BLOG 6

Training Week 16^th-23^rd April 2014-05-12

Hi Natalie, how are you doing this week? I’m glad that you are still motivated for the programme, it’s nearly finished now. In this week of skills training I will be teaching you how to use meditation as a form of motivation and stress reducer. Lots of people use meditation in many ways to help them relieve stress. The goal of meditation is to focus your mind and relax eventually reaching a level of awareness and calmness. You can meditate at anytime and also anywhere you like. I will now tell you the main points on how to successfully perform meditation:

.       Choose a peaceful environment and choose how long you wish to meditate for, you should be wearing comfortable clothes.

 .       Before you sit, stretch out your muscles to ensure you don’t create stiffness.

.       Sit in a comfortable position, most commonly sitting crossed legged is used.

.       Follow your breathing and become aware of the rise and fall of your abdomen and also try to focus.

.       If you wish you can repeat a mantra whilst focusing on your breathing, which is when you repeat a sound or word over and over again.

.       Practice visualization creating a peaceful place in your mind and then exploring it, until you reach a state of calm.

Try to meditate around the same time everyday which makes it easier for it to become part of your daily life and you will feel the benefits quicker. I would like you to attempt to learn the skill meditation over the next week; I would prefer you to complete the meditation before you go to training as this will calm you before you work intensely. I feel as though meditation will reduce your high anxiety levels and this will hopefully increase your overall performance. Before competing this week I would like you to make sure you have a session of meditation to see if it affects your performance in any way. There are groups which carry out meditation classes which you could maybe become interested in and join if you feel this skill is a useful one.Let me know how you get on with this week’s skill.

I have just finished speaking to athlete X and she told me how well this week’s programme worked out. She said that she thoroughly enjoyed the meditation skill and how she will love to continue developing it and using it as part of her daily routine. She enjoyed the visualisation of a place which she could explore which calmed her a lot prior to her matches. She said that her whole body felt relaxed during the whole process and she continued to repeat a mantra. She explained how she has even thought of joining meditation classes as her local gym, she said she felt less nervous going onto court this week after a session of meditation, meaning that this skill has paid off and worked. 

BLOG 7

Training Week 1st-7th May 2014

Hi X, how has your training been this week? I hope you had another successful week. This week I will be introducing a skill which can be used throughout your training and your spare time to help increase your motivation and reduce your anxiety. This week’s skill is using music. Listening to music can have a very relaxing effect on athlete’s bodies and minds, especially slow classical music which can slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure. Music can absorb our attention meaning it is a great way to distract us from pressures and also explore our emotions. You can also use it to aid meditation. The preference in music varies between individuals and a lot of people listen to it when stressed. It has the ability to shift our moods; it is inexpensive and is almost always available. The skill is so simple yet so useful plus it's so easy to do, it can be fun and enjoyable as well, especially for those music lovers among us.

There are many things which you can do with music:

• wake up to it in the morning 
• sing along with it 
• move with music/dance to music
• create playlists
• work with music (such as get coursework done)

Throughout your training this week i would like you to create a playlist of songs which you feel are motivating towards you. During your spare time, training and before competitive play I would like you to listen to this playlist to decrease your stress levels as the songs will be positive and they will increase your motivation. Maybe you may wish to incorporate some dance sessions this week as this links very well, but that one is your choice. Let me know how you get on with this final week and well done for being motivated and dedicated throughout the programme. 

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I have just finished talking to athlete X about this weeks skill of using music. She told me that she loved the final week, this is because she generally loves music. She told me how she has created several playlists for different moods, such as relaxation to go with her meditation from the previous week and also a motivational one with more up beat songs for whilst she is training. She said she has started to incorporate dance into her daily routine as well for something social as well as to keep fit, she said she has thoroughly enjoyed the programme and it has helped her so much, giving her plenty of new ideas to use for her psychological problems. I am very pleased with the dedication from athlete X over these weeks. 

Athlete Assessment

Athlete Assessment

Over the next 6 weeks I am going to be monitoring the progress of an athlete and also to see if their overall performance improves by them receiving the psychological skills training programme. I will give them advice and provide them with information on each skill they will learn.

Athlete Profile:

• Athlete X
• Aged 18
• Full time student at college
• Netball Player/College Standard/Played for County
• Trains once a week
• Competes once a week

The athlete who I am monitoring is undergoing a number of pressures and psychological demands which are affecting her play. Firstly she is a full time student at college, studying both a BTEC and also her AS levels. Because of this she is faced with a very large sum of coursework with repetitive deadlines for her to hit. Sometimes this can be difficult for her as at times she may need to hit a deadline the day of training or the day after, meaning that she panics a lot. Another pressure which she has is her exams for her A2. Athlete X is the vice-captain of her college netball team, who in addition are quite successful. Being vice-captain can be quite pressurising for athlete X as she needs to make sure she sets a good example to her team mates and also be available at all practises and matches. Athlete X is currently applying for university which is increasing the pressure on her as she is worried she will not get the grades. Whilst playing netball athlete X decreases in motivation especially if her team is losing. Before she competes in a game athlete X can become very anxious of how her performance will be and the effects it will have on the game. The concentration of athlete X is quite poor. The performance demands of netball is that it is a fast, high pace sport meaning that you always have to be on the ball.  Netball is a very fast dynamic sport meaning that the athlete must have high physical and mental fitness. There are the pressures of social and team cohesion, getting along with other team members and making successful game on court. There is the pressure of balancing training/competing with coursework for college, this can be very stressful for the athlete and can be tiring. The athlete must be motivated in order to improve and stay positive whether they are winning/losing or their training isn't going well.  The pressure of staying focused is important as with a lot of distraction the player may lose track of the ball and with negative distractions such as family issues and college work it may decrease their overall performance, it's important that they stay focused and positive. 

Before we go ahead with the psychological skills training programme I asked athlete X to complete several assessments in order for me to gain a more accurate idea about her. These included a performance profile wheel, sports competition anxiety test (SCAT) and also a SWOT analysis. Her results in the performance profile wheel were interesting:

Belief- 5/10                                                                 

Focus- 4/10

Mental toughness- 3/10

Concentration- 5/10

Confidence- 7/10

Self-control- 4/10

Awareness- 7/10

Motivation- 4/10

Self-belief- 4/10

Strength- 6/10

Overall I feel as though these results are quite poor and low scored, I feel as though athlete X will benefit greatly from this psychological skills training programme. Looking at the results I would like for athlete X to increase their concentration and also their anxiety. I am looking forward to introducing athlete X to new skills which will hopefully increase these scores. You can see that athlete X took the SCAT test which is based on measuring the level of anxiety someone has. As you can see athlete X has a very high level of anxiety which by doing the skills programme I would like to try and reduce. Below athlete X has completed the Athletic Coping Skills which measures their psychological skills.From the results I can see that all aspects of the results were low, especially all the ones which relate to anxiety, yet again (peaking under pressure.)  

SWOT ANALYSIS 

Strengths 

-Leadership, positive outlook, sense of humor, organised, enjoys participating, committed 

Weaknesses 

-lacks concentration, no self confidence, anxiety is high, coping with losing

Opportunities 

-help available from sports psychologists, family and friends, teachers, time

Threats

-pressure with college, pressure with netball, coursework, part time job, A2 exams

Overall I feel as though athlete X could benefit greatly from this programme as a few areas need to be improved. Over the next 6 weeks I will be guiding athlete X through the programme suggesting skills to learn and asking her to return feedback of how well it effected her overall performance in training and competitive play at netball. 

BLOG 5

Training week 8^th- 15^th April 2014

Hi X, how are you this week? I am glad that we have been making lots of progress over the past few weeks which has made me very pleased and I am glad that you can feel a difference by using the skills I have told you about. This week I will be introducing you to a new skill called positive self talk. This skill X will keep you positive about competitive situations and help you stay motivated for example when you’re team is losing or your performance isn’t the best it could be. It’s an important skill which can be learnt as it helps dismiss negative thoughts which creep up on the mind, which can have consequences on your actions and emotions.

Understandably when an athlete is losing they will think negative thoughts such as ‘I’m rubbish’ and ‘I give up.’ These types of thoughts can have a negative effect on performance as they don’t try as hard and feel as though they shouldn’t make the effort. If the athlete changes the way they think, their actions will follow along with it. The following five steps will make you feel a lot more confident and hopefully help you X in becoming more positive when the situation is negative:

1.       Eliminate your negative chatter! A common one of this is telling yourself ‘I can’t’ or ‘it’s impossible’ by saying this you are creating a resistance, your actions are going to reflect on your low self esteem. If you want to be successful then you need to start saying ‘I can’ more often.

2.       Positive affirmations! Positive statements of your desired outcome, something short, believable and focusable.

3.       Positive script! Think of a story with an uplifting message, you will then work off a positive outline, the more you think of this story the better.

4.       Replace negative influences with positive ones! It’s important that you identify negative external factors that are holding you back from positivity such as certain friends. If you are not vigilant you will start to grasp their negative thoughts.

5.       Focus on enjoyable moments! Choose to fill your mind with positive images and thoughts, make it a habit.

What are the benefits? – there are many other benefits from positive self talk apart from an increase in performance such as:

·         Lower rates of depression

·         Lower levels of distress

·         Better psychological and physiological well-being

·         Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

 

When you say negative things to yourself about your own ability X it can have a huge impact on your confidence and anxiety levels when playing netball. This is why it is actually very important skill to get to grips with as you can then enhance your performance.

During this week X I would like you realise what things around you are negative. I would like you to try your best and block them out so you can focus on the positive things around you. Whilst training I would like you to be positive about your ability and the way you perform. When your coach explains a new drill which you have never done before which has some difficulty to it don’t be negative and tell yourself you can’t, practise and get better at it as it won’t be impossible. When you find yourself time when you’re not doing anything, think about positive things which you have and about your outcome goals. When you find yourself pondering on a negative thought I want you to dismiss it and think of something positive instead. During your match this week even if you’re losing the game I would like you to focus on the enjoyable moments such as playing with your team mates, thriving a challenge, keeping fit and doing something you enjoy. I hope this week’s skill increases your confidence on and also off the court. Let me know how you get on this week, I’ll look forward to hearing about it, good luck!

I have just finished speaking to my athlete X about the psychological skill I gave her to practise this week, positive self talk. X said that this skill was easy to get to grips with off court, but then as soon as she hit the competitive play it got a lot more difficult as her team was indeed losing. She said it was just difficult to maintain the positive talk whilst she was upset that they were losing and she also got frustrated. She told me about how it took around 4 days to get to grips with the five steps I had explained to her previously. X said that this skill was very helpful just during her daily lifestyle, she has noticed a change in her attitude towards different things and hopes that it continues as do I! When speaking to her she explained that she didn’t notice how some things she does daily can have a negative effect on her self esteem and confidence such as her diet, college work and some of the friends that she has have had a negative influence on her. She said she will try to keep up the skill, but it won’t be as easy on court as she can’t help but think negatively when she loses. Mixed ratings about this week but I am still pleased that X gave the skill a try. 

BLOG 4

Training Week 1^st- 7^th April 2014-05-12

Hi X, this week we be starting a new skill which I feel will be very beneficial towards athletes like yourself who suffer from somatic anxiety, such as when you get nervous ‘butterflies’ in your stomach before competing. This week’s skill is called Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR) which has been proven to be a very helpful skill to develop. It involves tensing specific muscles of the body and then relaxing them to create a feeling of tension and then relaxation. It is a progressive skill which eventually leads to total muscular relaxation. I feel that you will find this skill very beneficial and I would like to see you continuing with it after this week’s programme.

You should find a quiet place during your week of training, lie down so that you are comfortable and then slowly tense and relax each muscle groups of your body. Tightening each muscle for between 4-6 seconds, when the muscle is relaxed it returns to a more relaxed state than it was before tightening. You should complete this skill for these parts of the body X, preferably in this order as well:

•   Feet
•   Legs
•      Thighs
•    Buttocks
•    Stomach
•    Back
•   Neck
•    Shoulders
•    Arms
•          Hands
•   Jaw
•         Face
•        Eyes

This skill is used by athletes to help with the removal of stress related reactions, to create a physical state which entitles receptivity towards mental imagery and finally to set a level of physical and mental arousal prior to warming up for a competitive situation. This skill has been proven to have a long term effect on sport especially on reducing anxiety whilst at the same time improving concentration. Through practicing PMR athletes have been able to control their breathing better and also implement shorter. A lot of athletes can experience over arousal which means that they can be overly stressed, overly motivated and also overly anxious which can have negative effects on their performance. PMR can help reduce the levels of anxiety to a level which is more suitable for participation.

This week X I would like you to attempt the Progressive Muscular Relaxation skill to see whether it decreases your levels of stress and anxiety before competing in a netball game. Throughout this week, every day up until your match I would like you to lie down somewhere comfortable and quiet, maybe with some relaxing or motivating music on in the background and complete a full body relaxation in the order which I listed above. I would like you to continue the exercise for 20 minutes each day in order to cleanse the body of stress and to hopefully gain full relaxation, by the end of the week in time for the match you should have started to become good at this skill and use it before you go on court which will make you feel a lot more confident as you will hopefully be less anxious about the match. I hope this week goes well and let me know how you get on!

I have just been speaking to X about her programme this week. She explained how she did enjoy this week’s skill of progressive muscular relaxation and how she felt very calm going onto court at the match because she had been completing the exercises everyday ensuring that she was relaxed as she could be. She told me how she felt so much better after she had completed the exercise and how she felt more confidence about her performance this week. X mentioned that this exercises was quite time consuming but once she realised that it work very well she thought it was worth the time for the outcome it gave her. She told me how she would be using this skill again and she would like to start developing it, as well breathing techniques. She said that during her training that week that when she was doing the relaxation technique that listening to music made it more motivating to complete and kept her focused. I am pleased that this has been another successful week for X and I hope she has found something she can develop.

BLOG 3

Training Week 24^th- 31^st March 2014

Hi X, this week I will be getting you to try out a technique called imagery.  Whilst I have been assessing you I have decided to use this next technique in order to reduce your stress levels and also to increase your overall focus and concentration during play. This is because I know that during a game of netball you can become quite tedious when you’re losing. Your general concept is to lack focus and find something other than the game to entertain you, for example playing with your hair or watching other people rather than the ball. I feel that if we increase your focus that this will also make other things improve at the same time such as some of your skills and also reduce your anxiety. Mental imagery involves you X, imagining yourself in a specific environment performing an activity using the senses of sight, smell, sound and touch. These images which you think of should be very positive which then leaves you feeling satisfied which makes you perform successfully during your performance in netball.

What can it be used for? - using the imagery technique can be beneficial in many different ways. It can be used as a motivational exercise for you, by helping you recall your goals for that session. It can also be used to reduce negative thoughts which is something that you can do quite often Natalie especially if you do something wrong or if your netball team is losing, this can connect to other things such as focus and positivity. Another reason why the technique of imagery is used is to help the athlete is to ‘see success’ this is because if the athlete imagines a time when the team was successful and won something this will motivate them to work harder during the game at hand. They will think of when their skills were performed greatly and paid off, as this will also help them with their overall performance. If this occurred it would probably increase their motivation towards their desired outcome.

The main reason why I would like you to do this technique during your programme Natalie is to ‘refocus.’ I find that during playing time X that you lack focus of the game, so that when the netball is actually heading your way that you are startled and your performance decreases. This then leads to you becoming frustrated and negative; therefore we need to work on your focus. During a game if you feel as though your performance is sluggish then you will simply use this technique to help you refocus. You will think of a previous performance when you played really well which can get you back on track.

When should you use it? – to become fluent at using the technique of imagery you should start to use it quite often to get into the flow of using it s that it’s easier for you when it comes to competitive play. I would like you to start using it during training and then also after training, during training to that before you execute any skills you should do it through imagery first. You should imagine yourself feeling, seeing and experience yourself moving through the skill, completing the skill to a good standard. On the other hand I would like you to complete the imagery technique before competitive play and think of yourself being successful during play and also winning, this will also help you in many other aspects besides focus.

The benefits of the technique – as well as helping you with your focus X, the imagery technique will also give you a few other benefits which will improve your performance. The technique can help improve and develop self confidence of the athlete as they will be more aware of what’s going on. It will also help you with the pressure of the competition situation, helping you to cope and feel better about them. It can also help you focus on certain skills you are trying to develop such as ‘interceptions’ or ‘feeding’ as you are able to imagine yourself performing them successfully which makes you feel a lot better about the situation and improves your performance.

For this technique to be successful X it must be practiced regularly throughout the week. There are four main elements which contribute to how well it will work. Each of these elements begins with an R so it’s easy to remember the four R’s.

ü  Relaxation- being relaxed will make the imagery technique easier for you to perform. Having a relaxed body and mind will make you feel the experience better.

ü  Realism- you must create an image which is realistic. In order for it to be as realistic as possible you must incorporate several things into the image such as; definition, action, emotion, detail and positive outcomes and results.

ü  Regularity- you must practice imagery around 20 minutes a day, each of the sessions to be 5 minutes long to be most effective.

ü  Reinforcement- sometimes athletes write down their imagery to help them remember the timings and the detail.

 

Over the next week of training and competitive play X I would like you to attempt the imagery technique. All week up until your competitive play I would like you to spend around 20/30 minutes of imagery a day, deciding on a suitable image for you to think of. During training I would like you to choose a certain skill maybe the one which you chose for the goal setting technique to see if this technique is better. Throughout your training session see if it increases your focus on the drills you are practicing. If you have done the technique properly you will be focused on the goal you have imagined before the session, depending on how much detail you have put in to make it realistic it will be easier to achieve. When it comes to competitive play I would like you to take some time before the match starts to go somewhere and do the imagery technique, at this point I would like you to think of yourself winning the match and being successful when playing, making lots of interceptions, throwing plenty of successful passes etc. I hope this technique works well for you this week X and let me know how you get on.

I have just got off the phone with my athlete X; she explained to me how she thoroughly enjoyed this week’s technique of imagery. She told me how it took a few days to get into it as she found it difficult to grasp the idea of making it as real as possible but then told me how it got easier and more fluent the more times she did it. X said that she wrote a list of some images she wished to happen such as winning this week’s match against Blackburn College and how successful her feeding into the circle to her teams’ shooter would be. X said that she was much more confident going onto court knowing that she had seen herself winning the match so throughout the game was able to concentrate on this one goal. This is a huge improvement for her as her concentration normally drifts very easily. X told me how she will definitely be using this technique again after completing the psychological skills training programme as she found this one very effective and helped her achieve what she wanted, this was very pleasing to hear. 

BLOG 2

Training Week 1-24^th March 2014

Hi it’s Natalie, having assessed you on the first assessment last week I have identified that a good strategy that could be put in to place to improve your performance and overall confidence is goal setting and motivational exercises. I feel that by doing this it could improve your overall performance during netball and physical activity by increasing your motivation and confidence when you play.

What is goal setting? It is what you as an individual is aiming to achieve and what you wish the outcome of your actions to lead to. Goal setting is extremely effective and can help you accordingly to how well you follow it and by doing so it helps your aim come closer towards you. It works because it gives you the steps you need in order to get closer to your outcome but they will only work effectively depending on your personal effort and energy which you put into the process. Goal setting is an easy method which can be used to help improve the overall performance and focus of an athlete. I feel like goal setting would be a great method for you to use. You are able to set goals which you aim to achieve before a set time period. Depending on the sport being played there are different goals which are able to be set. For example a footballer may have a goal of how many tackles they may successfully perform. Seeing as though the sport you play is netball yours will differ in some way to a badminton player or a golfer.

There are many different types of goals which can be set. The three types are outcome, performance and process. Firstly I will explain to you what outcome goals are.

Outcome goals- these are goals set to do with performing better or winning something. Outcome goals made by the athlete are what they wish for the desired end result to be e.g. being selected to play netball for England. These types of goals can be extremely motivating if it’s what the athlete really wants, they may also be long term goals. Although the athlete desires the goal it is not is not up to the individual on how it goes, because it will also be based on how others perform. The athlete is quite limited without performance goals as well.

Performance goals- performance goals are set to make a specific standard of play. These goals are about the athlete’s personal standard e.g. a runner may wish to complete their course in a certain time. This meaning that it is completely up to the individual and doesn't depend on others performance. Performance goals can be used to monitor the athlete’s personal achievements and see if they are improving and also get them closer to their desired outcome goal. These goals can make the athlete feel satisfied with their performance even if the goal is not achieved.

Process goals- these goals are when the athlete has complete control. Process goals are small achievements which are put into place in order to have a larger outcome. They are the route which leads to the ultimate goal. An example of a process goal related to your sport would be to shoot 50 goals every day to practice, to eat healthier, train twice a week.

Goals can be broken down into smaller steps which we call targets. We need to make sure that these targets are what we call ‘SMART.’

Specific- what do you want to achieve? You need to make sure that the targets are specific to the ultimate goal, such as ‘I want to play for England.’ In this case you would make the targets to be things such as train 4 times a week, shoot 100 goals a day.

Measurable-the targets need to be measurable so then you know whether you have reached them, such as having feedback given to you, counting the amount of interceptions or goals which are successful.

Achievable- you have to make the goals and targets achievable. For example you can’t aim for things you know you are incapable of doing over a certain time period.

Realistic- the goals which you are aiming for must be realistic, for example you must think whether the goal is worthwhile, is it the right time for the goal, are you the right person and does it match your efforts.

Timing- this is put in place to stop goals being over taken by daily activities. Without a time frame there is no sense of urgency which doesn't make the goal motivating.

 

Goal setting can be very beneficial for your performance X, over the next week I would like you to create goals which you feel you would like to achieve. Remember to use the smart method or else the goals will be less attainable and they will decrease your performance giving you a negative mind frame. During training you should complete activities which relate towards your chosen goal. An example of this would be to think of a performance goal such as ‘how many balls can you feed into the circle’ or ‘how many interceptions can you complete during the full match.’ I suggest X that you think of an outcome goal which you can relate your performance goals too as well, this will make it easier. Make sure you concentrate on the goal at hand and let me know how you get on with the goal setting method next week.

I have just been on the phone with my athlete and I am very happy with what she told me. X explained how she wrote a list of performance goals which she wished to complete and also some outcome goals which came along with them. She said that during training she had these performance goals in her mind and focused her training activities and exercises on these goals. This made it better for her during competitive play as she was able to put these goals into real perspective and actually attempt to reach them, using the SMART method which I explained to her. She told me how she would maybe use this method again and how next time she would use more goals. Depending on which level her netball is at, the larger her outcome goals would be as well. I am pleased for X and how she was motivated to try the goal setting method, she told me how the method increased her motivation as she knew she had to complete a certain amount of interceptions to reach her performance goal.