3 VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES YOU SHOULD BE USING

One of the demands of elite sport is the ability to play or perform in as flawless a way as possible. In a previous article I gave an example of how an injured athlete used visualization to master some high level skills. This time I want to share the details of three mental rehearsal techniques that can help you play in top form with as few mistakes as possible.

A basketball player (post) was having trouble when getting the ball down low because of frequent traveling once the ball was in his hands. He told me that he was working on NOT traveling and I explained to him the value of re-thinking his goal in terms of what he wanted to do rather than what he was hoping NOT to do.

He then showed me the move he would typically make and I asked him to do it without the ball. After doing this several times he worked on getting the pass and making the same move, this time with the ball. So he came up with the thought of making this move assertively and confidently as his intention (rather than staying with the idea of NOT traveling)

A week later he told me “I'm actually thinking about what to do and not about what NOT to do, but it's not easy ....I have to get used to it so it will become natural.”

I asked him to tell me what would help him do this and he replied, “I think how to make the move before I get the ball.”

I gave him the following additional suggestions:

1. When you are alone, close your eyes and picture getting the ball and making your move. Repeat this a couple of times, seeing yourself acting in a confident and aggressive way.

2. Picture yourself as if you were sitting in the stands and watching yourself make the move. Pay attention to your footwork and rhythm as you imagine watching yourself on the court.

3. Pick out one place in your body that is key in this move - your feet? your core? your upper body? This time use your sense of muscle feeling rather than vision to imagine this move, so that even though you are seated when you mentally rehearse this move you feel the very same muscles activated that you would feel if you were actually playing. 

In the gym practice this move alternating between doing it without the ball and with the ball. Every 4th or 5th time do the move in your mind, and then go back to doing the actual move. 

Finally, think of one or two words that most describe how you want the move to go and write them down.

One last thing I shared with him was that if he was going to plan the move in his mind ahead of time it was important to be careful to NOT get ahead of himself. Other players have shared with me that on occasion they got tripped up by picturing something in advance and then sticking with that when in the particular circumstances of actual play the defense played him differently and that move turned out to not be the best move for the moment. If you are too caught up in what you are GOING TO DO when you get the ball you may not be leaving enough focus for the PRESENT MOMENT that you are in right now.  Without strong focus as the ball is being passed to you, you may be more likely to have it slip through your fingers or be picked off.

So while it is good to feel confident about what you are GOING TO DO, it is no less important to stay focused IN THE MOMENT and be ready to adjust to any last second changes in the defense to make the best possible decision/move.

One way to increase your capacity to do this is to spend a good amount of time visualizing situations where the defender switches things up or your teammates are in different places on the floor.  

Adding this skill to your on-court practice can allow you to feel more prepared, and as a rule, when athletes feel more prepared they feel more confident and self-assured - a strong precursor of success.

For previous posts on using visualization click here.

LESSONS FROM OUR FIGHTING FORCES

In the U.S.A. – and likely elsewhere – it is not uncommon to hear of corporate leaders or others in key positions who credit much of their leadership ability to their earlier experience as athletes. A number of years ago I heard a fascinating and very moving account of such leadership achievement by members of the U.S. military who had competed as student athletes during their college days at the United States Military Academy (West Point).

They shared their experiences as officers in the Army, and described how many of the qualities that had helped them to excel in sports proved extraordinarily critical in combat situations… such qualities as successfully managing their emotional responses in high-stress situations, maintaining laser-like focus in battle, identifying and prioritizing key goals for short term and long term performance objectives, and the ability to perform with high levels of confidence. (In fact, the entire student body at West Point receives the very same kinds of training that sport psychologist use to help professional and Olympic athletes.)

I thought about that presentation after viewing two recent TV interviews with young military veterans, each of whom had been singled out for their valor in combat.  Their comments made me think not only about what sports has to teach people in the military, but what people in the military can share with athletes regarding superior performance … and some very important considerations that can help any athlete at any level step up his/her game.

In 2009, Dakota Meyer was a 21-year-old marine whose feats in battle earned him the Medal of Honor – becoming the first living recipient of this award in 38 years. In September, 2009, Meyer, a marine sniper, was sent with his unit together with some Afghan soldiers into a small valley where they were told the villagers were friendly. They didn’t know that that Taliban had set up an ambush in the village and had everyone pinned down. The enemy was attempting to cut off the rest of the team in the rear and kill them all. Dakota, who had raised some doubts about the mission, had been left behind apart from his team.

When he heard the gunfire, Meyer decided to enter the battle, knowing that his disobedience might result in his being sent on the first plane back to the States. According to reports, Meyer found four fallen comrades, all stripped of their weapons, radios and body armor. With the help of some friendly Afghan soldiers he moved the bodies to a safer area, then went in to evacuate 12 additional wounded troops and provide cover for another 24 Marines to escape likely death. He later told friends, “I kept hearing all this static, and later I realized that it was all the bullets going by.”

He and his driver came up behind the Taliban who were trying to complete their trap, and the Taliban fighters ran up to his truck to throw grenades at it and he was shooting people who were one and two feet from him. At this point the helicopter came in to get the wounded and if Dakota hadn’t been there a lot of people would have died.

Appearing in the interview with Meyer was Retired Admiral Jack Fetterman who trained pilots at Pensacola Naval Air Station. Fetterman shared that he was often asked what made a great pilot, and noted, “They keep sending us engineers, but I don’t want engineers. I want a guy who was an athlete or majored in P.E. (Physical Education) that’s got instinct and guts, who isn’t going to sit there and analyze things but is capable of acting on instinct.”

Comparing a well-trained soldier to an athlete, Fetterman added, “Take a baseball player who has swung at a ball 10,000 times and when he’s at bat he doesn’t have to think about it.” So when Dakota was asked, “What were you thinking about during the battle?” he replied “Just my aim point.” In the course of the battle he had used a 50 caliber machine gun, a 240 machine gun, his rifle, his grenade launcher, and even took one enemy out with a rock… and all the time, in the midst of all that pandemonium, all he was focused on was the sight picture because of all the rounds he had fired in the weeks, months, and years leading up to that day.

While all the arms training might seem repetitive, it was the technical and strategic competency developed during the hours and hours of practice that Meyer was able to rely on in the heat of battle. In a moment of extreme stress, Meyer’s effectiveness was enhanced by his ability to free his mind from technical concerns and trust completely in his preparation and his abilities.

As he put it, “All I did was go to see where I could help and fight together with my brothers … when I came upon what I saw I simply reacted.”

Having the confidence to trust one’s instincts and one’s ability is important not only in battle but also in the “battle” we call athletic competition. Too often it happens that a missed shot or poorly executed defense, and fears of being taken out of the game, cause an athlete to become overly self-absorbed… and he starts to focus on the wrong things. Dakota Meyer’s comments shed insight what helped him do what he did on that day -  going about reacting to the situation and looking to see where he could help.

Another valiant fighter talked as well about how any worries he might have had regarding his own individual performance were rendered inconsequential by his focusing on the greater concern for the team.

Sal (Salvatore) Giunta received the Medal of Honor for saving the lives of members of his squad during fighting in Afghanistan in October 2007. His unit was sent to the Korengal Valley, an area roughly 10 km. by 1.6 km or 6 x 1 miles, known as the “Valley of Death” due to the extreme amount of firefights in that area.

One night some 10-15 Taliban ambushed the main body of the squad from a mere 10 meters away, making air support from the Apaches overhead impossible. As Giunta described it:

“There were more bullets in the air than stars in the sky. A wall of bullets (coming at you) with one crack and then a million other cracks afterwards. They’re above you, in front of you, behind you, below you. They’re hitting in the dirt. They’re going over your head. Just all over the place. They were close—as close as I’ve ever seen.”

During the fighting the leader of Giunta’s team was hit repeatedly and taken captive, and soon there were several casualties. Pinned down, Giunta and some of his men acted to disrupt the attack, and though hit twice himself, Giunta then he ran after the retreating Taliban to rescue his unit commander and bring him back to safety.

When asked if he had acted on instinct, he replied “It’s what we train for, so we don’t have to think about it… so it becomes second nature to us. We were there to help the local people and improve the quality of their life. I’ve never done anything in the military alone. That is one thing the military does a great job at is to build a team. There are so many great things that men and women in uniform do every day that we don’t hear about. I did my job. I was trained well. I acted on reflex. I just wanted to save my buddies.”

“We have to do whatever it takes... and it’s about the team … so it’s about the person to the left of you and the person to the right of you. You don’t have to worry about yourself because the person to the left of you is going to worry about you and the person to the right of you is going to worry about you. We’re there to take care of each other. We’re all in this together. We’re all part of the same team and the same fight. That night in the Korengal Valley it was just brothers looking out for brothers. If you were to think of it like a painting my brush stroke wasn’t the first brushstroke and it wasn’t the last brushstroke, and it wasn’t necessarily the most beautiful brushstroke or the most amazing – it was just one more brushstroke that helped paint that picture at that moment. I was able to do what I did because of the people around me.”

For the many athletes who become discouraged when their execution falls short, and who tend as a result to focus on their own play – the words of these two soldiers who in the heat of battle were focused not on themselves but on their team – focused on what they had to do at that moment and relying on instinct to step up to the task at hand – offer invaluable guidance.

PREPARING FOR FINALS: SOME HELPFUL HINTS FROM SPORT PSYCHOLOGY

 As a sport psychologist I work with athletes to play their best on the field (court, etc.) The fact is that doing well in the classroom – and on exams – is just a different kind of performance, and in many ways, the same strategies and concepts that are useful in sports are similarly helpful in the classroom.  Here are some thoughts that will hopefully be useful to you in maximizing your success in exams.  Good luck!!

1. SUSTAINING YOUR FOCUS

     Focus is a key factor in effective studying and in test taking. When it comes to studying, it is pretty difficult to maintain quality focus over extended periods of time. Most experts recommend dividing your study time into 20-30 minute bouts. During those periods expect of yourself to be highly focused.  You might set your watch for the 20 or 30 minutes.  Then take a 3-5 minute break to de-stress and re-group. Take a few slow, deep breaths. Check where there is stress in your body (shoulders? back? forehead?) and engage in some sort of relaxation strategy to rid yourself of that stress. You might take a brief walk or otherwise look for a change of setting during those 3-5 minutes. The more relaxed you are when you return to the task of studying the more focused you will be – and the more efficient your studying will be in terms of comprehension and retention of the material.

     Another thing to bear in mind is that just as you wouldn’t go into the weight room and try to do all your week’s work in one afternoon, it is similarly more effective to master the material in smaller, repeated sessions than in one extended session.  After an hour or so of studying one subject, you are probably well advised to shift gears and go to another subject (think of it like cross-training).

2. VISUALIZATION

     Before you sit down to study, spend 2-3 minutes visualizing yourself in the times you have been most focused, and visualize yourself being similarly focused as you go to the work at hand. See yourself being efficient and understanding the material. Even if you don’t exactly understand it altogether, having a positive mind frame should definitely help.

     There is research that highly confident athletes make use of visualization picturing themselves achieving their goals on a more regular basis than other athletes. If you have trouble seeing yourself being focused for study or test-taking, then recall in your mind a time when you were focused, so that you can transfer the feeling of being focused to the task at hand.

3.  DE-STRESSING

     Remember, stress is not the enemy.  Without some measure of stress we would not push ourselves – whether on the playing field or in the classroom.  Champions and top performers expect to experience stress, but they are also good at remembering to de-stress at regular intervals throughout the day in order to maintain a manageable level of stress rather than let it become overwhelming.  Do you have successful de-stressing strategies (which don’t involve food or drink!!)?  In general, taking some slow, deep breaths, taking a few moments to relax in areas where you may be tense (such as the back of your neck, shoulders, forehead, etc.) or picturing yourself in a relaxing setting such as the beach can help you to de-stress.

4.  CONFIDENCE

     You know how important confidence is in sport performance.  It is similarly helpful to be confident in studying and taking exams.  Recall past successes in both studying/mastering material.  If you find yourself saying things like “I NEVER…” (such as “I NEVER do well in exams), you need to do a reality check and change that NEVER to a SOMETIMES. Try to find at least one positive statement you can make that feels genuine (e.g., “I feel good about myself when I know I am giving my best effort.”)

5.  REALISTIC GOAL SETTING

     Everyone would love to have all A’s – and some of you reading this will achieve that goal.  But if you are struggling then it might be helpful to think about which courses – or which aspects of certain courses – you feel the best about and set a goal of doing your very best in those areas while setting as realistic a goal as you can in the other courses or areas – enough so to expect the best of yourself while cutting yourself some slack. 

6.  SLEEP

     You wouldn’t expect to play your best on only 3-4 hours sleep.  In fact, one study found that athletes who were sleep deprived were slower in tests of speed and less accurate in hitting tennis balls than those who were well rested. (Sufficient sleep has even been found to be a necessary condition for weight loss.) You will do better by getting as much sleep as you can (if not a full 8 hours a night try to get at least 6 and a 20 minute “power nap” at some point during the day.

                                                                                                © 2016 Dr. Mitch Smith

KEEPING YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME

A friend posted something on Facebook announcing that he and his family were moving out of town, and wanted to say goodbye to everyone. His post read, in part:

I finally got a call on a position I interviewed for a month ago. I didn't mention it (before) because I (wasn't ready) to reveal it yet. I'm happy to announce that I accepted the position. We made the decision to move to X because it would be a better environment. So we will be heading out next month. I wanted to call/text everyone individually, but I thought it would be easier to post my news here. I promise to... (Read more)

Because Facebook only shows so many lines of a longer post on people's Facebook accounts, you have to click on the post to actually read the entire post.

Like many people, I tend not to do that, so after reading the above, I sent my words of congratulation to this friend.

Imagine my surprise when he texted me back and told me I should have read the WHOLE post.  Here is how it continued:

"... stay in touch with everyone, especially because this isn't real and (I invite you) to post this as your status and see how many people actually read this stuff till the end!!"

As Sheldon Cooper would say: "Bazinga!!"

It got me thinking about how in sports (and other things, too) we often react to a portion of events rather than getting the full picture.

For example, a player who misses his first few shots, starts to entertain negative thoughts, losing sight of the fact that there are many more minutes to be played - or that he has bounced back from similar episodes in the past.

Or a player who gets berated by his coach, may not see the larger picture, which includes coaches (if not this one, then typically other coaches in the past) who have encouraged him and helped him.

When we form our "picture of things" prematurely, we undermine the likelihood of turning things around by simply staying in the game.  

I previously addressed this topic in an earlier post that you may find of value: "What Are You Looking At?"

So here is a reminder that things sometimes take a different turn, so it pays to be sure that you have the WHOLE picture before you prematurely react, or you may well find that your reaction is based on incorrect information and end up heading AWAY from your goal.