WITHOUT NOTES  Describe how goal setting can impact on participation and performance in sport (5) Revised?

 (b) Describe how goal setting can impact on participation and performance in sport. [5]   1 Motivation can motivate/encourage to participate/play/join-in/to do well/ strive for better performances or personal bests  2 Can increase confidence /self esteem / self efficacy / mastery orientation  3 Can encourage persistence/sticking to the task/not giving-up  4 Can give direction/focus/end product to aim for/concentration  5 Can help to control anxiety/stress/arousal  6 Must be SMART/SMARTER (specific/measurable/achievable/realistic/time- phased) (SMARTER to include exciting/recorded) to be relevant  7 Can help to develop skills/strategies/tactics Markscheme

Attentional Control And it’s impact on effective performance

 What impact does attentional control have on effective performance? Lesson Objective

 The extent to which a performer can focus awareness onto the environmental stimuli that are most relevant during an activity.  This involves concentration  The capacity to maintain attentional focus until the skill has been completed indicates the length of concentration the athlete has.  Selective attention can be directed by external factors such as stimulus intensity and the presence of warning cues. What is attentional control?

Key Words

The most important determinants of attention control are cognition and arousal.  Cognition is the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge, learning and understanding.  Arousal is a level of excitement or activation that is generated by the central nervous system. When arousal is at a low level, behaviour tends to be lethargic. When arousal is high behaviour tends to be frenetic and is often extremely intense.

 Predicts the influence of arousal on the performance of a motor skill.  It predicts that arousal level influences performance. As arousal increases so does the quality of performance up to an optimal point. If arousal continues to increase beyond this, performance will deteriorate. Inverted U Theory

 Using the Inverted U Theory, discuss the factors that a coach should consider when preparing an athlete for performance. TASK………..

 When arousal is low, the perceptual field of the performer widens excessively and access is given to a broad range of cues which are often irrelevant.  Therefore the information processing system is adversely affected due to overload of sensory stimuli and decision making is impeded.  As arousal increases the perceptual field will adjust to the ideal width enabling the performer to focus on the most relevant cues/information. Selective attention is fully operational and the potential to concentrate is maximised. This is called Cue Utilisation Hypothesis Cue Utilisation Hypothesis- Easterbrook

 If arousal increases above the optimal threshold, perceptual focus narrows excessively. This causes relevant data to be missed and the information processing system becomes restricted.  Under these conditions the performer enters a state of panic. When arousal becomes extremely high the performer will experience a total disorientation of their senses.  This is called hypervigilance.  Cue utilisation does not make clear how the performer can adjust the width and direction of attention in response to the varying situations that are encountered in sport. However……..

Explain CUE UTILISATION hypothesis, its links to arousal and its effects on performance Task

Attentional Styles (Nideffer)

 Broad attention takes in a great deal of environmental information. Broad attention is required in an open skill situation.  Narrow focus is the required concentration on one or a small number of stimuli. This will enable the performer to focus on a specific cue.  External focus is an outward projection onto an environmental stimulus.  Internal focus indicates that the performer’s attention has been directed inwards and onto the psychological state.

Answers Tennis player serving Sprint Start Penalty Baseball hit High Jump Football passing Hockey shooting Team talk Tactical Decision Rugby mental rehearsal Sprint Start High Jump

 It is important to understand that optimal performance can only be achieved if the performer has the ability to adopt the attention style that matches the attentional demands of the situation (Nideffer, 1976).  Information overload can result in distraction and confusing.  The correct attention style can help the performer to deal with distractions and will serve to prevent negative feelings and enable the performer to make positive attributions during performance.

 A good performer can draw upon the full range of attention styles and this shows a link between attention control and cue utilisation.  Optimal arousal and cue utilisation help a performer to change their attention style to match the attentional demands of the situation.  E.g Before a game David Beckham would use narrow and internal focus to allow mental rehearsal. During a game he would require broad and external attention before passing the ball but would require narrow external attention if taking a penalty. As a captain, a team talk or a tactical decision would be helped by applying an internal and broad attention style.

 Identify which styles are needed from the pictures below – justify why… Attention Styles

 Concentration is an important aspect in mental preparation for sport. A. What is meant by concentration in sport performance? (2 marks) B. Using examples from sport, explain the effect of different attentional styles on performance. (6 marks)  Explain the process of cue utilisation.(4 marks) Questions

Exam Questions Jan 2011 Jan 2012