Application of Sport Psychology Principles
OK, LET'S GET STARTED!
HOW DO YOU GET THIS
TO GET
THAT 
TO DO WHAT
YOU WANT IT TO, WHEN YOU WANT IT TO?!
(head and body ©
Rita Vitols)
Using neuropsychological principles to develop explicit
control of learning and performing motor skills
1) Learning skill: Using a task-orientated approach,
a link can be created between the physics of what you are doing and what you are thinking and perceiving.
Task-orientated method
| Ask yourself the following questions in sequence: |
- What are the most efficient dynamics for the movements?
- What is the physiology of movements?
(i.e. the specific muscle contractions etc.
needed to create these movements.)
- What does the nervous system do to make this happen?
- Is there anything I can explicitly
think about/experience that can influence the
nervous system to do what I want it to?
|
In this way a concrete link is created between what you
want to do and the psychology behind it.
PHYSICS <-> PHYSIOLOGY <-> PSYCHOLOGY
- Physics: dynamics of movements.
- Physiology of muscles and nervous system.
- Psychology: how thinking and mood influences
physiology, which in turn influences physical dynamics.
(We do not know the mind-body connection. We do know the
correlations between the mind and the body.)
2) Performing skill:
Understanding how the nervous system works is the first step to achieving
control of what you perceive and how you react in sport.
A key factor for determining appropriate training and rehearsal
strategies is understanding the differences between the
analyzing and integrating functions in the mind.
This is especially important when developing retrieval cues for performing your skills.
Differential approach to goal setting
Goal Setting: Creating a consistent line of thinking, with no gaps, so you will be able to
choose the most efficient approach for your personal development.
This includes explicit ways to measure your performance.
This is especially important for elite athletes, as it is what differentiates them
from the rest that will get tham the better result. There is no sport model to follow,
so they must develop personal awareness of their assets and weaknesses, and then design
an athletic style on those factors to develop a new standard - perhaps one never done before.
The Goal Setting Section in the
Self Directed Coaching Manual
explains this process in detail.
