Mental FactorsImpacting on Performance

Mental Factors

• Mental Toughness• Focus• Decision Making• Level of Arousal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/17665951 - Michael Johnson - Importance of Mental Factors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlFRZmUmaYI&list=PLMn5YXzQucSErB06UeE_JmjXQoh04De3o&index=

1 - Micheal Jordan – Importance of Mental Factors

Mental Toughness

• Mental Toughness is the ability to consistently perform at the top of your skill level and talent regardless of the competitive circumstances.

• A mentally tough athlete will:

Have an unshakable belief that they can do something

Stay focused in big moments Cope well with pressure Never give up (even in challenging situations) Be able to control emotions such as anger and fear

Mental Toughness – Positive Examples

• In 2013 Andy Murray became the first British male winner of Wimbledon for 77 years. There was huge expectation on him to win. His created a lot of pressure that Andy had to deal with.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQPa5YbPrSs

• In 2005 Liverpool demonstrated real mental toughness in order to come back from 3-0 down to AC Milan in the final of the Champions League and win the game on penalties.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV5xpweO62c

Mental Toughness – Negative Examples.There are many examples of athletes who were unable to cope with the pressure placed on them and “choked”. The following links give examples of athletes that displayed poor mental toughness.

• http://observer.theguardian.com/osm/story/0,,641727,00.html

A famous example of player displaying poor mental toughness is Jean Van de Velde who went into the last hole with a 3 shot lead to try and win the British Open.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkOf8Ic3LP4

Mental Toughness Tasks• There are many reasons why a performer may feel pressure.

List as many of them that you can come up with.

• In groups discuss what you think the differences between a performer who is mentally tough and performer who is not mentally tough are. Feedback your thoughts to the class

Mental Toughness – Impacts on Performance

Negative – Poor mental toughness Positive – Good mental toughness

• Panic and unclear thinking that that will lead to bad decision making.

• Thinking clearly and making good decisions for the situation

• Feeling your muscles tighten which will cause poor execution of skills

• Remaining calm and relaxed in order to execute skills well

• Performance level dropping below what you are capable of – sometimes well below!

• You performing to the top of your level in demanding situations.

• Lack of effort or giving up if things get tough.

• Confidence even when in tough situations which will help an athlete to bounce back.

• Allowing distractions to interfere with your performance and reacting negatively.

• You being able to focus on what is important and dealing with keeping it together in pressured situations

Focus

• Focus is the ability to devote you full attention to the task at hand, tuning out distractions.

• The ability to focus is among the most important traits you can have as an athlete.

• Top athletes are able to focus on what matters in order to be successful and ignore everything else that doesn’t.

Focusing on “What Matters”• Within every sporting situation there are various elements that

require an athletes attention and could be considered “what matters”.

• The “what matters” will be different for each different situation but will generally include:

• Tactics you are using to improve your chances of success• Movement of game object e.g. judging the flight or spin of the ball.• Actions of your opponent.• Actions of your team mates.• Ensuring technique is performed precisely• How external factors such as weather may impact performance.

Distractions• A distraction is anything that prevents you from focusing on what is

relevant (what matters) to performing well.

• Two distinct types of distractions exist. External and Internal distractions

• External Distractions (The environment you are in). Includes:• Weather, Equipment, Opponent, Noise, Crowd, Visual distractions, The

Score

• Internal distractions (What is going on inside your head). Includes:• Thoughts about what other might think• Thoughts about outcome and impact on result• Thoughts about issues from outside of the sport e.g. relationship issues

Focus - Impacts on Performance

Examples- Positive• Despite the many distractions that Usain Bolt had to deal with

in the lead up to his 100m and 200m races at the 2012 Olympic Games he was still able to focus fully on what was important for him in order to win the races.

• What distractions do you think Usain Bolt has to deal with when performing?

Examples - Negative• An excellent example of what can occur due to poor focus is

described in the YouTube video below where the fate of Dan O’Brien an Olympic gold medalist in the Decathlon at the 1996 games attempts to qualify for the American team so that he can participate in the 1992 Olympic Games.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NakaBM7wmdY

Task

1) What distractions does the performer have to ignore in order to make an effective serve? Consider both internal and external distractions

2) What things would be effective to focus on in order to be successful?

Decision Making

• Decision-making is the process of choosing what to do in a performance from a range of options and then putting the decision into practice.

• Within any sporting performance there are a huge number of decisions that a performer will make that will have a huge bearing on the success of the performance.

• When performing (and in life) any time you do anything you have made a decision.

Decision Making - Examples

When participating in an activity you are constantly making decisions. Some examples of the decisions you make are:

• Where you take a shot from? How realistic are your chances of scoring?

• The amount of power to put in a pass, when to make the pass and where to put the pass.

• Choosing what technique is most appropriate for the situation.• Whether to pass the ball to a team mate or try to dribble?• When to make a supporting run and where to move to.• What side of the attacker you should be on when defending.

Lionel Messi – World 2014Watch the following two clips of Lionel Messi and compare the decisions that he makes

Watch this short clip of Argentina v Switzerland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDbyzzohSA8

• In the first clip what decisions does Messi make?• What impact does each of the decisions he makes have on the performance• What is the outcome.

Watch this clip of Messi v Germany in the final https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHpg8SguExM

• How does his decision making in the 2nd clip compare to that of the first?

• What do you think might have led to Messi making this poor decision?

Decision Making Tasks

1. What might a performer consider when choosing a decision?

2. When performing, list what factors you think might cause a player to make a bad decision.

3. What impact will consistently making bad decision have on:

i) The Performerii) The Team

Level of Arousal• Level of arousal is the level of excitement, stress, nervousness

and aggression you feel as you get prepared to participate in an activity.

• Level of arousal can be thought of as how “up for” the performance a performer is.

• The graph on the following slide shows the relationship between arousal and performance level.

Arousal and Performance

“In the Zone”• When performing athletes try to ensure that they are at the

optimal (the best) state of arousal. This state of arousal is known as being “in the zone”

• Different athletes may require different levels of arousal to be in the zone i.e. one athlete may be more laid back whereas another may appear more intense

• Watch the build up to the 2012 men’s 100m Olympic final to see how the different athletes try to get into their zone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O7K-8G2nwU

“In the Zone” – Positive ImpactsThe table below shows some of the characteristics of an athlete who is performing “in the zone”.

The following YouTube clips are athletes talking about the being “in the zone”.• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl49zc8g3DY - Kobe Bryant • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR0hJm6ky_I - Sam Torrance • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHEuRJmAo9Q - Sally

Gunnell

Under Arousal• Under arousal is when an athlete is not “up for” the

performance sufficiently.

• Potential reasons for an athlete being under aroused could be:

• Not an important game/performance/competition• To used to the situation• Lack of challenge – Against a weaker opponent• Tiredness/fatigue/illness/injury

Under Arousal - Impacts• Being under aroused when performing can result in the following:• Sloppy performance of skills with uncharacteristic errors.• Lack of effort in situations e.g. not chasing back to help your team

defend• Poor focus during performance• Poor decision making due to not being fully engaged in the performance.• Slow reactions as not fully engaged and alert.• Poor level of motivation

• Under arousal is often the reason for favourites being upset in competitions. The following link gives examples where upsets have been caused probably due to the favourite struggling to get “up for” the performance.

http://www.thedailytouch.com/matthew/top-10-greatest-sporting-upsets-2/

Over Arousal

• Over arousal is too “up for” a performance. This may happen when a performer places a very high level of importance on a performance.

• Over arousal can result in an athlete becoming anxious, panicking, acting rashly and becoming over aggressive.

• What examples can you think of of an athlete being over aroused?

One athlete might see a particular situation as very important whereas another athlete may not think that situation has the same level of importance.

Impacts of Over Arousal

Anxiety Aggression

• Internal distractions - negative thoughts and self doubt result in a lack of focus

• Acting rashly without consideration of impact of actions

• Loss of confidence may result in indecision and the athlete playing too safe.

• Committing fouls and getting into disciplinary trouble

• Muscle Tightness – reduces athletes ability to perform skills effectively

• Arguing with others – referee/team mates/coach

• A sense of panic and feeling rushed will effect clarity of though and negatively affect decision making

• Taking too many risks during the performance – not playing the percentages e.g. always going for the killer pass. (poor decision making)

• May result in worry and fear. Could cause sleeplessness in lead up to performance or the athlete may look to avoid the situation

• Trying too hard • Trying to do too much for the team

and not sticking to their particular role.

• Using too much energy early on and tiring during the performance