blocks and my race” (Townsend 2). Swimmers who are in the zone feel like they are cutting through the water using minimum effort that is not even being controlled by the swimmer. They feel their body is being moved “by a more powerful force” (Townsend 1). Since the right brain is “more adept at spatial relations and pattern recognition” than the left brain, the mind relaxes the left brain during peak performance to allow the right side control over the body (Allman 1).This results in the trancelike state that many athletes feel when they are intensely involved in their activity (Allman 1).
An athlete’s conscious mind becomes quiet while zoning to allow the subconscious to run the body on “automatic pilot.” The subconscious mind is responsible for putting athletes in the zone because it stores all past memories and experiences of bodily movement (Townsend 1). Psychologists believe that ordinary athletes can get into the zone by changing their brain-wave patterns and heart rates through focus and relaxation. Relaxation techniques involve breathing exercises and rituals. After winning an important golf tournament, Tiger Woods said, “I had a-a weird feeling this week-it’s hard to describe-a feeling of tranquility, calmness” (Tolson 3). When athletes “choke, it is because they are not in the zone and allow the pressure to take over” (Tolson 1). Believers agree that the zone works, saying, “The zone is a very powerful state, and can help you reach beyond your limitations to achievements you may never have realized were possible” (Townsend 2).
Cognitive strategies of associative and dissociative thinking are used to improve performance and reduce fatigue during endurance activities. Athletes tend to use associative thinking during competition but use a dissociative strategy during practice. Dissociation is perfomed in practice because it allows athletes to reduce “anxiety, effort sense, and general discomfort” (Couture 1). It also helps to block out zones of boredom during extended periods of exercise. Athletes almost always use associative techniques during races to “maintain an accurate awareness of their bodily function, tension, pain, and discomfort” (Couture 1). Using associative strategies, athletes scan their bodies to find painful areas and then lessen muscle tension there to relax the body (Couture 2).
A study was done to identify swimmer’s preferred cognitive strategies. Volunteers swam two eight hundred meter swims, one week apart. After the first, the swimmers took a “subjective appraisal of cognitive thoughts” to identify which particular style of cognitive thinking they preferred. Swimmers were able to use dissociative strategies in the first swim because they started at staggered time to lesson the motivation to race each other. The next week, the swimmers were given their “Behavior Instruction Sheet” which showed them their cognitive style. The swimmers then all tried to swim the second eight hundred meters with an associative strategy. Some athletes found it difficult to change their cognitive strategy. After the second swim, 73% of the swimmers were identified as using associative thinking while the other 27% struggled with some dissociative thoughts. A majority of the swimmers found the second swim easier and faster because they were using associative techniques. The results of the study show that distance swimmers prefer associative thinking. The researchers concluded that, “the better the associative thinking, the better the performance” (Couture 2).
Cognitive and somatic techniques are two basic approaches of motivation for athletes to attain “a desire to control their individual psychological world” (Behncke 1). Cognitive methods of mental skills training involve mental rehearsal, mental imagery and visualization, visuo-motor behavior rehearsal, and cognitive-behavior therapy (Behncke 2).
Most of the methods used to increase performance of a given task involve the individual mentally rehearsing the motor skill or strategy intended for training or for the event” (Behncke 3). An advantage of mental rehearsal is that it can be used to “reinforce unconscious processes executing specific motor skills to increase skill efficiency” (Behncke 3). It also helps the efficient execution of the initiation of a specific skill at optimal performance. The physical exertion of traditional training regimes is eliminated when athletes use mental rehearsal, so the risk of overtraining can be reduced while performance can still increase (Behncke 4).
Mental imagery is used to mentally practice a skill. This allows athletes to improve aspects of their performance without physically having to practice. It can also correct errors in technique because it allows complex movements to be reduced to simple skills. Mental imagery helps athletes achieve goals because it mentally prepares them for success (USA Swimming 4). The technique requires attention and psychological effort to reach its optimum effect because “imagining the skill, and actually performing the skill, needs to be as closely executed as possible for effective transfer and reinforcement of neural structures” (Behncke 5). Relaxing and calming the mind before practicing metal imagery allows the technique to be more effective (USA Swimming 3).
An athlete can rehearse his performance in his head before competition to prepare his body to perform at the best of its ability (USA Swimming 3). Athletes use mental imagery to quickly rehearse what they need to do right before competition. This helps them achieve peak performance without physically tiring the body (Allman 3). If athletes can see themselves achieving goals, it will make them gain confidence and actually meet those goals (USA Swimming 3).
The only way to improve mental imagery skills is to practice them. A certain time of day should be set aside for this, similar to physical practice. Mental imagery can help a athletes recover faster from injury because they can imagine the injury healing and mentally practice skills so be physically prepared to practice again. Mental imagery helps athletes prepare for competition by regulating mood and energy levels (USA Swimming 3).
Visualization is vividly imagining the absolute perfect performance that an athlete would like to achieve in the next competition. It is used to overcome nervousness, reduce pain in competition and practice, learn technical skills faster and easier, overcome intimidation from competitions, and increase the athlete’s self-belief (Townsend 3). Imagining making movements associated to a sport can result in improved performance because physical practice is not the only way to enhance a new skill (Allman 2). Since visualization is a safe form of self-hypnosis, it is important for athletes to spend a few minutes each day vividly imagining their absolute perfect performance to bring down times, build self-confidence, and overcome recurring problems and intimidation. Visualization works because “images…are the language of your subconscious mind-and so the movies you run through your mind everyday…are programming your body for your next…performance” (Townsend 2). This technique works because, whether the athlete runs negative or positive movies through his head, either way it will greatly impact how he performs in competition (Behncke 2).
Visuo-Motor Behavior Rehearsal (VMBR) is the combination of the “techniques of mental imagery with the physical practice of the intended skill” (Behncke 5). The three stages of VMBR are relaxation, visualization, and actually performing the skill under realistic conditions (Behncke 5). A study monitored people’s brains as they performed activities and imagined to perform them. The researches found that both methods of practice involved the interaction of several of the same areas of the brain (Allman 2). It is important that the mental imagery techniques are learned before VMBR is practiced because the individual might pay insufficient attention to the motor performance if they need to deeply concentrate on the method of mental imagery due to unfamiliarity (Behncke 6). Both the brain and muscles have the ability to adapt to extended periods of exercise. A study done on mice at the University of Illinois showed that the
brains of mice that ran on treadmills had more blood vessels and denser nerve connections than sedentary mice (Allman 2).
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT)…attempts to change skill performance and behavior towards performance, through altering the way one cognizes the events” (Behncke 6). The goal of CBT is to strengthen positive behavior and weaken negative behavior. Sport psychologists like this method because of the influence that athletes’ attitudes toward training and competition have on performance of the sport. Self-regulation is the main problem of CBT because altering habits depends on one’s ability to regulate their own behavior (Behncke 6).
Somatic methods, such as biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, and meditation “are primarily concerned with gaining control of various bodily functions” (Behncke 8). Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) decreases anxiety and increases pain tolerance to allow athletes to compete at optimum performance. “PMR attempts to use the athlete’s awareness of muscle concentration/relaxation sensations to derive degrees of self-awareness” (Behncke 8). During PMR, the athlete is told to contract and then relax muscles in a specific order to give self-awareness of muscle activity. This skill helps athletes relax muscles in competition (Behncke 8).
Athletes can learn to control their brain-waves using biofeedback to improve their performances. A brain monitor was connected to experienced archers to measure activity in the right and left sides of the brain. A video screen showed two bars moving closer together when the archers were able to successfully relax their brain. This taught the archers to control their brain-waves by controlling the movement of the bars. In another study, the brain waves of beginner archers were measured during a fifteen week training course. As the archers’ skills improved, their brain wave patterns also changed. Near the end of the fifteen weeks, researchers discovered that the new archers were beginning to show the same burst of alpha waves right before a shot that elite archers experience (Allman 1). Biofeedback uses devices that amplify bodily functions for psychosomatic feedback. Distance runners have used biofeedback to increase their running economy because they can monitor their heart rate and ventilation data. The athletes can then use their brain to work on decreasing these factors (Behncke 8).
Meditation is more practical than biofeedback directly before competition because no equipment is needed. “Meditation is defined as mental exercise and by focusing on particular aspects of physical sensation the individual can begin to be aware of the correlations between physiological functions and psychological activity” (Behncke 8). Meditation is another way to increase self-awareness in sport performance. Sometimes the body gets overwhelmed by the pressures of competition and conflicting signals are sent from the brain to the muscles. The brain’s fight-or-flight response kicks in to prepare the body for action by “raising the heartbeat, flooding the body with adrenaline, and speeding up the breathing” (Allman 2). Meditation before competition will relax the body to allow for optimum performance (Behncke 8).
When athletes feel they have self-mastery of these psychological techniques, they tend to be motivated to continue trying to increase performance. It can be difficult to determine if improvements are the result of physical or mental training. Results are not immediate from mental skills training, so an athlete must be willing to be patient and practice the skill (Behncke 1).
During the 1990s, the role of sport psychology in the training of elite athletes rapidly increased. It is now part of nearly ever serious athlete’s normal routine. The Cleaveland Indians baseball team spends $300,000 a year on performance-enhancement program. This program must be positively affecting the team in some way because they have won five straight American League Central Division titles since 1995 and enjoyed two World Series appearances (Tolson 2). A sport psychologist for the 1992 Olympic team said, “At the level of the Olympics nowadays, there’s not a whole lot of difference among the athletes in terms of physical talent and training. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to what’s between their ears” (Allman 1). Works Cited
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