The Glass Menagerie

In earlier days sports psychology was mostly concerned with developing assessment methods that would identify those people with the potential to become serious superior athletes. Today the focus is on psychological training, exercises that strengthen the mental skills that will help athletic performances on the path to excellence. These skills include mental imagery and focus training. If an athlete is serious about becoming the best he or she can possibly be, the most essential ingredient is commitment to practice the right things. It takes incredible commitment to reach the top: a commitment to rest and train the body so it can perform under the most demanding conditions and a commitment to train the mind to focus totally on executing your best performance skills under the most stressful circumstances. (Millman, D.1999pg5)To excel in a sport is a contest with yourself, to call upon the natural abilities within you own mind and body. Each person begins at a different location mentally, physically and with respect to the support we are given. An athlete quest for personal excellence requires the most of what you have- whatever that may be. People who go to school to become sport psychologist often get their graduate degree because this field is a low paying job. The average pay for this job as of 1999 starting is 28-32k per year.

Sport psychologist are interested in how participation in sport, exercise, and physical activity may enhance development and well-being throughout a human being life-span. Sport psychologist also assist coaches working with athletes as well as helping improve athletes motivation.

One of the best practice fields for peak performance is the mind. Many athletes use mental imagery for quick rehearsal before an event: A diver, for instance, might perform a double somersault with a half twist one final time in his mind as he readies himself on the board. Mental imagery can also help people prepare for possible hazards. A squash player might run through a difficult back court return in his or her mind to rehearse the various options that might be necessary in case of a delayed reaction. Psychologists suggest that people develop an image bank of various scenario’s they can call on to help relax, to get motivated, or to revisit a finest hour to help build confidence. Visualization is a common term used to describe guided imagery or the process of forming images in our mind like pictures or moves, images recreating our best performances, and the way it feels to perform just the way we want it to. These images can be visual, kinesthetic- how our body feels, tactile-how it feels to the touch, auditory-how it sounds, even olfactory-what we smell. Using mind power we can call upon these images over and over, enhancing skill through repetition rehearsal. The mind and body can become more prepared to actually perform the skill, and can improve both physical and mental reactions in certain situations. The developing athletes, who make the fastest progress and who ultimately become their best, make extensive use of mental imagery. They use it daily, as a means of directing what will happen in training, and as a way of pre-experiencing their best competition performances. Mental imagery often starts out simply, as you think though your goals, your moves, and your desired competitive performances.

Kelly Kryczka, former world champion in synchronized swimming duet discuses the use of on site imagery. “We did a lot of imagery during training sessions, especially as the competition approached. When we were doing compulsory figures in practice, a minute before doing certain ones the coach would say, “Okay, you are going to do a best one. You are going to do a whole compulsory figure.” So before we went out there and did it, we would sit on the edge of the pool and image ourselves doing it right on, and feel how it feels. You image yourself right on, perfectly. Then go out there and do it. Doing a lot of imagery was the major difference in our preparation last year, not just the duet, but also the compulsory figures.” The ultimate goal is to draw on all of your sense to feel yourself executing skills perfectly.

When an athlete is focused in sport he or she is aware of only those things that are critical to their performance, to the exclusion of everything else. In a very real sense an athlete and his or her performance becomes one, and nothing else in the world exists for that period of time. In individual sports, best performances occur when athletes are totally connected or riveted to their performance, often to the point of performing on autopilot and letting their bodies lead, without interference. In team sports best performances likewise occur when players are totally focused and absorbed in the crucial aspects of their performance(Millman, D.1999pg55). They are totally aware of the flow of relevant play around them, completely trusting in their capacity to automatically read and react to that awareness, and totally connected to the execution of their own moves. Their focus must be readily adaptable like the zoom lens on a camera, capable of zooming in and out. For example, a point guard in basketball or a quarterback in football needs a wide-angle perspective when focused on reading the field for an open receiver, then a zooming in on the open player and an inner awareness of making a crisp and accurate pass. The ideal performance focus is total connection to performance even though the demands may be constantly changing. (Millman, D.1999pg72)

It is important for an athlete to discover what focus works best for you and under what specific circumstances. Initially they may experience it for only short periods, but hard work on allowing this focus to become a natural part of all performances will pay off (Millman, D.1999pg18). A lot of focusing practice in sport involves learning to stay connected to what is being done, to the body and its feelings; not letting irrelevant or distracting thoughts interfere with the natural performance program in the mind and body; trusting the body to do what it’s been trained to do without forcing: and directing your body when it begins to tire or deviate from an efficient performance program.

Scientists are showing that one crucial aspect