A-Level Sports Psychology

The most important consideration for anyone taking part in sport, is that of concentration and control of arousal.

There are many ways to control your arousal and perhaps, the most important is that you focus, not simply on winning, but on playing to your very best in a game. This is known as a 'process' or 'performance' goal and will allow you to fix your focus on how well you play. We have noted, over the years, that players who focus solely on winning, will often (when winning is slipping away from them) resort to becoming aggressive towards opponents and even towards their own team-mates. They often criticise referees and become dysfunctional in their behaviour. Most of us have been there and we often make the error of taking out a bad day on those around us; I have in my past!! Thankfully, I learned very quickly that this did not help either me or my team. The rule is that if you take winning too seriously, then you risk losing control.

So, how do we control our arousal and concentrate better in games?

There are many techniques, but a favourite of mine is the use of 'Somatic Relaxation'. I get to games early and find little jobs to do, to occupy my mind with anything that is not directly related to the game itself. With about 40 minutes to go, I try to have ten minutes quiet on my own where I close my eyes and relax each and every muscle in my body. I can achieve this very quickly and easily now, although it took ages at first. Sometimes I have relaxing music playing and I take myself to places that have happy memories for me and i quickly become fully relaxed and at ease. I am happy to give help to players who wish to learn this.

Another thing to do, is 'Mentally Rehearse' the skills needed in the game. You can do this either 'Internally', where you feel the movement and rehearse how it is co-ordinated or 'Externally', where you run 'film' of yourself (in your mind) performing faultlessly; a series of passes or shots are examples. Notice that in each of these methods, I have avoided all mention of winning! Again, I am happy to help players learn to do this.

Coach Leonard.