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TEDx Talks
Published: 2013-01-23
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG7v4y_xwzQ
you could look export export to the highest level there could be some athletes who always seem to get it right for example you saying bolt Olympic hundred meter to a meter champion twice over and the two thousand eight Beijing Olympics and in the London Olympics Michael Phelps the most been meddled Olympian of all time these athletes appear to get it right but psychologically and physiologically all
of the time it's also interesting to note that I have contrasting approaches the same bolt with all his comedy antics prior to his events we've all seen this okay %HESITATION Michael Phelps however much different approach he sits down he has is listening to music has a much more cerebral contemplating approach two words in the bent but it's but very effective sports psychology may play a part
in their preparation for their events and maybe a reason why this successful what happens when things go wrong his another example in the two thousand twelve Olympics in London in the soccer final there were two finalists Brazil and Mexico Brazil with their undoubted favorites they're expected to win they were the reigning Olympic champions they were extremely skilled on paper they were the best team Mexico had
made it to the final playing well but they were unfancied in the final Mexico when tax Brazil in the credible display of attacking football it was incredibly impressive to watch and if you watch the reserve players the heads dropped they seem slightly defeated they could understand why they were performing as well as they they were perhaps they were complacent perhaps they had %HESITATION expected too much
perhaps they were overconfident the Mexicans had nothing to lose they attacked with fervor and they they won the Olympic title they with the Olympic champions over the fancy favorites perhaps sports psychology can explain why %HESITATION fancied champions may be overconfident and may fail women when they're expected to win and perhaps why on the docks take on the best and win despite all the odds take another
example James Madison a man with seemingly unshakable self confidence he said he was going to win the hundred meters sprint final in the pool at the London Olympics he was extremely confident but in that race he was not touched on the line by Nathan Adrian by one one hundredth of a second and I was devastating for him you can see his body language often he was
strolling perhaps he was overconfident perhaps though his obese confidence in enlightenment in the events leading up to the to the actual final perhaps his company's been live an underlying self Shelton no confidence perhaps he was was a very competent inside when he should have been %HESITATION supremely confident always abilities because he was the lead the world leader in the event so perhaps psychology may play a
part in a particular it may help when it went over coming such a devastating defeat for the next event another very good example we Michael really in the twenty eleven Augusta mosses he was expected to win he was what's the famous certainly and he's extremely time to go for in fact he's that we he's the one with one player that will of the people on the
tour the golfers on the tour the PGA tour fear the most and yet on the day when he was leading on the final day of the events he was leading by four shots he played superbly on the previous three days he experienced a catastrophic drop in his performance he shot a round of eighty and this is something that's a professional golfers can do in this league
certainly very easily %HESITATION because they they frequently ancient rounds of of seventy or below and that's a that's a good a good shot so so eighteen was a catastrophic failure and he ended up tying for fifteen place so you think that that sort of devastating performance may impacted on his on his mind however for only eight weeks later he won the US open and there was
no sign of the lack of confidence and the the father the pressure got to him that was deaf displayed when he was in Augusta so it seemed that he picked up the pieces and what is it that made him do so sports psychology may indeed have the offices so it needs athletes coaches in the people who surround athletes know very well the importance of sport psychology
and then beginning to embrace it sports psychologists are often included in the teams that surround athletes nowadays many sports psychology well it's there that's fine that's all and and study and practice all mental preparation for sport it involves identifying the techniques and strategies that athletes can take and use so they perform at their most optimum it also helps athletes deal with come back with setbacks and
help to come back from devastating defeats defeats such as those by James Magnussen oral remarkably so just begin to unpack some of the strategies sports psychologist talk about so looking inside the mind of a winner what factors are linked to success in sport well clearly nothing has to be motivated often goes that mode that the athletes set scribe or %HESITATION will demonstrate how much how much
effort and how much will they have to win in the event but sometimes motivation isn't just enough isn't enough an athlete has to be confidence and confidence seems to be ubiquitous amongst high performing performance there are number strategies that athletes can use to boost their confidence another important factor is knowledge all of the sport so basically knowing your sport inside out but also knowing the opposition
one of their strengths and their weaknesses one of the phrases queen by %HESITATION Clive Woodward who is the England's coach at the time they won the Rugby World Cup in two thousand three one of the phrase he coined was total rugby leaving no stone unturned when it comes to performance he was very famous for developing dossier dossiers on the opposition knowing this ranks knowing their weaknesses
and when you can attack them and how could tactically out with them and that's clearly important %HESITATION in sport these days using psychology to understand the opposition as well as yourself I think there was a very good at using routines getting themselves in the right frame of mind to look at that in a few months time athletes are also good at handling pressure you can you
say Bob Michael Phelps they'll cases in point and anxiety management is clearly an important aspect of %HESITATION athletes awesome of strategies get them in the right frame of mind so they can perform at their best just look at some of the strategies in detail motivation is clearly very important and how do you get an athlete motivated the most important things a goal the goals that they
sent the goal of life that will determine how much drive how much effort how much will they have to perform well but often a goal of winning is not enough sometimes ill but most times it's important that an athlete has a number of sub goals %HESITATION which I related to that performance if things like personal bests but drive them broken training and %HESITATION in competition it's
important to those gold conform to certain features and scientists psychologists and practitioners always referred to this smarter acronym and that's because having goals that are realistic relevance Pacific measurable and so forth are really important when it comes to getting an athlete motivated as I said earlier motivation is not enough it is important an athlete is confident and there are a number of ways you can boost
an athlete self confidence spirits reminding an athlete of the experience is extremely important modeling another recount what maudlin here muddling is also an important aspect because that enables an athlete %HESITATION to how the local or a blueprint if you like of the optimum performance imagery and self talk a part of that and we'll get on to those in a moment feedback is clearly important as well
positive feedback from the athletes coaches it was amazing mental rehearsal and it's a strategy that many athletes use and here is this the kinds of things that %HESITATION an athlete or coach will go through when they're rehearsing a performance it's almost like a a video of their performance they will also use prompts but that Wilson visualize any contingencies that arise for example any barriers or problems
and difficulties that arise during the course %HESITATION over their competition here's an example of these kinds of strategies in action this is blank of luggage she was a former world champion a high jumper and I double A. F. athlete of the year and she was very famous for going through the same performance routine prior to a competition she would close her eyes visualize a successful jump
she would clap her hands rhythmically %HESITATION and use your audience get the audience on board and that would potent booze to motivation and her confidence and then she would practice some moves shortly before executing her jump so to get another strategy that athletes use stream poured strategy because it enables athletes to go through in their minds and use mantras to try and boost their motivation but
also to try and manage this that the competition and the situation for example that the situations where the pressure is on and they are highly anxious so I'm self taught might have motivational components men also might help athlete focus on the important things that are relevant to performance so called cues and it also might have a calming effect %HESITATION things like greed and relax and you
thought you management is important aspects of sports performance clearly at the Olympic Games that world champions chips at the highest level %HESITATION athletes are going to be under pressure and they need to be able to cope with that pressure sometimes being two entries could actually undermine athletes performance it can be suboptimal some relaxation techniques are extremely important in this regard the psychologist will work with athletes
to try and help you to relax so it might involve things like breathing stretching relaxing the muscles middle singing things like music and meditation Michael Phelps is a good example he this is to music right up to the few minutes before is an event and that music will get into the right frame of mind for that event it'll help them to relax middle so motivated he
is a good example of somebody using those techniques to the greatest extent this is you and I some Bianca %HESITATION double Olympic champion at the pole vault and also the world record holder this is heard the twenty two Olympics clearly very relaxed she July's back she covers itself in a close this has the effect of shutting out %HESITATION any distractions but also has the effect of
relaxing her and %HESITATION relieving the pressure so in terms of the mind went up from a sports psychology perspective and that we have to be motivated Clinton their abilities manage pressure extremely well and use these well trait drilled techniques like imagery self talk and relaxation thank you
