NCCP Psychology of Performance

Source: My personal notes from National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) course

Introduction

These areas all reinforce focus of an athlete.

Focus = what your thinking and feeling now, in the moment = confident, relaxed, positive thoughts

• Dealing with Distractions: handling things that get in the way
• Setting Effective Goals: realistic for different time periods
• Visualization: imagining using senses

Types of Focus

• Broad (many cues), narrow (few cues)
• External, internal to observer and their environment

Focus Plans

Detailed plans setting out when and how athletes will work on things they need to think about and feel to perform well

Using Focus Plans

Development/Revising a Focus Plan

• Meet with your athletes: get their input, engage them, identify what to work on (relaxation, anxiety, injury)
• Educate about focus: what is it, how to plan, why it matters, need for training
• Ask athletes good questions: to build a focus plan by asking about thoughts and feelings on doing well
  • What is a good performance? Not so great performance?
  • Their preferred focus? Focus on internal/external cues
  • What do you need to perform well by:
    • Thinking/feeling
    • Executing strategies
    • Facing opponents
    • Deal with distractions

“A good well-trained focus plan creates a confident athlete, because he/she knows and has trained what to be thinking and feeling""

Visualization = Blueprint for ideal performance

A skill that allows athletes to create a blueprint of how they want to be, what they want to be focused on. Create positive reality, gives confidence.

One rule: only positive visualization

Each athlete is different in applying visualization (e.g. thinking vs more feeling)

Practice tips

• Put visualization in daily training
• Start with something successful, then more to challenging situations and eventually competitions.
• Do a non-sport visualization activity (see coach reference material). Ask about:
  • Who, what, when, where
  • Equipment
  • Look, Colours, Feel, Hear, Smell
  • Body and muscle sense
  • Result
  • Fears, pressure

Dealing with Distractions

There are many! Controllable and cannot be controlled.

Coping with emotions after a concussion can be distraction, let its course go (mourning, sadness, move on).

Focus Examples

• Focus on an object, do things to a timing
• Focus on cues (e.g. from people)
• Concentration words
• Relaxation techniques
• Positive self talk
• Recognize negative thoughts (they are normal) stop negative thoughts and replace them

Controlling intensity

• Control intensity appropriate for sport (aggressive/high energy for basketball, calm and focused for racing, calm and total focus for artistic)

• Place intensity feeling/thought in focus plan. There is an ideal for every athlete (not too little or too much).

Setting Effective Goals

• Set goals with athletes and support them
• Goals important for injury recovery

Types of goals

Process goals help achieve performance goals which can achieve outcomes. Outcomes are out of direct athlete control.

Debriefing Performance

Debriefing tells how well athletes are applying their focus plan.

• Coach facilitates athlete’s/team’s discovery of the best focus.
• What went well and not well?
• Cover all part of performance (physical, psychological, other).
• Listen non judgementally

Ask “what?”, then “so what?” questions and finally “now what?” questions.

• What did you feel So, what did you learn?
• What was your subjective 1 to 10 for _?
• What distractions did you handle? So, what conclusions make sense?
• Now, what should we do differently _?
• Now, what if _?

See coach materials for questions, discussion topics (feelings, beliefs, flexibility, applying something, predictions, timing)

Ask specific questions for specific situations and focus