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Mind… Body… Spirit! |
Sport
Psychology Newsletter Sport Psychology Task Force The Department of Kinesiology at California State University, Fresno |
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Fall
2003 |
Volume 1, Number
1 |
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“In order to keep an edge on our
opponents, the only edge is really the mental edge.” Lute Olson Head Basketball coach of the
University of Arizona “Awareness is everything.” Phil Jackson Thought Box: 1. Get the athlete to WRITE down
the ‘controllables’ 2. Explain that confident
thinking is a choice 3. Discuss how thoughts and perception
relate to performance Talent = 1. Commitment 2. Genetics 3. Desire 4. Focused Connection 5. Confidence 6. Ongoing Learning 7. Opportunity 8. Support System Newsletter Editors: Editor – Tim Hamel Assistant Editor – Sarah McCord Special Thanks to Randy Welniak, Associate
Athletic Director |
Welcome… On behalf of the Sport
Psychology Task Force and the Department of Kinesiology, we would like to
extend a warm “hello” to all the coaches at Fresno State. It is the goal of
this newsletter to bridge the gap between theory and practice and to promote
collegiality between Kinesiology and Athletics. The newsletter will provide coaches and athletes with
specialized information on performance enhancement issues such as confidence,
self-talk, goal setting, imagery and relaxation, pre-and post-performance
routines and quality practices. Furthermore,
the Sport Psychology Task Force wishes to provide an open forum where coaches
can ask questions related to performance enhancement. These questions may provide the
foundation for future newsletters.
In the future, this newsletter may expand to include other areas
within Kinesiology such as nutrition, physiology, sports medicine,
biomechanics and pedagogy. This initial newsletter will focus on two selected
topics in sport psychology: confidence and talent development. Playing with Confidence: Why do some Athletes have
it in Practice but not During the Game? Tim Hamel, M.S., Lecturer in
the Department of Kinesiology South Gym 129, 278-6049, thamel@csufresno.edu I have
had the pleasure to serve as a sport psychology consultant to numerous
athletic teams and the most important question I have addressed from coaches
revolves around an athlete’s confidence. Specifically, why do some players display a high level of
confidence in practice but somehow lose it come game time? When discussing the delicate issue of
confidence and/or lack of confidence, there are numerous factors to be
considered. The purpose of this
article is to discuss two important components related to confidence, thought
awareness and perception, as well as to provide strategies to enhance an
athlete’s level of confidence.
With
regards to these components of confidence, what becomes critical for athletes
is to understand the role of how their thoughts and their perceptions
directly influence their performance.
As humans we tend to live by the self-fulfilling prophecy; whatever we
say to ourselves generally happens and in sport this concept is even more
magnified. In sport psychology
literature a common phrase is: our thoughts are directly related to our
body’s movement. For athletes
this means prior to the execution of a skill, the most important tool becomes
their thoughts. This is
awareness. If a negative or
self-defeating thought races across an athlete’s mind prior to skill
execution, more often than not, the result can be poor. Athletes have to be so in tune with
their thoughts at all times while involved in a game. Have you ever heard an athlete
comment, “I don’t know what just happened,” or “I wasn’t thinking,” after
something disastrous occurred.
From my perspective, these types of responses tell me that the athlete
was simply unaware of their thoughts.
As a consultant, I feel it is imperative to educate athletes on the
importance of awareness and the direct effect it can have on an athlete’s
level of confidence. The second
component of confidence to be discussed is perception. In
practice, athletes tend to be more relaxed due to the fact that they
comprehend that a mistake will not lead to a major failure. In other words, they can have several
opportunities to succeed at a certain task even if the drill is set-up “game
like.” They understand that
there is less performance pressure and display less performance anxiety and
more importantly, they place less pressure on themselves. Ultimately this is the crux of the confidence
debate. In my work I have found
that less confident athletes place too much pressure on themselves come game
time. Their perception of the
event begins to distort their mentality. During a game the athletes’ increased self imposed
pressure leads to higher expectations which generally leads to performance
failure. As a result, the
athlete tries too hard. When the
athlete begins to press, mechanical or technical breakdowns in technique
follow. As a consequence the
athlete does not get the desired results and frustration sets in. To me this is the initial stage of a
slump. So the question becomes,
how can an athlete think confidently?
Trust me; it is much harder than just saying “Hey, just think
confident and positive thoughts.” As a
sport psychology consultant I educate athletes on techniques to train their
mind. In the case where an
athlete lacks confidence I would offer numerous suggestions to help the
cause. It is important for the
athlete to understand that thinking confidently is under their control. I explain all the things that an
athlete has control over and what is a concern. More often than not, through interaction, the athlete
comes to realize that the only thing that they have control over is their
thoughts and their response to what happens to them. I ask the athlete about their
pre-performance routines and offer tips on how to focus on task relevant
cues. These are just some
straightforward, yet powerful tips that have the ability to increase an
athlete’s awareness and perception that have a direct influence on
confidence. Tim
Hamel received his Master’s Degree in Sport Psychology from California State
University, Fullerton. While at
CSU, Fullerton he studied under the direct supervision of one of the world’s
top sport psychology consultants, Dr. Ken Ravizza. Suggested
Reading (available
upon request from the author) Gallwey,
T. (1976). The inner game of tennis. New York: Random House. Moore, W.
E., & Stevenson, J., R. (1994). Training for trust in sport skills. The
Sport Psychologist, 8, 1-12. Ravizza,
K., & Hanson, T. (1995). Heads-Up baseball: Playing the game one pitch
at a time.
Indianapolis, Indiana: Masters Press.
Thompson,
M. A., Vernacchia, R. A., &
Moore, W, A. (1998). Case studies in applied sport psychology: An educational approach. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendal Hunt. Williams,
J., M. (1998). Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak
performance.
Mountain View, California: Mayfield. Is There a Talent Quotient (TQ) for Athletics? Wade Gilbert, Ph.D., Assistant
Professor, Department of Kinesiology South Gym 128, 278-5170, wgilbert@csufresno.edu We all
know that intelligence quotient (IQ) has long been considered the benchmark
of intellectual talent. Is there a comparable talent quotient (TQ) for
athletics? When recruiting athletes you must select from dozens or hundreds
of potential candidates. You ask yourself, “Which athletes will stay
motivated for all four years?” “Who is mentally tough?” “Which recruits will
become team leaders?” “Who is most ‘coachable’?” These are tough questions
that all relate to the psychology of identifying and predicting talent
development in sport. The consequences are financial (lost or wasted
scholarships and training resources), emotional (athletes and coach
frustration), and structural (adjustments of team rosters or team systems). Clearly
after decades of coaches developing sport specific recruitment models and
scientists studying talent development there must be a highly reliable way to
identify and predict talent in athletics. Unfortunately this is not the case.
How many talented high school athletes never fulfill coach expectations at
the college level? Conversely, how many walk-ons go on to surprise everyone
and become great competitors in college? Every
sport has its own set of talent identification tools to address the physical
potential of an athlete (speed, endurance, strength, flexibility). But what
about predicting the psychological potential of an athlete? Although athletic
teams have experimented with psychological tests and interviews for many
years, there is no single tool or model that can accurately predict talent. Recently
my graduate students and I reviewed several talent development models and
case summaries of elite performers. We found eight common talent development
elements:
Each
element is best viewed as a composite of several related concepts. Based on
that review, no single model of talent development captures the complete
range of internal and external elements required to fully develop talent. Perhaps
the main reason for this apparent shortcoming is because of the complexity of
‘talent’. In recent years there has been a strong debate about whether talent
is innate (nature) or learned (nurture). Although there are people who take
one extreme or the other, the consensus is that talent is some unique
combination of both nature and nurture. Herein lies the challenge – how much
is genetic and how much can be learned or coached? We may never have the
answer to this question, but here are some highlights of what we do know:
I will
finish on this last point – optimism – as it is strongly related to
motivation and commitment, both of which are critical to becoming a talented
performer. Martin Seligman from Pennsylvania State University has studied
optimism and its correlation to success for over 20 years. He has found, both
within sport and across other domains, that optimism consistently shows a
very high correlation with individual success. More importantly, optimism can
be measured and learned. He concluded that when recruiting people for a
challenging job (such as high performance athletics), you should test for
three characteristics: aptitude, motivation, and optimism. It is
hoped that this short article provided you with some ideas to consider when
recruiting athletes. There clearly is a science to talent identification and
development. Suggested readings are provided if you wish to explore this
topic in more depth. Wade Gilbert is the
coordinator of the graduate specialization in sport psychology at Fresno
State. He was a research fellow at the International Center for Talent
Development at the University of California, Los Angeles prior to coming to
Fresno State. Suggested
Readings (available upon request from the author) Andersen,
J. L., Schjerling, P., & Saltin, B. (2000, September). Muscle, genes and
athletic performance. Scientific American, 48-55. Bloom,
B. (1985). Developing talent in young people. New York: Ballantine. Ceci, J.
C., & Williams, W. M. (Eds.). (1999). The nature-nurture debate: The
essential readings. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Ericsson,
K. A. (Ed.). (1996). The road to excellence: The acquisition of expert
performance in the arts and sciences, sports, and games. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Howe, M. J. A., Davidson, J. W., & Sloboda, J. A.
(1998). Innate talents: Reality or myth? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 21, 399-407. Seligman,
M. E. (1998). Learned optimism: How to change your mind and your life. New York: Pocket Books. Singer, R. N., & Janelle, C.
M. (1999). Determining sport expertise: From genes to supremes. International
Journal of Sport Psychology, 30, 117-150. Taubes,
G. (2000). Toward molecular talent scouting. Scientific American Presents, 26-31. __________________________________________________________________________ The
Sport Psychology Task Force at CSU, Fresno: Rebecca Cheema, Ed.D
rebeccac@csufresno.edu Wade
Gilbert, Ph.D.
wgilbert@csufresno.edu Jenelle
N. Gilbert, Ph.D.
jgilbert@csufresno.edu Tim
Hamel, M.S.
thamel@csufresno.edu Irene
Harris, Ph.D. IHarris@murdoc.com Once
again, a main focus of this newsletter is to share theoretical and applied
knowledge from the field of sport psychology with all coaches at Fresno
State. Please feel free to email
any of the task force members regarding factors relating to performance
enhancement. Also, the sport
psychology task force welcomes any feedback pertaining to content or format
of this newsletter. “Creating an open learning community for performance
excellence” |
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