Tag: Psychology

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Guest Post Psychology

Sport Psychology: Developing Sport and Life Skills

This week I chat to Sports Psychologist David McHugh. David is graduate from Liverpool John Moore’s University University with an Msc in Sport Psychology having studied psychology for four years in Galway and Nottingham.

TCD: When asked what sport psychology is how do you reply?

DM: I reply with the saying that it is strength and conditioning for the mind. It gives players and teams the ability to develop the mental attributes that will enable them to improve as players, supporting some on their journey to elite playing levels and supporting others in developing personal attributes that will enable them to develop as a person.

When the focus is on developing players a holistic approach should be taken focusing on physical, technical, tactical, psychological and lifestyle skills. However in Ireland are we teaching our players the skills that will enable them to develop as people and players? I do not believe we are. In most cases players are lucky to get adequate physical, technical and tactical support in their development.

What makes this lack of focus on the psychological skills of players surprising was when a group of researchers asked 8 coaches in different Premier League academies what the key attributes of those making it into the first team were. They all concluded that the psychological attributes of the players determined their success, not their technical, tactical or physical attributes.

TCD: So how can we address this deficiency in the development of our young players?

DM: Here are some practical ways coaches can support the development of player’s psychological skills:

Persevere in the face of failure: Players must be encouraged to view failure as a learning experience and as a part of the process in improving. Failure should be seen as feedback on ways you can improve as a player and team. If the player and team plays to the best of their ability and still loses the player should be made feel like a winner. This takes success beyond the traditional concept of winning and losing, and makes sport about being the best that you can be every day. This is not only important in sport, but an important life skill.

Your biggest competition is yourself: Players should be encouraged to view their competition as being themselves. This is something that is in their control. They can control the level that they play at and consequently they can focus on being better on a daily basis. They should not be encouraged to focus on the opposition or winning as this can lead to lowering of the player’s motivation for self improvement when they lose a game. The focus should always be on self improvement.

Take responsibility for your performance: When the players and team go onto the pitch they must be encouraged to take responsibility for their performance, good or bad. In how many schoolboy matches do coaches and players give excuses such as the weather, the opposition and the referee as the reason for poor performances and results? These are a result of not taking responsibility for performance. If the players and team are not encouraged to take responsibility for their performance they will always find an excuse as to why they did not reach their potential.

These three strategies can develop an environment which supports the development of young players so that they have the motivation to be the best that they can be. Some of Irish football players are getting the required technical, tactical and physical training necessary to improve as football players. However none of our young players are getting the support to develop the psychological skills necessary for what would be termed a holistic approach to development. Sport Psychology can fill this gap to support players and teams in becoming better people and players.

If you would like to find out more on sport psychology in football you can email David d.a.machugh91@gmail.com his website is davidmchughsp.wordpress.com

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I always like to hear your opinions. Please comment below or email me info@thecoachdiary.com, if you don’t have anything to add then please forward this on to a friend.

Thanks for reading. I’m also on twitter @Coachdiary

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Psychology

Psychology: Key Factors in Sport

This following post is from an info-graph constructed by Ohio University’s Online Master in Coaching Education program. It visualised the ten ways psychology affects athletic performance.

Sports is not just about the thrill or the love for the game—it is about an opportunity for an athlete to discover his limits and push himself further, to challenge himself and excel. Although athletes are arguably different from the rest of us, there are factors that help them make the transition from great to outstanding.

Find out what these factors are and how they contribute to the overall conditioning of the best athletes in the world.

1. Being Aware

The best athletes are aware of their physical, mental and emotional states. From time to time, in the middle of practice or the game itself, an athlete must be able to “check in” and determine his or her level of preparedness and ability to perform. Looking inwards helps create awareness of important changes and modifications that need to be made. Awareness is a critical part of an athlete’s preparation to achieve a peak mental state. At this level, an athlete maintains better control at eliminating distractions and thoughts that have a negative impact on their performance.

2. Maintaining a Routine

There is a reason why athletes perform the same sequence of actions over and over again—to establish a routine. A routine is a way for an individual to develop what is known as muscle memory, which is a series of movements that have become familiar to the individual through repetition and frequent practice. A routine can also build condition responses, in which an athlete is able to perform a movement or action automatically. A routine, whether it is through physical, mental or emotional training, will help eliminate guesswork during an event, such as in a competition.

3. Setting Goals

A goal helps create a sense of direction and anticipation in an athlete and it can also be a good reference point when comparing progress during training. The key to successful performance in sports is being able to set specific and measurable goals that present a challenge, thereby creating a sense of fulfilment with each completion.

4. Visualising

Visualising a challenge or a problem is an important step in problem solving. Visualisation involves making a mental picture of a desired outcome to help in improving focus, confidence and calmness. It also helps identify any potential risks, challenges and negative outcomes so that the athlete is better prepared by either preventing the problem or finding a solution for it.

5. Self-Talk

Although they may have access to some of the best trainers and equipment, sports athletes only have themselves to rely on when the time comes to perform. One of the key factors that help them maintain their focus is self-talk—specifically, instructional self-talk. This type of self-conditioning trains the athlete to instruct himself about the specific steps he has to make to achieve a certain outcome. He could, for example, say something like, “Focus on the target… Breathe slowly… Raise the left elbow…” etc. Doing so helps the athlete work through the routine and motivates him at the same time.

6. Relaxation

Sports athletes utilize different ways to relax. They may, for example, turn to sleep, massages, deep breathing, music and meditation to help them manage stress and fatigue, improve their focus, recharge and visualize.

7. Concentration

Concentration allows a sports athlete to focus on the specific tasks that need to be done, from the starting position they make to their desired end result. The more focused an athlete becomes, the better he will be at doing what he does.

8. Developing Confidence

Sports athletes who have confidence in what they can do are far better at performing at the top of their game than athletes who are fearful, anxious or stressed. Knowing that they can rely on their athletic abilities makes them much more committed and focused, with better control of themselves.

For sports athletes, confidence is developed gradually over the years and is often a combination of many factors, including self-esteem, external support, reinforcement, reward, and perception. In some cases, even some harmless superstitious beliefs can make a difference. Athletes are either extrinsically or intrinsically motivated but either way are more likely to perform at their best.

9. Maintaining Flow Mindset

A flow mindset is a state where an individual attains heightened calmness, focus and confidence. Most athletes call achieving this state as “being in the zone”. Most athletes develop this gradually, then learn how to maintain it for a more successful performance.

10. Control

Control allows sports athletes to maintain balanced emotions and use what excites and triggers them in a positive way. Although they are acutely aware of potentially negative factors that may affect their game, they are able to control how they react and remain committed to their goals.

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I always like to hear your opinions. Please comment below or email me info@thecoachdiary.com, if you don’t have anything to add then please forward this on to a friend.

Thanks for reading. I’m also on twitter @Coachdiary

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Coaching Psychology

Sports Psychologist Alan Goldberg’s Bad Coaching Behaviours

If you’re reading this post it’s because you’re either into coaching or you’re someone who is into learning about what makes a great one.

Take a look at Dr. Goldberg’s list of examples – of behaviours that characterise ‘bad’ coaching. Here is some sound advice for anyone involved with coaching kids.

There are a lot of “coaches” out there who don’t have CLUE about how to really coach. Unfortunately these individuals consistently do far more damage to young people than they do good.

  • They tear down self-esteem rather than building it up. They create an extremely unsafe learning environment for their athletes. They use fear, humiliation and demeaning, disrespectful behaviors as “teaching” tools. They are emotionally and sometimes (indirectly) physically abusive. They directly and indirectly pressure athletes to continue to play when injured. They regularly kill the fun and passion that their athletes once had for the sport. These coaches have lost their way and strayed terribly far from the true mission of coaching.

You’re NOT a good coach when you call an athlete out in front of the team and tell that athlete, “You absolutely suck! You’re the worst short-stop, quarterback, setter, forward, keeper, etc. that I have ever seen!”

  • How is this kind of a comment constructive? Does it help a child understand exactly what he/she is doing wrong and what they need to do to fix it and improve? How does it help a child learn? Does it motivate an individual to want to work even harder to improve? Does it help that individual feel good about themselves?

You’re NOT a good coach if you think that your most important job as a coach is to win games.

  • I don’t care what kind of pressure to win that you face from the administration. If winning is your primary goal as a coach you have significantly lost your way and as a consequence, you’ll actually win less!

Your mission as a coach is to teach young people and help them grow as individuals so that they become better people in the world, both on and off the field.

  • There are far more important things at stake here than whether a kid wins or correctly learns the x’s and o’s. Good coaches teach their athletes how to be better people in the world and they use their sport as nothing more than a vehicle for this teaching. The winning and losing outcomes are completely secondary to the teaching of valuable life lessons (playing as a team and sacrificing individual needs for the betterment of the team, handling adversity & failure, mastering fear & obstacles, working hard towards a faraway goal, learning to believe in yourself, being a good sport, playing by the rules, etc.)

You’re NOT a good coach when you place the outcome of a competition in front of the physical and emotional welfare of your players.

  • If you pressure your athletes to play when injured or if you demean and ignore those athletes who are too injured to play, then you are engaging in physical abuse. Encouraging your athletes to play hurt so that the team can win is reckless behavior for you as a coach. When you do this you are directly putting your players at risk. You are NOT teaching them to be mentally tough! Playing through pain is NOT a sign of strength. That is a ridiculous MYTH!!!!! Instead, it’s completely ignoring your body’s early warning signs that something is very wrong.

You’re NOT a good coach when you allow players on your team to scape-goat and/or demean each other.

  • Good coaches create a safe learning environment. There is nothing safe about being on a team where teammates regularly criticize and yell at each other. There is nothing safe about being on a team when you are picked on or ostracized by your teammates. It’s the coach’s responsibility to set very clear limits to prevent these kinds of “team busting” behaviors. There should be no place for them on a winning team.

You’re NOT a good coach when you play favorites.

  • Good coaches treat their athletes fairly. They don’t operate with two different sets of rules, i.e. one for the “chosen few” and one for the rest of the team. Coaches who play favorites go a long way towards creating performance disrupting dissension on their squads.

You’re NOT a good coach when you tell your athletes that under no circumstances are they ever to tell their parents what really goes on in practice, and that if they do, they are being disloyal and disrespectful to their teammates coach and the program!

  • Coaches who tell their athletes these kinds of things are terribly misguided and are trying to hide something. What they’re trying to hide is their abusive behaviors! Telling kids not to ever tell their parents is what child abusers tell their victims!

You’re NOT a good coach when you treat your players with disrespect.

  • I don’t care what your won-loss record is or how many championships you’ve won in the past. When you treat pre-adolescent and adolescent athletes disrespectfully you are NOT a good coach. Great educators don’t teach in this manner. They value their students and make them feel that value, both as learners and individuals. Your position and reputation should not determine whether you get respect from your team. What does determine whether people respect you is how you ACT! Your behavior is what’s paramount. Good coaches earn their respect from their players on a daily basis, over and over again based on how they conduct themselves and how they interact with their athlete and everyone else associated with the program. If you think that you’re too important to earn respect, then you are distinguishing yourself as a bad coach!

You’re NOT a good coach when you don’t “walk the talk.” What you say to your players means nothing if it doesn’t come from who you are as a person.

  • Simply put, your words have to closely match your behaviors. Great coaches are great role models in that they teach through their behaviors. They don’t operate on a double standard where it’s OK for them to act one way but hold their athletes to a different and higher standard of behavior. If you as a coach teach through the maximum, “do as I say, NOT as I do,” then you have distinguished yourself as a poor coach.

You’re NOT a good coach when you refuse to take responsibility for your behavior, when you refuse to own your mistakes and instead, blame others for them.

  • The mark of a great educator is that they present themselves as human. They do not let their ego get involved in the more important task of teaching. Therefore when something goes wrong, they are quick to own their part in it. Good coaches take responsibility for their team’s failures and give their team and athletes full responsibility for successes. Bad coaches blame their athletes for losses and take the credit for the team’s successes.

You’re NOT a good coach when you play “head games” with your athletes.

  • If you talk behind their backs, play one athlete off against another or are dishonest in your interactions with your players then you are doing nothing constructive to help your players learn and grow as athletes and individuals. Telling a player one thing and then turning around and doing exactly the opposite is not how you go about effective coaching. For example, promising a player more playing time if he/she does A, B and C, and then keeping them on the bench after they do everything you’ve just asked of them is a psychologically insidious game that will kill your athlete’s love of the sport, crush their spirit and destroy their confidence. This is NOT how great coaches motivate their players!

Alan Goldberg, PhD, was the sport psychology consultant to the 1999 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champion University of Connecticut Huskies, and the 2000 men’s soccer NCAA champions. He is the former Sports Psychology Consultant for the University of Connecticut Athletic Department. As a nationally-known expert in the field of applied sport psychology, Dr. Goldberg works with athletes and teams across all sports at every level, from professional and Olympic caliber right down to junior competitors. Dr. Goldberg specializes in helping athletes overcome fears & blocks, snap out of slumps, and perform to their potential. His book, Sports Slump Busting (LLumina Press), is based on his extensive experience getting teams and individual athletes unstuck and back on track. Outside of sports, Dr. Goldberg works with performing artists, sales and business people, test takers, and public speakers.

Thanks to Podium Sports Journal for the content. 

Do I need to say anything, I think Alan Goldberg has said it all!!

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I always like to hear your opinions. Please comment below or email me info@thecoachdiary.com If, you don’t have anything to add then please forward this on to a friend. Thanks for reading.

I’m also on twitter @Coachdiary