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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.