1. Due: Tuesday 26 th October Instructions 1. Number your group 1-4 2. Collect the handout which corresponds to your number 3. Read and make notes of the information you have been provided with 4. On Tuesday 26 th October you will be responsible for teaching your group your topic area H/W.1 H/W.2 H/W.3 H/W.4

2. Mental Level of Arousal Managing Emotions Mental Preparation / Mental Rehearsal

3. Mental Fitness – Level of Arousal Level of arousal is the level of excitement, stress, nervousness and aggression as you get prepared to participate in an activity. Arousal levels can peak too high or dip too low. Level of arousal can be described as how focussed, alert or laidback /relaxed or stressed a sports person is when performing. If a performer is too laidback or not focussed their lack of arousal and limited motivation will lead to a poor performance. If a performer is over anxious / motivated and tense their stress levels will be too high and this will also lead to a poor performance. Level of arousal is like a glass of water. If there is too little water in the glass it is not full enough to quench your thirst. If there is too much water the glass will over flow and makes a mess. H/W.1

4. Mental Fitness – Level of Arousal If Level of arousal is to low performance will be poor because you want work to get into space to receive a pass or wont be motivated to track back and help protect defence. A low level of motivation will lead to a laid back can’t be bothered attitude. On the other hand is performer is overly motivated or anxious they will run around everywhere and be out of position, by trying to do to much your physical fitness will drop. You are also likely to lunge into challenges giving away free kicks and possibly picking up a booking. H/W.1

5. Level of Arousal – Athletics Example Level of mental arousal is key to success in the long jump. The level of mental arousal is the level of excitement, anticipation, stress, aggression, apprehension and nervousness. It refers to the state of mental preparedness for participation in the activity. This is important for long jump as the athlete must be prepared to perform in front of a crowd and be able to deal with everyone focussing their attention solely on them. If our mental arousal is too low then we may not perform at our highest level, we may appear to be tired, disinterested or distracted. Then again if it is too high, we may become stressed due to expectations, the importance of the occasion or the number of people watching. Having too high or too low a level or arousal may result in loss of distance. I must find the correct level of mental arousal to perform at my best, so that I am excited enough, yet calm enough to execute the long jump perfectly. H/W.2

6. Mental Fitness – Managing Emotions Managing your emotions is controlling your feelings in demanding situations. For example, if you are taking a penalty in football there are considerable pressures on you to score. You need to focus on what you are going to do, be positive about taking the penalty and not become easily distracted. Becoming over-anxious about taking the kick can result in a poorly taken penalty. Managing emotions is also important when you perform in a team or group. For example, it is important to keep upir shape as part of a team. You need to listen to others and be ready as part of a team/group. This requires constant discipline to avoid conflict. It is important to be aggressive so that you don't back out of tackles, but it is important to control your emotions. You don't want to get too wound up, put in dangerous tackles, retaliate too strongly, or argue with the referee's decisions and get booked for dissent. It is also important to remain positive and not be too hard on yourself if you make a mistake, as this can get you down and lead to a drop in performance H/W.3

7. Mental Fitness Watch the following video clip regarding managing emotions. What can we say about the different players in video clip Portuguese player sent off German play who was the victim The Portuguese players teammates Managing Emotions

8. Mental Fitness – Mental Rehearsal Mental rehearsal is key for mental preparation in a number of activities. This is when you rehearse in your head exactly what you plan to do and block everything else out. Performers will visualise or run through in their mind what they need to do to perform well prior to their actual performance. They will often think about and visualises a successful performance before they carry it out. For example, in a basketball free throw I visualised the timing of the action I would be using and imagined the flight of the ball and the ball going into the basket Mental rehearsal is most effective when you have control of the speed and pace of your movements. For example, you can rehearse all the component parts of your golf swing prior to playing a shot. It’s more difficult to do this for the return of a badminton serve. This is because your own movements are dictated by your opponent. H/W.4

9. Mental Rehearsal – Athletics Example I may visualise the perfect jump and exactly how it will feel so that I know what to do when actually executing the jump. If I am able to block everything else out, such as the noise / movement of other athletes / spectators, then it allows me to think about nothing but my jump and makes me focus on my run up, striding, take-off, flight and landing. If I have not rehearsed the jump in my head, what I plan to do, then I may rush into my run-up without striding correctly which means that I may place the wrong foot on the board or over/under place my take-off foot. Either way, my foot plant, take- off, flight and landing would be all wrong and the jump would be poorly executed and this would result in a loss of distance. I must spent adequate time rehearsing a jump in my head in order to ensure that I have planned the jump and know exactly what I need to do. H/W.4