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when we look at olympic sport
sport at the highest level there are
clearly some athletes who always seem to
get it right
for example usain bolt olympic hundred
meter 200 meter champion
twice over in the 2008 beijing olympics
and in the london olympics
michael phelps the most bemed olympian
of all time
these are athletes who clearly get it
right both psychologically
and physiologically all of the time
it's also interesting to note that they
have contrasting approaches
usain bolt with all his comedy antics
prior to his event
when he's on the start line we've all
seen this
okay um michael phelps however much
different approach he sits down he has
he's listening to music he has a much
more cerebral
contemplative approach towards his event
but it's both very effective
sports psychology may play a part in
their preparation for their events
and maybe a reason why they're
successful
what happens when things go wrong here's
another example
in the 2012 olympics in london in the
soccer final
there were two finalists brazil and
mexico
brazil were the undoubted favorites they
were 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 went at brazil
in an incredible display of attacking
football
it was incredibly impressive to watch
and if you watch the brazil players
their heads dropped
they seemed slightly defeated they
couldn't understand
why they weren't performing as well as
they they were perhaps they were
complacent
perhaps they had 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 were the
olympic champions
over the fancied favorites perhaps
sports psychology can explain
why fancied champions
may be overconfident and may fail when
when they're expected to win and perhaps
why underdogs take on the best
and win despite all the odds
take another example james magnussen a
man with seemingly unshakable
self-confidence
he said he was going to win the 100
meters sprint final
in the pool at the london olympics he
was extremely confident
but in that race he was out touched on
the line by
nathan adrian by 1 100th of a second
and that was devastating for him you
could see his body language after he was
destroyed perhaps he was overconfident
perhaps though his over his confidence
in in the
in the events leading up to the the
actual final
perhaps his confidence belied an
underlying
self low confidence perhaps he was
wasn't very confident inside
when he should have been uh supremely
confident of his abilities
because he was the the world leader in
the event
so perhaps psychology may have played a
part but in particular
it may help when when overcoming such a
devastating defeat
for the next event another very good
example
rory mcilroy in the 2011 augusta masters
he was expected to win he was amongst
the favorites certainly
and he's an extremely talented golfer in
fact he's the
he's the one one player that all of the
people on the tour all 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 event 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 80
and this is something that professional
golfers can do in their sleep
certainly very easily because they they
frequently
shoot rounds of of 70 or below and
that's a that's a good a good shot so
so 80 was a catastrophic failure and he
ended up tying for 15th place
so you'd think that that sort of
devastating performance may have
impacted on this on his mind
however for only eight weeks later he
won the u.s
open and there was no sign of the lack
of confidence
and the the fact that the pressure had
got to him that was
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
answers
so elite athletes coaches and the people
who surround
athletes know very well the importance
of sports psychology and they're
beginning to embrace it
sports psychologists are often included
in the teams that surround athletes
nowadays
what is sports psychology well it's the
the science
of and study and practice of 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 them to come back from
devastating deflates defeats
such as those by james magnussen or rory
mcilroy
so we'll just begin to unpack some of
these strategies
that sports psychologists talk about so
looking inside the mind of a winner
what factors are linked to success in
sport well clearly an athlete has to be
motivated
often goals that most that athletes set
describe or will demonstrate how
how much effort and how much will they
have to win in their 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 performers
there are a number of strategies that
athletes can use to boost their
confidence
another important factor is knowledge of
the sport
so basically knowing your sport inside
out but also knowing the opposition what
are their strengths and their weaknesses
one of the phrases coined by um clive
woodward
who was the england coach at the time
they won the rugby world cup in 2003.
one of the phrases he coined was total
rugby
leaving no stone unturned when it comes
to performance
he was very famous for developing
dossiers dossiers
on the opposition knowing their
strengths knowing their weaknesses
and where he could attack them and how
he could tactically outwit them
and that's clearly important in sport
these days so using psychology to
understand
the opposition as well as yourself
athletes are also very good at using
routines getting themselves in the right
frame of mind and we'll look at that
in a few moments time athletes are also
good at handling pressure
if you look at usain bolt and michael
phelps they are cases in point
and anxiety management is clearly an
important aspect
of an athlete's arsenal of strategies
to get them in the right frame of mind
so they can perform at their best
so let's look at some of these
strategies in detail motivation is
clearly very important
and how do you get an athlete motivated
the most important things are goals the
goals that they set
the goals that they set 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 most times it's important that
an athlete has a number of sub goals
which are related to their performance
so things like personal bests
that drive them both in training and
in competition it's important that those
goals conform to certain features
and scientists psychologists and
practitioners
always refer to this smarter acronym and
that's because
having goals that are realistic relevant
specific
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
that an athlete is confident
and there are a number of ways you can
boost an athlete's self-confidence
experience reminding an athlete of their
experience is extremely important
modeling and i don't mean cat walk
modelling here modeling is also an
important aspect
because that enables an athlete uh to
have a model
or a blueprint if you like of the
optimal performance
imagery and self-talk are part of that
and we'll get onto those in a moment
feedback is clearly important as well
positive feedback
from the athletes coaches imagery is a
mental rehearsal
and it's a strategy that many athletes
use
and here's the kinds of things that a an
athlete or a 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 they'll also visualize
any contingencies that arise for example
any barriers or problems or difficulties
that arise during the course of their
competition
here's an example of these kinds of
strategies in action
this is blank of laddich she was a
former world champion
high jumper and i double af 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
and use the audience get the audience on
board and that would both boost her
motivation
and her confidence and then she would
practice some moves shortly before
executing her jump
self-talk is another strategy that
athletes use it's extremely important
strategy
because it enables athletes to go
through in their mind and use mantras
to try and boost their motivation but
also to try and manage the
the competition and the situation for
example the
the situations where the pressure is on
and they are highly anxious
so self-talk might have motivational
components but it also might help
athletes focus on the important things
that are relevant to performance
so-called cues and it also might have a
calming effect
things like breathe and relax
anxiety management is an important
aspect of sports performance
clearly at the olympic games at world
championships at the highest level
athletes are going to be under pressure
and they need to be able to cope with
that pressure
sometimes being too anxious can actually
undermine an athlete's performance
it can be sub-optimal so relaxation
techniques are extremely important
in this regard and psychologists will
work with athletes to try and help them
to relax
so it might involve things like
breathing stretching relaxing the
muscles
they'll also use things like music and
meditation
michael phelps is a good example he
listens to music right up
to the few minutes before he's an event
and that music will get him to the right
frame of mind for that event it'll help
him to relax but it'll also motivate him
here's a good example of somebody using
those techniques
to the greatest extent this is yelene
sambieva
a double olympic champion at the pole
vault
and also the world record holder this is
her the 2012 olympics
she's clearly very relaxed she's she she
lies back
she covers herself in her clothes this
has the effect of shutting out
any distractions but it also has the
effects of relaxing her and
relieving the pressure so in terms of
the mind of a winner from a sports
psychology perspective
an athlete has to be motivated confident
in their abilities
manage pressure extremely well and use
these well drilled techniques
like imagery self-talk and relaxation
thank you
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you