Sports Mentality & The McGuire Programme. By Rich Whincup.

Introduction. ‘The sport of speaking’ There is a great deal of potential to unlock within sports psychology. Do we have to be an athlete to succeed in the McGuire Programme? Or do we have to just think like one? Can we use it to help our recoveries and the recovery of others? Object of this session is to explore the dynamics of Sports Psychology and see how we can use it in our coaching.

Think like an Athlete. Competition – Playing to win Training mentality Practice, practice, practice Sweat + Sacrifice = Success ‘Winning is why we are here.’

Aspects of Sport Psychology. MotivationLeadershipVisualisation Positive Re- enforcement and Self Talk. Self Confidence and Self Efficacy Stress Management Competition Personality Type Aggression Musical Inspiration

Motivation. As a stammerer, to gain eloquent speech is one of the biggest motivations. Sport and success demands the bar of competition to be constantly raised. How do we motivate ourselves to keep improving? Goal Setting.

Goal Setting is one of the most effective ways of motivating. Training goals. Competition goals. Short and Long Term goals. Goal Complexity.

Leadership. In sport, leadership is everything to a team or group. Good leaders are strong, firm, but compassionate communicators, they lead by example, and will guide and support whenever is necessary. When in lines, the coach must be a leader by example, disciplined and supportive. Lead by example.

Visualisation. Visualisation is widely used by amateur and elite level performers alike. It is already used by many of us when practicing kinaesthetics. When in a stressful situation, we can try and visualise ourselves in support group, or on a course. Visualisation will help us to concentrate on our speech, rather than the stresses that we put ourselves under in these situations.

Positive Re-enforcement and Self Talk. Positive thinking is very effective in sport. It can be allied with the phrases ‘will to win’ and ‘playing to win’. All negatives have a positive, somewhere, if you look hard enough for it. Sometimes people have great difficulty in finding a positive thought. All it takes is a helping hand from a coach.

Self Confidence and Self Efficacy. How much can we say about sport and confidence? At the highest level, confidence can make or break an athlete’s performance in competition. Self Efficacy – Situational self confidence. Our responsibility as coaches, is to inspire and motivate our students and work towards increased levels of confidence and efficacy in all situations, this will help us to strengthen our own recovery as well.

Stress Management. Too much stress is undoubtedly a bad thing, and can have a detrimental effect on performance. A little stress keeps us on our toes, reminds us all to costal breathe and not get ahead of ourselves. It’s all about bringing stress down to a manageable level. Always keep it simple, close your eyes and costal breathe, visualising your diaphragm moving smoothly.

Competition. What does an athlete train for? What do we drill, exaggerate and follow directions for? To compete with the opposition and to beat the opposition. Our opposition is the Stammer itself, and how it may affect us in various situations.

Personality Type. Everyone is different. As is their stammer, and the way that it has effected their lives. All sports people are different, the most elite athletes are those who make sacrifices, they are dedicated, they know what they want and they will stop at nothing to have the best chance of getting it. We must all be committed, work hard and follow directions, but we also have a considerable obligation to our students, to help, support and inspire them.

Aggression. I believe that this is one area of sports psychology that has no place in our recovery. Aggression may have been a feeling that some of us may have experienced as out-of- control-stammerers. Do we to hang on to those feelings now that life has improved? Can we remember those feelings and use them to push ourselves forward? Aggression will lead to excessive levels of ill-feeling, therefore leading to stress, and too much stress, is what we as recovering stammerers need to avoid.

Musical Inspiration. I believe that everyone should have a feel good song, when you hear it, it makes you smile. Why not have McGuire Songs? Songs that inspire you, and help to get you into the right frame of mind when your hexagon may be imbalanced. ‘Proud’, by Heather Small is a particularly powerful song, it was used by Team GB in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, and by the 2012 bid committee. Use of songs on Saturday night.

Quotes & Statements. Sweat + Sacrifice = Success.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”

From the film, ‘The Untouchables’. “Never stop fighting, until the fight has been won”.

“Today you must do more than is required of you. Never think that you have done enough or that your job is finished. There’s always something that can be done — something that can help to ensure victory. You can’t let others be responsible for getting you started. You must be a self-starter. You must possess that spark of individual initiative that sets the leader apart from the led. Self- motivation is the key to being one step ahead of everyone else and standing head and shoulders above the crowd. Once you get going don’t stop. Always be on the lookout for the chance to do something better. Never stop trying. Fill yourself with the warrior spirit — and send that warrior into action.”

Group Work. Split yourselves up into Groups of 4/5. I will give you a topic to discuss. Structure a presentation using the paper and pens provided around your topic, in terms of what it means to you as a group. Come up with at least one sporting example or analogy, 1 way in which we can use it within our own recoveries as older graduates and 2 ways that we can coach and use it within our roles as Primary, Phone list or Line Coaches for newer graduates. Appoint 1 or more members of your group to present your findings back to everyone at the end of the session in a 3-5 minute presentation. NB – Don’t sniff the pens for too long!