One week I started my pre-match “few words” to the team I coach by mentioning the Butterfly Effect which pre-framed my point of invitation for the players' thoughts. So (eg) does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Sao Paolo set off series of events to eventually alter the path of a hurricane in the Caribbean?
As thoughts on this were rattling around inside for them, I sprung the 4 Cartesian Questions....and decided to frame them in rugby terms :-
1. What will happen if you do make that tackle / pass?
2. What won't happen if you don't make that tackle / pass?
3. What will happen if you don't make that tackle / pass?
4. What won't happen if you do make that tackle / pass?
So how effective was this?
In terms of performance things went really well, through warm up and overall through the game. There were some momentary slips (as always) but the general level of decision making throughout the team was much, much better. I have not yet asked the players how they felt about the pre-talk (if anything) because most of my talks are a) aimed at the unconscious, and b) are metaphorical and non-motivational. We lost by 1 point to a side who had beaten us convincingly earlier in the season, so in outcome terms there was a huge improvement. We should have won to be fair, but missed 2 kickable penalties in the second half to re-take the lead.
The 4 Cartesian Questions do set up interesting trains of thought for all players especially the inexperienced ones, and it certainly de-focusses their feelings of singularity which is so destructive in a 15-man team game. The belief that they and only they can change the course of the game by (in effect) trying to do too much every time they have the ball in hand. So they only have to consider beating their wings to make changes........
The Wright Way
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Pre-Match Team talks #2 - Don't Think of a Black Cat
Early in my coaching regime at one club I trod on the Manager’s toes big time. The side were coming back in to the changing rooms after their warm up routines, for the last 5 minutes before kick-off. As they trooped past the Manager he exhorted them to “Not play like last week, it was crap – Don’t do X or the opposition will walk all over you – play like that and you’ll lose” and so on. Hearing this I knew I had to wipe it out as best I could – and quickly.
So I told them about Don’t Think of a Black Cat. And they discovered that in order to NOT think of one they actually had to bring up an image of a black cat. This is because the unconscious only deals with positives, so the “nots”, “don’ts” etc are just ignored. So as their ears were still smarting from his “call to arms” their minds were presented with “do X” and “play like last week”. They realised that what they had just had to endure from him was likely to bring about exactly what he’d commanded them NOT to do.
PLUS (and this is also significant) his diatribe was full of embedded commands. Embedded commands are subtle phrases within a script that are processed unconsciously, and, in the case of his talk, phrases such as “play crap”, “you will lose”, “the opposition will walk all over you” were going in under the radar. Once the match is under way, any instances of the above happening would just reinforce these opinions and pretty soon they become beliefs - by which time the whole side is at a (self-induced) psychological disadvantage.
So I told them about Don’t Think of a Black Cat. And they discovered that in order to NOT think of one they actually had to bring up an image of a black cat. This is because the unconscious only deals with positives, so the “nots”, “don’ts” etc are just ignored. So as their ears were still smarting from his “call to arms” their minds were presented with “do X” and “play like last week”. They realised that what they had just had to endure from him was likely to bring about exactly what he’d commanded them NOT to do.
PLUS (and this is also significant) his diatribe was full of embedded commands. Embedded commands are subtle phrases within a script that are processed unconsciously, and, in the case of his talk, phrases such as “play crap”, “you will lose”, “the opposition will walk all over you” were going in under the radar. Once the match is under way, any instances of the above happening would just reinforce these opinions and pretty soon they become beliefs - by which time the whole side is at a (self-induced) psychological disadvantage.
Pre-Match Team talks #1 - Big Game from You Today
In my son’s rugby playing years from 16-18 he would recount, on a weekly basis, the pre-match talk of his manager. As a reasonably good impressionist, for him and a number of his team mates, this was increasingly a source of some amusement.
The manager, an ex-player of more than modest playing ability, was not blessed with either bubbling communication skills or an innate knowledge of sports psychology. He approached the various elements of managing a colts rugby team from an honest, experiential standpoint, and probably appreciated that the minefield created for him by the wide spectrum of youth and its culture was almost always going to blow up in his face! Stoically, however, he stuck to his task….
Amusingly, his pre-match talk involved him addressing the lads by going down the team sheet one by one with the same opening line: “John Smith (pause for breath) – Big Game from you today,” and then next one: “Tommy Jones (pause for breath) – Big Game from you today.” As the players got to know him, this serious (for him) routine actually put them at their ease - because of the humour that my son’s coterie were able to put into the equation. Over post-match beers I once heard them discussing a reframed variant that went thus:- It was a hot afternoon on the Serengeti and the lions were sat around observing the herds of zebra and wildebeest grazing, when pride leader Old Leo turned to the others and started his team talk: “Simba – Big Game from You Today.”
With 18+ players to deal with this way, each with a little vignette outlining what was required of them, there was much time taken up to little overall effect it would seem. However, the point was always a positive one (if a little repetitive) and the message was certainly rammed home.
Increasingly, their results showed volumes as to how many of them DID regularly have big games. The team achieved a considerable amount both on and off the field, and their social cohesion was such that now, even ten years on, they are still a very close-knit crew, even though they are geographically scattered far and wide.
The manager, an ex-player of more than modest playing ability, was not blessed with either bubbling communication skills or an innate knowledge of sports psychology. He approached the various elements of managing a colts rugby team from an honest, experiential standpoint, and probably appreciated that the minefield created for him by the wide spectrum of youth and its culture was almost always going to blow up in his face! Stoically, however, he stuck to his task….
Amusingly, his pre-match talk involved him addressing the lads by going down the team sheet one by one with the same opening line: “John Smith (pause for breath) – Big Game from you today,” and then next one: “Tommy Jones (pause for breath) – Big Game from you today.” As the players got to know him, this serious (for him) routine actually put them at their ease - because of the humour that my son’s coterie were able to put into the equation. Over post-match beers I once heard them discussing a reframed variant that went thus:- It was a hot afternoon on the Serengeti and the lions were sat around observing the herds of zebra and wildebeest grazing, when pride leader Old Leo turned to the others and started his team talk: “Simba – Big Game from You Today.”
With 18+ players to deal with this way, each with a little vignette outlining what was required of them, there was much time taken up to little overall effect it would seem. However, the point was always a positive one (if a little repetitive) and the message was certainly rammed home.
Increasingly, their results showed volumes as to how many of them DID regularly have big games. The team achieved a considerable amount both on and off the field, and their social cohesion was such that now, even ten years on, they are still a very close-knit crew, even though they are geographically scattered far and wide.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Visualization and Coping with Distractions
Recently I read this abstract from the International Journal or Sports Psychology:
Penalty shooting and gaze behavior: Unwanted effects of the wish not to miss - which you can read here:
http://www.ijsp-online.com/content/abstracts/abstract3702.php#c11
Interesting study, and rather links to a number of my posts in the Prodigy Coach Coaches Forum. In Hypnosis-Opening the Senses I talk about the RAS (Reticular Activating System) and how it can be programmed in terms of dead aim and hitting targets. However, the IJSP article seems to advocate the downside of this...until you look at it from the NLP perspective and how the penalty takers (already anxious at not missing) are internally processing the target area.
Instead of just seeing the target areas for what they are (just targets), the penalty takers have associated a kinaesthetic representation of anxiety to those targets. They might also have internalised an auditory representation of "the critical voice" telling them not to miss. So - every time they see the target areas they fire these anchors!
There are two ways to avoid this.
One is to set up anchors with the penalty takers in practice, so that when they encounter the circumstances in a match situation then they can fire the anchors to help propel them towards proper execution.
The other is to use visualization - not of the targets but of the process (in this case the approach, strike of the ball and follow through).
If you saw the BBC2 Horizon programme "The England Patient" (2003) you will have seen the work done by David Beckham in this regard.
Essentially, visualization as mental rehearsal of physical processes is of enormous benefit. And by anchoring a particular state to your visualizations as well, you can bring some very powerful resources into play.
Distractions are always with us, and there will be some that are unplanned - viz: Jonny Wilkinson and the quality of the match balls at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Fortunately, once they knew to "test" the ball before every kick, the distraction was manageable.
Whatever sport you play, mental prep needs to be on many levels to assist you in getting into a position of best performance through best process. Visualization, although it might seem a practice strategy, is actually very vital in performance as well. Especially when all else seems to be failing!
Penalty shooting and gaze behavior: Unwanted effects of the wish not to miss - which you can read here:
http://www.ijsp-online.com/content/abstracts/abstract3702.php#c11
Interesting study, and rather links to a number of my posts in the Prodigy Coach Coaches Forum. In Hypnosis-Opening the Senses I talk about the RAS (Reticular Activating System) and how it can be programmed in terms of dead aim and hitting targets. However, the IJSP article seems to advocate the downside of this...until you look at it from the NLP perspective and how the penalty takers (already anxious at not missing) are internally processing the target area.
Instead of just seeing the target areas for what they are (just targets), the penalty takers have associated a kinaesthetic representation of anxiety to those targets. They might also have internalised an auditory representation of "the critical voice" telling them not to miss. So - every time they see the target areas they fire these anchors!
There are two ways to avoid this.
One is to set up anchors with the penalty takers in practice, so that when they encounter the circumstances in a match situation then they can fire the anchors to help propel them towards proper execution.
The other is to use visualization - not of the targets but of the process (in this case the approach, strike of the ball and follow through).
If you saw the BBC2 Horizon programme "The England Patient" (2003) you will have seen the work done by David Beckham in this regard.
Essentially, visualization as mental rehearsal of physical processes is of enormous benefit. And by anchoring a particular state to your visualizations as well, you can bring some very powerful resources into play.
Distractions are always with us, and there will be some that are unplanned - viz: Jonny Wilkinson and the quality of the match balls at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Fortunately, once they knew to "test" the ball before every kick, the distraction was manageable.
Whatever sport you play, mental prep needs to be on many levels to assist you in getting into a position of best performance through best process. Visualization, although it might seem a practice strategy, is actually very vital in performance as well. Especially when all else seems to be failing!
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