Preparation for Sport  Identify and describe key psychological factors that can influence Sports Performance. (P6, M5)  Critically evaluate key psychological factors that can affect training and performance. (D3)

Psychological Factors  Motivation  Personality  Concentration  Arousal and Anxiety

MOTIVATION  The term motivation implies drive and energy.  This is the force which drives us to want to do something and succeed.  Motivation is split up into two – Intrinsic and Extrinsic.

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION  INTRINSIC (self)– Comes from inside us. We play for fun, to be our best, to challenge ourselves, or just to enjoy ourselves.

EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION  EXTRINSIC – We play for other reasons such as:  Money  Medals  Trophies  Pressure from others  Sponsors  Not to let people down

AROUSAL  This can be seen as a positive aspect of stress.  It is about being excited, keen and mentally ready to perform a difficult task.  Our level of motivation is linked to our level of direct attention. The more motivated we are, the better and focused our attention is.  If we are not motivated and engrossed enough, then our attention field widens excessively.

Drive Theory Early research suggested that the relationship between arousal and performance was a linear one – as arousal increases so does our performance as we are more interested and motivated.

Inverted U Theory As arousal increases, so does performance, but only up to a certain level. Further increases in arousal cause a decrease in performance. Over aroused – perform badly Moderately aroused – perform well Under aroused – perform badly.

ANXIETY  This is seen as a negative aspect of stress.  It is characterised by feelings of nervousness or worry.  You would not be able to concentrate properly on you training or performance.

Coping with Anxiety  It is natural for us to become excited as we ready ourselves for action.  It is also normal for us to get nervous & even anxious causing us stress. To be able to perform well we must be able to cope with anxiety. We can do this by…..

Coping with Anxiety  Positive Thinking: –We tell ourselves that we can do it, we are good at it and we are going to do well.  Mental Rehearsal: –This is a technique/exercise that we can do where we picture ourselves performing skills successfully & practising them in our mind.  Relaxation Techniques: –Employing controlled breathing & gentle movements. Yoga, meditation & Tai Chi are all very good ways of relaxing.

Anxiety In Your Pairs Now Give A Relative Sporting Example That Could Show Where Someone Could Be Anxious and Show Anxiety You have 3 minutes!!!

Concentration  “Concentration” is the ability to focus mental effort on the task at hand whilst ignoring distractions.  If the athlete lacks concentration then their athletic abilities will not be applied to the task and their performance will suffer.

Selective Attention  This is the skill of “zooming in” on task-relevant information.  This is information relevant to the situation or task.  This is concentrating on those relevant cues and not being distracted by other things, such as the crowd, opponents and noise.  E.g. goalkeeper trying to focus on flight of corner-kick while ignoring movements of other players in box.

Improving Concentration  Pre performance routines, which are things you do every time before a certain self-paced skill/task such as a penalty, golf putt or free throw.

Improving Concentration  What else can you and a partner think of?  What specific examples of sports athletes can you give?

Personalities  You can describe peoples personalities by saying how introverted or extroverted they are.  Most peoples personalities are somewhere in the middle. Introverted Extroverted Introverted Extroverted

Personalities - Extroverts  Like team Sports.  Excitement.  Speed.  Low levels of concentration.  Using lots of body movement.  Using the whole body.  Activities involving a lot of movement.

Personalities - Introverts  Like individual sports.  High levels of concentration.  Activities involving fine physical skills.  Activities with limited movement.  Routine & repetitive sports.

GOAL SETTING Goals are our ambitions we set them to motivate us and so we can improve if we meet them.  SHORT TERM GOALS –These are like stepping stones on the way to reaching your long term goal. –Example?  LONG TERM GOALS Example? Example?

Increased Motivation!  We have already talked about motivation, but what is increased motivation?

Increased Sports Performance!  What is increased sports performance?