Managing our own Intensity

It’s not a particularly well-worn phrase in terms of performance – “Manage Your Own Intensity.” At least, it is not well-worn in the conventional and traditional lexicon of pre-match phraseology.

However, yesterday for the team I coach, it was pretty much the only pointer I wanted them to follow as they entered into the contest. It was a non-league match – commonly billed as “a friendly” – and so, in theory, the only outcome they would need to consider would be their level of collective and personal enjoyment in playing a sport they love. 

You are Required

Pre-match phraseology tends to follow a lot of conventional norms. Players get spoken AT in a particular way, they speak AT each other in a similar particular way, and they have a tendency to speak AT themselves in that same particular way. Everyone does it so we’ll do it.

It is euphemistically called MOTIVATION.

And between the spoken lines of exhortation comes the repetitive message:
This is the way you must play. This is the way you must think when you play. This is the state of mind you must get into in order to play in the way it is said you must play. The bottom line for all this is,
“You are required. All these things are required of you. If you fall short of these requirements you – collectively and individually – will fall short of the necessary standards. This is serious. I’m taking this seriously and I require that you do too.”

Plus, if you take motivation like this to the next level (up or down, depending on your perspective), then winning is everything - this is a matter of life and death – and there’s no second chance. Grit your teeth, clench your fists and ...
Pump up the volume – pump, pump, pump.

Myth

When Shakespeare wrote “Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead,” he penned the essential motivational call in a matter of life and death. King Henry V wanted to gird up his battle weary soldiers for what he felt was going to be one last and fateful effort. The context was clear – we live or die by how we approach this day.

Keeping an eye firmly on context, especially in terms of motivation, is the key element. And it is certainly the key element overlooked by many when delivering their own particular brand of pre-match phraseology. Over the years I’ve seen this whole piece of theatre as being a myth in terms of what the players should really be getting.

Been Laden

Now here’s an interesting image that’s been laden with presuppositions, yet can also be laden with contextual manipulation!

I’ll leave you to draw some of your own conclusions; yet also consider the metaphorical shark - who is distracted by checking his long list of emails, who is worrying about what some of the other sharks have been saying about him; who is required to visit his mother-in-law this weekend; etc.

So, what happens next from both perspectives when the eyes of canoeist meet the eyes of Mr Sharkey. For canoeist there’s no time to think and the reaction to fight or flight kicks in, while for preoccupied shark his mind is elsewhere. Likely outcome is canoeist lives to paddle another day, while shark swims on with his thoughts continuing to run his life.

This is imaginary and ludicrous, I hear you cry. Sharks don’t think along those lines. So we assume they don’t require motivation; they are driven by instinct and hunger – as we know.

And the point I want to make here is that when we see a matter of life and death about to unfold, then we assume neither party is going to be doing any thinking. Their needs are just driven by their actions.

Clear the Decks

So a regular sporting contest is not a matter of life and death; both sets of players have diverse trains of thought going on; both have a reasonable degree of intelligence; both are going to be susceptible to fluctuating and wide-ranging states of mind.

The purpose of my approach is to enable as many of my players as possible to reach a particular condition so that when they start the contest, they are playing with NOTHING on their mind.

It’s rather like clearing the decks in the kitchen before starting to cook a meal. If we leave surfaces dirty or stuff lying around then we cannot give our full attention in the moment. Our meal will have less chance of turning out in the optimum way we would like.

Over the years of working in different sports with different sets of players I have witnessed pre-match preparations with widely differing content, context, length of time and levels of intensity. Now if there was a right or wrong formula here then I would have seen it played out in the results of each specific contest. Interestingly, the ONLY consistent factor is that of whether the players have something or NOTHING on their minds.

Pivotal Points

After the contest has begun, certain variables will come into play. Some of those variables will impact upon the collective and individual psyches of my players.

At the same time, a range of similar though not identical variables will impact upon the collective and individual psyches of the opposition.

And here arrives a succession of potential pivotal moments.

If MY players allow their mental approach to their OWN game to be affected by how they see their opponents are reacting to THEIR OWN particular set of variables, then they’ll be playing with something on their mind.

Now my players’ mental approach is NOT about tactics.

It is about their Managing Their Own Intensity.

OK, if they feel it is too low, they can step it up, and if it is too high they can ease off. However, they will almost certainly discover that stepping up and easing off are amongst the hardest things to control in the midst of a contest. It is THE finest of tunings, and when attempted usually gets out of control with undesirable consequences.
“Come on lads – we need to up our intensity!” comes the clarion call, and yet before we know it we’re trying to force the issue and trying – as we know - upsets the applecart!

This is why setting a level and staying at that level is much easier to carry out and maintain.

Yet, having said all that, this is what managing is all about, and the MORE they do it, the MORE they will get familiar with it, and – miraculously as a consequence – the BETTER they will get at it. I cannot manage it for them with either my words or actions, nor can anyone else, and definitely not using the style of Henry V!

Equilibrium

Starting a contest in a state of equilibrium, or playing with nothing on our mind, is for me the best possible base camp. Things will ebb and flow in any contest, driven by variables. Understanding and dealing with our own variables and not those of our opponents will free us from trying to “force” matters by “trying harder.”

It was interesting, yesterday, to note how things turned out for the team I coached, and in particular how players felt and what they said after the contest.

For most of the game they played with nothing on their minds. They started out in equilibrium. The quality of their play transcended the match and the conditions. No one considered or asked about the scoreline. They were totally absorbed with what they and their team mates were bringing about. They remained utterly impersonal towards their opponents. Apart from a short period, nothing was “forced” and, not surprisingly, in that “forcing period”, the quality of play dropped considerably. The level of pleasure and satisfaction was high.

For me, they managed their intensity extremely well – which is what I’d asked them to consider the most. I was particularly pleased with the short period of “forced” play – because essentially they had to manage it in order to get out of it by letting go of the “forcing” action.