Option B.3+ B.4: Mental preperation and Physiological skills training

arousal

is an alertness or state of reediness (continum ranging from deep sleep to intense alertness) of the body for an action
It is neutral and can be triggered by both pleasant/positive and unpleasant/negative situations 
It is how motivated/interested/excited an athlete is prior to and throughout the performance 

2 types of arousal

cognitive; thought processes

somatic ; body responses eg. sweat+ hr

3 arousal theories

drive reduction theory

inverted u hypothesis

catastrophe theory

drive reduction theory + diagram

says humans are motivated to reduce the state of tension caused when certain biological needs are not satisfied.

brings into consideration the reduction in motivation as performance changes not just as arousal increases so does perf

the inverted U hypothesis

as arousal increases so does performance until and optimum where performance will decrease

issues with inverted u

optimal arousal always occurs at the mid-point of the curve

assumes you cannot recover after optimum arousal

where are optimum arousal levels dependent on

skill level: beginners= lower arousal levels(will have lower peak also as cannot perform well)

sport= archery lower arousal levels

personality= extrovert higher arousal levels

fine/gross skill= fine lower arousal lvels

catastrophe theory

arousal increases performance until an optimum.

if over arousal occurs 2 things may happen

1- arousal levels drop slightly due to somatic anxiety however performer returns to optimum arousal (eg via pos self talk)

-arousal levels drop rapidly, due to cognitive and somatic anxiety and the performer will not be able to recover : catasrophe!

positive emotions in sport

excitement, relief, pride

lead to an increase in performance due to increase confidence and motivation

excitement masks pain

relief calms nerves

negative emotions in sport

anxiety, anger, guilt, boredom, shame

leads to a decrease in performance due gto decreasing confidence and motivation

how do emotions affect performance

significantly

regular change in emotions= regular change in performance

high trait anxiety more likely to be emotional

the effect of negative moods in performance

will prime us to remember negative memories of past failures and therefoore reduces confidence to perform

learned helplessness(attribute to stable internal factors)

the effect of positive moods in performance

will prime us to remeber positive memories of past sucess and therefore increase our confidence to perform

increased descision making

anxiety

a negative emotion of apprehension and tension which includes irrational thoughts, worry, fear of failure

2 types of anxiety

trate/ innate anxiety: inherited, likely to be anxious in a wide range of situations

state anxiety: situation specific, before an event eg. penalty

temporary, drops significantly once comp begins

cognitive anxiety + what can lead to

negative thoughts/perceptions/ worrys about performance

attentional narrowing(can be + or-) fixed on ball so loose player

loss of concentartion

somatic anxiety and responses

normally comes as a result of cognitive

sweating, muscle tension, naseau, increased hr

2 ways anxiety is measured

SCAT test for trait anxiety

CSAI-2R state anxiety

Scat test

find out which competitors are likely to become too anxious in a competitive situation.
Four factors are related to competitive anxiety:-

• Individual differences in how performers interact with different situations - some events are more important than others and therefore cause more anxiety

• The different types of anxiety (state and trait) that a performer experiences

• A specific anxiety trait that only occurs in competitive situations.

• The competition itself, which involves interaction between the performer's personality traits, their own competitive trait anxiety and the specific situation involved

CSAI-2R

Measured three components: cognitive, somatic, self-efficacy.

Given out before competition but more than once, such as a week before, a day before, and half an hour before this.

Enables researchers to discover baseline levels of anxiety and compare it with pre-competition levels to see if they differ.

stress

Stress is a process that involves one's perception of an imbalance between the demands of the environment and one's response capability, under conditions where failure to meet the demands

causes of stress

failure to perform at expected level

high staking games

large crowd/ whose in it eg.home/away

stress responses

anxiety, fear, inability to focus as of overthinking, muscle tension

stress process in sports

1. Cause of stress (environmental demand/event).
2. Stress response (persons reactions; fight or flight?) physical
3. Stress experience (psychological interpretation)
4. Actual behaviour (outcome).

Psychological skills training(PST)

the systematic and consistent practice of mental or physiological skills.

unique to individual(depending on sport+pyscological state)

PST skills

psychological qualities that need to be developed

PST methods

tools used to help develop PST skills

common misconceptions of pst training

just for elite athletes/problem athletes

does not provide quick fix solutions

3 phases of a PST program

Education: clarifies what psychological skills are+ benefits, why doing it+ how long going to take, commitment from both athlete and pyschologist

Acquisition:developing stratagies + skills specific for athelete + context of why they work so athlete can self regulate actions in context of their environment and emotions

Practice: to autonimate skills into performance situations

benefits of pst

– Self-confidence
– Motivation
– Concentration
– Skill acquisition
– Emotional control

goal setting

increases self confidence motivation and task persistence

types of goal

outcome

performance

process

outcome goals

have a specific result, does not consider how achieved just wether it is or not. involves comparison with other performers

eg.i want to win the game

good long term goal

performance goals

involves comparison with own performances

eg. scored 1 goal last time, want to score 2 this time

process goals

Things that need to be done to achieve desired outcomes, improving techniques

eg.practing tackling 20 times this session

SMARTER goals

Specific (clear+precise, use data is poss)

Measurabe(know if achieved or not)

Achievable (possible to)

Realistic(within reach but not impossible)

Time(clear deadline ie short/longterm)

Evaluate (reflection on achievment eg what worked)

Re-do= if unsucessull, reasses+ adjust to help sucess

mental imagrey+ uses

formation of a mental picture of when a skill was performed sucessfully in the past which considers feelings and emotions. inclides mental rehersal

– Improve Technique
– Whilst Injured
– Learning a New Skill
– Motivational Issues

mental rehersal

going through the movements of a task before the events

2 types of mental imagrey

internal/external

internal imagrey

emotions/feelings of doing a skill from within

external imagrey

image placed in an environment, watching yourself do it

issues when inventing imagrey skills

– Using all the Senses
– Internal or External Imagery
– Imagery Control

relaxation/somatic stress managment techniques

-arousal regulation, reducing s+c anxiety

progressive muscular relaxation techniques

breathing techniques

biofeedback

breathing techniques

also known as centering

focus of breathing, directs attention away from stress causer

biofeedback

measurement of phsiological responses to stressm such a HR recorder, know when getting stressed so can prevent/ start to put measures in places

progressive muscular relaxation

active muscle tensioning followed by releasing

-if employed too close to competition may lead to under arousal

self talk techniques

-concentration, attention, motivation

positive/neg self talk

thought stopping

positive/ negself talk

optimistic approach/pess

replaces negative talk w positive thoughts ab performance/ neg thoughts decrease performance

-used to focus on tactic,overcome poor technique / can lead to reduction in perf

thought stopping

recognition of when you startto have negative thoughts + using a cue, action or word to redirect attention to positive thoughts eg. snap out of it