I managed to watch this programme in earnest this evening:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPEqmcDLjHw
Once again with Horizon gems like this, I find that the really exciting jewels for me are embedded in the detail of the programme.
For instance - About 37 minutes in there is a 3-4 minutes section on how a person who has been deaf for over 20 years can now "see" by the brain processing certain inputted sonic data. This data has been produced by software which has converted elements of outline visual data through a specially adapted camera.
So, in effect, this person is learning how to see by using different sensual data. Interestingly Marcus de Sautoy also mentions the background sensual data we receive and process - eg in the case of auditory data we "hear" things more than just via our ears. Vibrations, resonances, distance, depth and other spatial information - all of which goes to enrich our perceptions.
For me, genius comes in many guises - from creative to interpretive. And very occasionally the world is presented with a person who has genius quality in not one but a number of fields.
It is what makes us awesome creatures.
The Wright Way
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Bilateral Co-ordination
In "my day" we never did bilateral co-ordination as part of PE at school. Maybe it was in its infancy when I was - but it and balance are such an integral part of all sports that some ground work would be useful for everyone as they grow up.
In an ideal world I'd like to see bilateral co-ordination part of an enhanced and expanded PE programme in schools from ages 5 upwards. Then maybe there'll be many more brilliant and dextrous people like Tommy Baker........marvel and enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av7ErKktZAE
PW
In an ideal world I'd like to see bilateral co-ordination part of an enhanced and expanded PE programme in schools from ages 5 upwards. Then maybe there'll be many more brilliant and dextrous people like Tommy Baker........marvel and enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av7ErKktZAE
PW
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Keep Your Conscious Clear!
I was working recently with a 15 y/o cricketer, and we were coming to the end of the session so I spent quarter of an hour with him on throwing at targets.
First we just explored dead aim from about 15m and he got the usual hit ratio as a start. With a little advice on improving various technical points he and I had a competition (hits out of 10 throws). The most he got was 2 but with a much improved accuracy level. On one set I got 5 - but I explained that I'd been a dead aim devotee for about 4 years, and I also had the facility to shut out distractive elements from my conscious mind.
To conclude the session I asked him what success level he thought he might have with eyes shut. Now, from past experiments and experience* I know that some players with good visualization can actually hit targets as well with eyes-shut as they can with eyes-open.
He was confident he would hit 3 out of 10 - which was more than his eyes-open score. So, he proceeded to visualize, open eyes, visualize and test for strength and clarity; and then when he was ready I asked him to throw with eyes closed.
He hit the target twice in the first three throws!
He continued, but had no more success - and I asked him if he noticed what was going on inside his mind after the first 3 throws.
Turned out he had been thinking (a) how amazing this was for starters and (b) could he keep it up and then (c) he started thinking about why he was missing until (d) he was quite disappointed he had scored no more hits.
I explained to him that for the first 3 throws he had not done any thinking, but had only visualized the target and thrown without attachment or distraction. Thereafter when he returned to use the visualization this had begun to de-focus due to internal dialogue. The chances of any more hits thereafter was almost nil whilst the original process was being degraded this way.
Had he reset the visualization from the beginning, and been able to switch off that internal dialogue (or even dampen it down) then he would have (probably) had even more success.
* - (refers to a past experiment with group of players doing eyes-open and eyes-shut target throwing. See an earlier Blog post for details)
PW
First we just explored dead aim from about 15m and he got the usual hit ratio as a start. With a little advice on improving various technical points he and I had a competition (hits out of 10 throws). The most he got was 2 but with a much improved accuracy level. On one set I got 5 - but I explained that I'd been a dead aim devotee for about 4 years, and I also had the facility to shut out distractive elements from my conscious mind.
To conclude the session I asked him what success level he thought he might have with eyes shut. Now, from past experiments and experience* I know that some players with good visualization can actually hit targets as well with eyes-shut as they can with eyes-open.
He was confident he would hit 3 out of 10 - which was more than his eyes-open score. So, he proceeded to visualize, open eyes, visualize and test for strength and clarity; and then when he was ready I asked him to throw with eyes closed.
He hit the target twice in the first three throws!
He continued, but had no more success - and I asked him if he noticed what was going on inside his mind after the first 3 throws.
Turned out he had been thinking (a) how amazing this was for starters and (b) could he keep it up and then (c) he started thinking about why he was missing until (d) he was quite disappointed he had scored no more hits.
I explained to him that for the first 3 throws he had not done any thinking, but had only visualized the target and thrown without attachment or distraction. Thereafter when he returned to use the visualization this had begun to de-focus due to internal dialogue. The chances of any more hits thereafter was almost nil whilst the original process was being degraded this way.
Had he reset the visualization from the beginning, and been able to switch off that internal dialogue (or even dampen it down) then he would have (probably) had even more success.
* - (refers to a past experiment with group of players doing eyes-open and eyes-shut target throwing. See an earlier Blog post for details)
PW
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Winning Ugly - a Learning Experience
Yesterday the rugby team I coach were playing the bottom club from the adjoining geographical league and they should have strolled through the game to be honest. Generally, the pre-match prep was good as was the first ten minutes of the game - and after twelve minutes gone they took a 3-0 lead with a penalty.
Then their game began to go very flat – no patterns of play and some very thin tackling on the opposition which led to them almost scoring on several occasions.
Then – on about 25 minutes the referee got injured and there was about a 15 minute break whilst things were sorted with a replacement. From the restart my side were not just flat but shapeless and without backbone, nay almost without a skeleton at all. Eventually half time came, but not after the opposition had drawn level at 3-3.
With such a young and inexperienced team, there is a real danger that once having gone psychologically off the boil (or defocused in a slightly better vernacular), then it is very difficult (a) for individuals to get it back and (b) for the team to function once again as a collective. Things usually degenerate into everyone thinking “well everyone else has lost it so it’s down to me - and me alone - to put it right.” And in a 15 man team game, one (no matter how brilliant) cannot overcome even five of the opposition let alone all of them.
That crucial half time talk….
So – the players tottered into the half time break expecting to be harangued, vilified and brutally cajoled, because it’s the way we tend to do things when we are trying to get people to “snap out of it!” isn’t it? But then all of a sudden (naturally) we would be back in negative phrases territory such as (a) reminding everyone of all the bad stuff they have been doing and (b) the damning and ignominious consequences of their losing to an inferior side, etc. There was a chunk of this, to be fair – however fortunately I had a minute available to guide them to safe and positively stimulating waters – by using the calmly motivating and recent memories of the changing room mood just before kick off. I invited them to float back and recall how they all felt focussed and motivated and properly fired up.
Winning ugly
I’m happy to report it did the business for them all, and within 20 minutes we were winning comfortably after 3 good and varied tries. Plus we added one more for good measure to give us a “half decent” finishing 25-8 scoreline.
Summing up in the after-match chat, the skipper reminded everyone that they did just enough to beat a side they should have scored a lot more against. The players, he said, needed to work a lot harder in the upcoming games or else X would happen. My comments were more complimentary in that they had succeeded in overcoming themselves and how they had been reacting to (a) going flat and (b) the very huge distraction of a long delay while the referee was replaced after injury. It’s not an easy task to change the course of your own game, and in learning terms it was a good experience for everyone – by seeing that there ARE ways of dealing with things calmly and positively by using very simple strategies.
Putting it succinctly, they won Ugly – and as such learnt more about themselves than by walloping the opposition by over 50 points.
PW
Then their game began to go very flat – no patterns of play and some very thin tackling on the opposition which led to them almost scoring on several occasions.
Then – on about 25 minutes the referee got injured and there was about a 15 minute break whilst things were sorted with a replacement. From the restart my side were not just flat but shapeless and without backbone, nay almost without a skeleton at all. Eventually half time came, but not after the opposition had drawn level at 3-3.
With such a young and inexperienced team, there is a real danger that once having gone psychologically off the boil (or defocused in a slightly better vernacular), then it is very difficult (a) for individuals to get it back and (b) for the team to function once again as a collective. Things usually degenerate into everyone thinking “well everyone else has lost it so it’s down to me - and me alone - to put it right.” And in a 15 man team game, one (no matter how brilliant) cannot overcome even five of the opposition let alone all of them.
That crucial half time talk….
So – the players tottered into the half time break expecting to be harangued, vilified and brutally cajoled, because it’s the way we tend to do things when we are trying to get people to “snap out of it!” isn’t it? But then all of a sudden (naturally) we would be back in negative phrases territory such as (a) reminding everyone of all the bad stuff they have been doing and (b) the damning and ignominious consequences of their losing to an inferior side, etc. There was a chunk of this, to be fair – however fortunately I had a minute available to guide them to safe and positively stimulating waters – by using the calmly motivating and recent memories of the changing room mood just before kick off. I invited them to float back and recall how they all felt focussed and motivated and properly fired up.
Winning ugly
I’m happy to report it did the business for them all, and within 20 minutes we were winning comfortably after 3 good and varied tries. Plus we added one more for good measure to give us a “half decent” finishing 25-8 scoreline.
Summing up in the after-match chat, the skipper reminded everyone that they did just enough to beat a side they should have scored a lot more against. The players, he said, needed to work a lot harder in the upcoming games or else X would happen. My comments were more complimentary in that they had succeeded in overcoming themselves and how they had been reacting to (a) going flat and (b) the very huge distraction of a long delay while the referee was replaced after injury. It’s not an easy task to change the course of your own game, and in learning terms it was a good experience for everyone – by seeing that there ARE ways of dealing with things calmly and positively by using very simple strategies.
Putting it succinctly, they won Ugly – and as such learnt more about themselves than by walloping the opposition by over 50 points.
PW
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