Unit 3 from study guide

Explain concentration

= ability to maintain focus/attention on relevant environmental cues, ability to attend to the right things at the right time and in the right way

• it is a SKILL that you can improve, you should practice it so in performance you can do it

·      Explain the four parts to concentration and why each part can helping athletes/clients improve their concentration

1) selective attention

• relevant vs irrelevant cues; where your mind goes your energy flows

2) maintain attentional focus

• TOTAL immersion in the present and entire competition, very difficult

3) maintain situational awareness

• what is going on around the athlete?

4) shifting attentional focus and processing

• between broad and narrow, shifting your attention using certain cues

·      According to Nideffer, explain the attentional focus model

there are two dimensions of attentional focus (WIDTH = broad (taking in several cues) or narrow (focusing on specific detail or task), and DIRECTION = external (environment) or internal (thoughts and feelings)) that divide into four quadrants

List each of the quadrants of Nideffers attentional focus model, example of each, and how to improve

• Broad External = assessing the environment, game situation, and positions of teammates and opponents

  • FREEZE where you are, close your eyes, and ask where every athlete is on the field/court

  • what number is in peripheral vision?

• Broad Internal = strategize, plan, organizing thoughts

  • practicing skills and knowing the sport; which club to use, who to set to, race plan

  • practice the situations, mentally use imagery

• Narrow Internal = ocus on 1-2 internal cues-mental rehearsal and emotional control

  • imagery, breathing, mindfulness and reassess focus

• Narrow External = directing attention towards 1-2 specific, critical cues in the environment while blocking out distractions; spot on the wall for turns, looking at catchers glove

  • place number on ball or puck and athletes must yell out number

·      Explain two reasons why athletes lose concentration

1) pay attention to irrelevant cues

2) leave the present moment and think about the result or past mistakes

3) are fatigued both mentally and physically

·      Discuss four activities to maintain attentional focus

1) Use specific attention cues; key words or phrases (“see the ball,” “stay aggressive,” “press into the floor”)

2) Break the game into smaller sections (one possession, one point, one play)

3) Reset during natural breaks (use substitutions, timeouts, and break in action periods to restore attention)

4) Practice focusing when fatigued (mental skills added at the end of conditioning), make a decisions after difficult skill)

5) Natural Attentional Restoration = looking at nature to refocus

·      Understand and apply associative and dissociative attentional strategies.

Associative = focusing on bodily reactions; heart rate, muscle tensions, breathing, active self regulation

Dissociative = tuning out bodily reactions and distracting self, the crowd, the environment

·      Explain the best friend advice approach to self-talk

act as if your best friend is in the exact same position as you, what advice would you give them? say that outloud to yourself too

Key: record yourself and then listen to it back

·      Why can hand notetaking help with attention and learning vs on a computer.

process of taking notes can help with memory and recall, it is slower than typing which forces people to summarize and rephrase in their own words

·      Specific exercises to Improve concentration: p. 423 (we discussed some of these on Wed during lecture)

o   Exercise: Learning to shift attention

o   Exercise: Learning to maintain focus

o   Exercise: Searching for relevant cues

• TEXTBOOK

• TEXTBOOK

• searching for the numbers on the number chart with distractions

·      Explain internal vs. external attentional cues in a teaching setting. What works better when?

• What to think about inside your body (flex your wrist when you shoot)

• Something outside yourself (put your hand in the cookie jar when you shoot)

-External is often better for skills

-internal is more for building muscle mass

What is self-confidence? What is self-efficacy?

Self Confidence = belief that you can successfully perform a desired behavior

Self Efficacy = situation-specific form of self-confidence

Self-confidence is multidimensional. Explain several types of self-confidence.

Is your confidence related to…..? NOT JUST PHYSICAL PART

• physical skills

• psychological skills

• perceptual skills

• fitness and training status

• ability to improve

• past achievements

• belief you can beat opponent

What are six sources/methods to build self-confidence? know at least 5.

1) Focus on performance accomplishments

• success or failure, more successes increases sense of self efficacy

2) Acting and thinking confidently

• the way you think is the way you feel, INTERNAL THOUGHTS

3) Physical and Mental preparation

• practicing skills to feel good, imagining skills correctly to reinforce it

4) vicarious experiences

• demonstration or modeling to help students learn new skills “if they can do it then I can do it” mentality

• ex: running the mile under a minute

5) Physiological and emotional states

• how the athlete view their arousal (helpful or unhelpful) and how does their emotions impact how the athlete perceives themselves?

6) verbal persuasion

• enhance enjoyment and percieved effort, “you can do it” “hang in there” OUTLOUD

Focus on performance accomplishments—mastery

            Acting Confident

            Physical and Mental Preparation

            Vicarious Experiences

            Verbal Persuasion

            Physiological and Emotional States

it shows us what we can do when we master the skill

Explain the inverted U related to confidence. Do you agree/disagree? Provide an example.

• That under confidence = self doubts undermine performance by creating anxiety, breaking concentration, causing indecisiveness

• That Over confidence = falsely confident, lack of preparation because confidence exceeds abilities, overlooking other team or using it as a crutch when theres unexpected failure

I agree, but I think there is less of a drop-off when it comes to overconfidence. I think there could be a more gradual drop off. If a person is more trait anxiety induced there might be a steeper drop off for under confidence instead if they don’t know how to manage it

Explain confident humility.

Ability to be secure in your strengths while remaining open to areas to improve on and learning from others

Dont think less of yourself but think of yourself less

Explain collective efficacy.

the athletes belief in the teams ability as a whole

• impacted by team cohesion, coaching, and communication

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy? Discuss an example.

Expecting something to happen can contribute to causing it to happen

• so nervous and thinking you will fall during performance causes you to fall

Explain the four steps related to a coach’s self-fulfilling prophecy:

·      Expectation - coach forms expectations based on impression with the athlete

• ex: not taking a chance on a little less talented athlete coming in versus a talented athlete

·      Behavior/Treatment - coach provides treatment according to initial expectations

• ex: because the less talented athlete didn’t have innate ability the coach ignores them more and doesn’t give more feedback to help improve

·      Outcome - athlete performance conforms to coaches initial expectation and the self fulfilling prophecy is complete

• because the coach doesn’t give the athlete more attention or help the athlete doesn’t believe or know they have potential and therefor doesn’t have that improvement

·      Reinforcement of Expectation - athlete perception of treatment affects athletes behavior and performance

• athlete continues to not try to be better because they aren’t as initially talented

What are some factors that can reduce self-confidence?

• fear of failure

• fear of judgement

• perfectionism

• been in a slump

• focused irrelevant cues or outcome

Why should coaches be more concerned with building the efficacy of the team as a whole than with building each individual player’s self-efficacy? P. 370

It is critical to success. You need the team to believe on themselves as a unit because they rely on each others individual assets. Higher level of working together for a common goal.

How would you build collective efficacy? Bottom 371-72

• Before competition, challenge the team as a whole to not only perform well under normal conditions but also under abnormal conditions so they can collectively work together at the time of competition.

• During the competition, instilling team morale and reliance on each other; reminding the athletes how they have worked well in the past and will do it again in this moment.

• After competition, reflecting but not blaming. Rebuilding confidence as a team after a loss or keeping that confidence steady after a win.

Explain the four of the seven components of mental toughness and provide examples.

1) Control/Composure

• can you control your thoughts, emotions, and actions; can you concentrate and make good decisions when during high pressure situation

2) Commitment

• are you highly motivated and self directed, always show up and bring your best effort

3) Confidence

• do you believe in yourself in good times and setbacks, do you believe in your ability to manage interpersonal demands (be a good listener and resolve conflict)

4) challenge

• do you view difficulties as an opportunity or a threat

5) Resiliency

• can you recover quickly from failure

6) adaptability (mentally pliable)

• can you adapt quickly regardless of external circumstances

What is a confidence card? What is the point of this card?

• write down all the things you are proud of and have accomplished

• all times you’ve been there for someone and encouraged them, resolved conflict, etc

What are some misconceptions about mental toughness?

1) mental toughness means having no emotions or being insensitive to stress and pain = FALSE, instead acknowledge, not suppress

2) mental toughness is a trait that can’t be developed = FALSE, its a skill that improves with practice

3) being mentally tough means never needing help = FALSE, seeking guidance and support is strength

What does “mental pliability” mean?

“pliability adapts, tough breaks” you don’t want to resist until you break, you want to adapt and flex with the situation

We discussed several strategies to improve mental toughness. Explain four strategies.

1)Failure reflection reframing = write down failure, list two things it taught you, now it’s not a failure it is a chance to learn

• flush it or park it

2) Stimulate high-pressure situations in a safe, controlled environment; the goal is to be challenged to be composed during deliberate stressors

3) visualize yourself performing the task calmly and successfully

4) breathing to calm

5) positive self talk and reframing events as challenges rather than threats to avoid

What activity did we use in class to practice composure/confidence in a safe, controlled environment?

pick out a subject and be an expert while people fire questions at you, can you remain composed?

Think of an activity you could use with a team/group to also practice composure/confidence that is different than our activity.

blindfolded partner obstacle course, one person has to stay calm and give instructions while the otehr person has to also remain calm while they take the instructions