Lesson video

Hello there, and welcome to this lesson on Mental Preparation with me, Mr. Broome.

And this is from the Sports Psychology: Mental Preparation for Performance unit.

I think this is a great lesson coming up because it has real-world applications.

You can start using them from today.

So not only are we going to learn how athletes mentally prepare, but how you can mentally prepare to help you lower your stress levels when you get into stressful situations, or help give you a confidence boost when you need it.

And so really useful, as I said, real-world applications.

Shall we have a look? Okay, so by the end of today's lesson, you should be able to identify and use a range of mental preparation techniques.

We've got a lot of keywords in this lesson with long definitions.

So they're split onto two slides.

Let's have a look.

We have mental rehearsal, imagery, selective attention.

Pause here if you want to have a look at their definitions.

But as I said, we have a second slide here, positive thinking and mental preparation.

So there's your definitions of those.

Lots of keywords, or particularly long definitions, but the lesson itself isn't a hugely long one.

There are two parts, and the first part is called Using Mental Rehearsal to Improve Performance.

So let's have a look at that.

Jacob's question to you is, "What do you think the term mental rehearsal means?" Have you ever come across it before, or perhaps if you think about the two words mental rehearsal, you might be able to come up with an answer yourself.

So let's put the word on the screen.

And we are going to have a look, first of all, at mental, okay? So mental refers to anything related to the mind, to thinking, to cognition, or psychological processes, okay? So all those things that are going on in your mind can be labeled as mental.

What about rehearsal? Have you ever come across the word rehearsal? So rehearsal is practice or repetition of a performance to prepare for an actual event.

Now, I've come across that word many times when I hear it used in the world of theater, where people rehearse for a performance, it means they're gonna practice for the performance leading up to the real performance, when the audience actually arrives to watch.

Now, here, we have a basketball player, and the basketball player is about to take a free throw.

Now, just in case you don't know what a free throw is, it's essentially like a penalty in football.

Somebody was fouled while they were shooting, and the referee awards the team some free shots at the basket, no opposition allowed to get in the way.

So before they take their shot, the basketball player imagines themselves scoring.

They might see themselves taking the shot with great technique, the ball flying through the hoop perfect.

And that is mental rehearsal, okay? That imagining themselves taking the shot and scoring.

Then, once they've perform their mental rehearsal, they then take the shot, because remember, rehearsal means practicing before the actual event.

And here's an image to represent that.

So they're imagining that ball going through the hoop perfect.

Now Izzy says, "What is the point of doing that?" She's probably thinking, "Why doesn't he just take the shot without worrying about having to do all that mental rehearsal?" So what do you think? Well, by imagining success, his confidence levels increased, and it reminds the performer of the correct technique.

So while they're picturing themselves taking the shot, they can also remind themselves of how the technique should look.

It helps them to increase their focus and their concentration.

There might be a lot of distractions.

And so increasing the focus and concentration by just thinking about what the shot should look like is gonna help block out some of that, and that will also help to reduce any stress or anxiety that they're feeling, okay? So in response to Izzy, there are lots of good reasons to do mental rehearsal.

Here's another example, a javelin thrower is imagining themselves performing the technique.

And so this technique, it enables the performer to picture themselves performing the skill perfectly, and imagine the positive outcomes before attempting the skill.

In the case of a javelin thrower, it would be getting the run-up absolutely perfect, releasing with the perfect angle of release, and the javelin flying perhaps further than it ever has before, and landing perfectly as well.

Now, this technique can be used by any level of performer to help improve their performance.

That's an important thing to say here, is that lots of people associate this with the top athletes, like elite performers, but there's absolutely no reason why mental rehearsal wouldn't benefit somebody even at the beginner level.

Here's a check for understanding based on what we've just discussed.

Is this true or false, mental rehearsal is only for professional athletes? That's false, isn't it? And we've just discussed that.

But why? Well, anyone can benefit from mental rehearsal techniques.

They can help all of us to improve our performance, whether we're a beginner or an elite, okay? This is an interesting sport, BMX racing, it's one of the Olympic sports.

Now, the riders in a BMX race will visualize themselves completing the track before the race.

They'll picture themselves at the start line, and they'll imagine all the different bends and turns and jumps.

This allows them to familiarize themselves with those bends and jumps before they go and do it for real, and therefore feel more confident, that if they can picture everywhere they need to go and everything they need to do at the right time, then when it comes to doing it for real, they'll be able to perform it, and that helps them to feel a lot more confident about their chances of getting around the track successfully.

Now, lots of skills suit mental rehearsal, but one in particular, I would say, is kicking in rugby.

And rugby players are renowned for their mental rehearsal routines, especially those who kick for goal.

So why do they use these mental rehearsal routines? Well, it helps them to concentrate, and we said that with the basketball player, didn't we earlier? It also helps them to get in the zone.

Getting in the zone means you are just at the perfect mental place, you're focused, you are confident, you're feeling great, you've got no stress or anxiety, just flying.

And it can also help to block out distractions, such as the crowd.

Now, this picture doesn't show a crowd, but imagine him performing that skill in front of 70,000 people, in a stadium full of fans.

Well, then there's gonna be lots of distractions and lots of noise and distraction from the crowd there.

Okay, here's a real-world example with the England rugby player, Owen Farrell.

Now, when he kicks for goal, he's described how he imagines a line, he actually draws a line in his mind from the ball to a point in the crowd.

And that point in the crowd could be a seat or a person, but it's where he wants the ball to go.

So then he just concentrates on kicking that ball along the line that he imagined.

He doesn't even think about the posts that he's trying to kick it through because he knows that as long as he kicks it along that line, it's going to go through.

And lots of rugby players have mental rehearsal techniques like this, okay? I remember a guy called Jonny Wilkinson, he played for England in the early 2000s, and he used to imagine that an old lady was sat in the crowd eating an ice cream, and she was sat in the perfect place for him to kick the ball if it was going to go through the posts.

And then he focused on kicking that ball, so that it hit the ice cream out of the old lady's hand, which is a rather interesting and unique mental rehearsal technique.

However, he was very successful with it.

It was very, very effective.

Jun has a question for you related to the picture on the left there.

And he says, "Imagine putting the ball to win a game in front of all those people.

How would you feel?" Well, how would you feel? Have a think about that.

Chances are, with lots of people watching you perform a skill like this in very close proximity, you might feel a little bit anxious or stressed.

And sport does create lots of stressful situations.

Mental rehearsal, therefore, before you perform the skill, can help us to reduce that stress and anxiety.

Quick check for understanding, which of these is not, note that it says, "Not," there, a benefit of mental rehearsal? Is it A, increased confidence, B, lowering concentration levels, C, reduced stress, or D, familiarization with the skill? Well done if you said B, lowering concentration levels.

In fact, it does the opposite, doesn't it? It heightens our concentration levels.

And well done, therefore, that you recognize that A, C, and D are all benefits of mental rehearsal.

Alex says, "Let's recap all of the benefits of mental rehearsal we've discussed so far." And that might be a nice idea, Alex, because there have been several, haven't there? So things we now know about mental rehearsal, it can lead to increased confidence, familiarization with the skill, reduced anxiety and stress.

It can help block out distraction, such as a crowd.

It helps to get in the zone, and it helps us with increased concentration and focus.

So lots of benefits of going through that mental rehearsal technique, isn't there? And you're going to need those for this task.

Develop these statements to identify different benefits of mental rehearsal on performance.

So what's gonna happen here is, you'll get the beginning of a statement, and I'd like you to develop the statement and finish it.

But first of all, I'm gonna show you one on the left-hand side.

So here's an example.

A dancer replays their routine in their mind before going on stage.

You are going to get four similar statements like that which need finishing, okay? But first of all, I'm gonna show you my example.

To give them confidence and reduce anxiety before going in front of the crowd and performing the routine perfectly.

So what I've done there is, I've taken the start of the statement, the dancer replays their routine in their mind.

We know she's mentally rehearsing, don't we? But I then go on to say, "What's the benefit of that, and how's it gonna help performance?" So the benefit is to give them confidence and reduce anxiety.

And the impact on performance is that they're going to go out there and perform the routine perfectly.

And I'd like you to do the same thing for these four.

Let's have a look.

Number one, a football player imagines herself taking a penalty.

Number two, before putting the ball, a golfer mentally rehearses their putt.

Number three, a long jumper takes time to imagine themselves leaping into the sand.

And number four, before a race, a Formula One driver.

Now, over to you to finish those four statements.

Remember, identify the benefit of mental rehearsal and how it's going to impact the performance.

Pause the video here, write your four statements out, and I will see you in a moment.

Okay, things you might have said, let's go in order.

Number one, the football player visualizes herself taking a penalty, and I said that that would increase their confidence in their ability to score and placed the shot where they want to.

Number two, before putting the ball, a golfer mentally rehearses their putt, which reduces stress and allows them to play their shot calmly and accurately.

Number three, a long jumper takes time to imagine themselves leaping into the sand, which gets them in the zone and allows them to time their take-off well and put maximum effort into their jump.

And number four, before a race, a Formula One driver visualizes the racetrack to ensure they are focused, and allows them to drive the track along the perfect racing line.

Now, of course, yours won't have word-for-word matched mine.

But what I want you to do is check through your answers and make sure that you've recognized how mental rehearsal will benefit the performer, whether it's an increase in confidence, a reduction in stress, a reduction in anxiety, getting in the zone, blocking out the crowd, or something, and then finished off by saying how it's going to help their performance.

Well done if your four statements have achieved that.

And that brings us onto the second part of today's lesson called Identify Other Mental Preparation Techniques.

Because mental rehearsal is just one of the techniques you need to know about.

So, here, we have an athlete preparing for a race, and they're saying, "I am strong and fast, and I will win this race today." Now, just to be clear, they're saying that to themselves, they're not actually saying that to somebody else.

In fact, they might just be saying it in their head.

They don't actually need to say it out loud necessarily.

And what was happening here is, the athlete is taking the opportunity in the moment before performing to use something called positive thinking, okay? So, again, they could be saying it to themselves out loud, or they could be saying it inside, but they are thinking positively, as he is very, very positive, isn't he there, about feeling strong and fast, and that he's gonna win the race today.

What's the benefits of doing this positive thinking technique? Well, it helps us by increasing our confidence and reducing stress and anxiety, okay? Give you a boost in your confidence.

And it's a technique that can boost confidence in many situations.

Let's imagine you are rock climbing, and you say to yourself, "I'm going to figure out the best way up here." You might be finding it a little bit difficult, but you're saying to yourself, "I am going to figure out the best way up here," okay? You're positive about how you're going to solve the problem that you have.

Second example, okay, let's imagine that you are in the midst of a fitness program, finding it hard work, but you say to yourself, "It's hard work, but if I keep being consistent, this is going to be worth it," okay? Telling yourself that it's worth the effort, all right? And that things are going to improve if you keep being consistent.

Again, both of these statements are very positive.

They're about, "Yes, I'm going to achieve what I want to achieve," and it's gonna help to increase confidence.

So over to you with a check for understanding.

Which of our three characters, Lucas, Sam, or Jun, is thinking positively? Let's have a look.

Lucas is thinking, "Don't mess this up." Sam is thinking, "Try not to fumble the ball." And Jun is thinking, "I practiced perfectly for this moment." Which of those is using positive thinking? Well done if you recognized that Jun is our positive thinker.

Lucas, "Don't mess this up," and Sam, with their statement, "Try not to fumble the ball," are both feeling kind of negative, aren't they? They're both thinking kind of negatively.

They're trying to avoid making mistakes, which is not a positive way to think.

Whereas Jun, on the other hand, is saying how he's perfectly practiced for this moment.

So he is helping himself to feel really confident and prepared for whatever it is he's about to do.

Well done if you said C.

Aisha's got another technique for you to use.

And you could have a go at this now, why not? So close your eyes and imagine yourself somewhere calm and relaxing.

Why don't you pause a video maybe and give it a try? I've chosen a nice tropical beach there.

Isn't that a classic example of somewhere calm and relaxing? How did that make you feel? Or if you didn't do it, how do you think it would make you feel? This is a technique called imagery, okay? And we might use imagery by creating a mental picture of success or happiness, okay? We take ourselves to a happy place, whether it's imaginary or somewhere you've actually been.

And the benefits of doing that are that it reduces stress and anxiety.

It can help us to block out other distractions, while our eyes are closed and we're in our happy place, we're not going to be able to be distracted by the things around us.

And that can help to lower arousal levels also, okay? So lots of benefits of imagery.

Check for your understanding.

True or false, the techniques of imagery and positive thinking can both be used to lower anxiety levels? Is that true or false? That's true, isn't it? Why is that? Well, higher arousal levels can be caused by stress and anxiety when we're in high-pressure situations.

And by using these techniques of imagery and positive thinking, we can lower anxiety levels and relieve stress.

Both of them can be used for that purpose.

Okay, Andeep is asking you to, "Imagine all the different stimuli this footballer could focus on here before taking the penalty." What's all the different information that are coming into his senses that he might choose to focus on? Let's have a look.

So the lights or the animation of the adverts around the side of the pitch, whatever the goalkeeper's doing, might be trying to put you off.

There's lots of noise and crowd movement.

There's a big crowd there, isn't there? There's gonna be lots of movement, lots of noise.

There'll be noise from your teammates and opposition players who have stood behind you.

You might get distracted by your own thoughts and your own emotions.

You might be paying attention to the condition of the pitch, it might be really wet and slippy, and making you feel a bit anxious about slipping over when you take your penalty, okay? So lots of stimuli.

Now, "Some of them," as Andeep rightly says, "are important, but many of them are not." If we go back to our list, lights and animations of adverts aren't important, what the goalkeeper's doing is.

The noise of movement from the crowd isn't important.

In fact, the noise from your teammates and the opposition players isn't really important, 'cause you've got one job to do, and that's score a penalty.

So you should try and block that out as well.

You should pay attention to your thoughts and emotions, 'cause you want to manage them, and you should probably pay attention to the condition of the pitch if you think it's going to cause problem, okay? As you can see, three of our stimuli there are important and should be focused on, and three of them are not.

So what we're talking about here is something called selective attention.

And that means that you focus only on the important stimuli, and you ignore any distracting stimuli.

So the best action that footballer could take is focus on those three that we said were important, and ignoring the three that we said were not important.

If you're successful at that, you might describe yourself as being in the zone.

You are focusing on all the right things.

You are blocking out anything that is irrelevant or distracting, and that makes you in the zone.

You're in the perfect level of attention.

But let's have a look at an example together.

And here, we have a golfer about to take a tee shot.

And let's think about the different ways that they might mentally prepare before they hit their tee shot.

Think back to the lesson maybe, pause the video here, if you like, and perhaps have a think about how you would mentally prepare before hitting a tee shot.

Well, they could use mental rehearsal, couldn't they, from at the beginning of the lesson? And that will help to increase focus and block out distraction.

So they could go through in their mind what the perfect technique should look like.

They might use positive thinking to increase confidence.

They might tell themselves what great golfer they are and how well they're going to perform today.

They might use selective attention to help them get in the zone.

So they might block out any distractions that are around them and just focus on the really important stimuli, such as the ball and their stance, for example.

And they might use imagery just before they take the shot.

They might go to their happy place in their mind and help calm any nerves, and help them to relax.

And some athletes will use a combination of all four of those.

There's no reason why this golfer couldn't use all four of those in the lead-up to taking the tee shot.

Okay, so let's keep the golfer, I'm gonna add another athlete here, a volleyball player about to take a serve.

Now, I'm going to give you an example on the left of what I think the golfer might say, and then I'm gonna give you a chance to think about how the volleyball player might do something similar.

So we're gonna begin with using positive thinking.

So my example for the golfer is that she might say to herself, "You are hitting it perfectly on the range, you just need to do the same here," to give her a boost in confidence.

Your turn now.

What do you think the volleyball player might say to herself as she's just getting ready to serve? Well, I'm gonna give you an example again of what I think she might have said.

She might say something like, "You've done this perfectly 1,000 times before, so I'll do the same now," building her confidence before she goes on to do that serve.

Well done if you said something similar.

We're gonna do a different version.

And this time, we're going to use a new technique, which is imagery.

So with imagery, first of all, I've imagined that the golfer has taken herself to a desert island, it's secluded, turquoise water, it looks beautiful, very relaxing, okay? She's taken herself to that place and the impact has been, "That's reduced my nerves, my hands were gripping the club too tight." So it's helped her to relax, helped her to reduce some anxiety perhaps.

Your turn now.

Where might the volleyball player take herself? And what would be the impact of that? So I decided that the volleyball player may be taking herself into some very peaceful-looking green forest, where it's probably very relaxing and calm.

And the impact of that would be, "Well, my arousal levels have come down now.

I can focus fully on serving." So it might be that she used that imagery technique because her arousal levels were too high, she wasn't thinking straight.

But by using that calming environment, or imagining herself in that calming environment, her arousal levels have come down to optimal levels, and she will serve ideally.

Task B for this section asks you to analyze the use of selective attention and positive thinking to maximize performance in boxing.

Okay, this is an extended answer, isn't it, or extended question.

So with an extended question, it's a good idea to B-U-C the question, or BUC the question, that means to box the command word.

Let's do that.

Let's analyze.

So we know that we're performing an analysis here.

We're going to underline the knowledge, and that is the knowledge.

You are demonstrating your knowledge of the two techniques, selective attention and positive thinking.

And in the context that we're going to apply this to is maximizing performance in boxing.

Okay, now, we're clear exactly what the question is asking us to do.

So for AO1, we're going to demonstrate for AO1 that we know what selective attention is, and we know what positive thinking is, and then we're going to apply it, okay? So how or when would these techniques be used in boxing? Because that's the context.

And finally, and perhaps most importantly, with an extended question, for AO3, you need to discuss the impact of using the technique on boxing performance.

So it's all well saying that a boxer might use positive thinking, but what would then be the impact? Pause the video here, have a go at that question, and then rejoin me for some answers.

Okay, so things you might have said.

Well, we know that we need to start by saying what we know about those two techniques.

So let's start with selective attention.

So selective attention means focusing on the relevant stimuli and blocking out the irrelevant stimuli.

That might have been something you said to start off and demonstrate your knowledge, then we need to apply it.

So how would that work with boxing? So you may gone on to say, "Which a boxer will need during a fight to focus on only the opposition and not be distracted by the crowd or the lights, or anything else that might be a distraction and irrelevant." AO3, the important part, what's your analysis of that? What's the impact? Or the impact of this will be to focus only on the important actions of the opposition.

This should mean that they see and dodge the punches that are being thrown at them, while also noticing opportunities to land punches themselves, essentially performing the skills that are needed to be successful in boxing, and not be distracted by anything else.

But remember, there were two techniques we were asked to demonstrate or analyze.

And so the second one was positive thinking.

And your knowledge of positive thinking will be something along the lines of positive thinking involves the athlete saying positive words and phrases to themselves, such as, "You are the best." How might that work in boxing? Well, a boxer might use this positive thinking technique during the build-up to the fight, or in a press conference during breaks between rounds, or even during the bout itself.

Yeah, even during a fight, they might be saying to themselves, "Come on, you're the best.

You're gonna win this fight," being positive.

The impact, the AO3, the impact of this will be to increase the boxer's confidence and help to reduce their nerves and anxiety, so that they punch accurately.

Boxers require lots of self-confidence.

So this technique will help them to believe in themselves and time their movements well.

Okay, so having that real self-belief and self-confidence is going to be really useful for somebody in a boxing fight.

Well done if your answers for both of those techniques satisfied the requirements of AO1, AO2, and AO3, in particular that you talked about the impact of the technique on the boxer's performance.

Okay, that brings us to the summary for today's lesson.

Let's read through it together, shall we? So there are several techniques we can use to help mentally prepare for performance and manage the stress we feel in certain situations.

Mental rehearsal means picturing yourself performing the skill correctly or with the desired outcome.

And this raises confidence, blocks out the crowd, and gives you reminders of how to perform the skill effectively.

Selective attention can also be used to ensure only the relevant stimuli are focused on.

We also looked at positive thinking.

The positive thinking is another method of increasing confidence, while imagery can be used by a performer to help relax, calm nerves, and lower anxiety levels.

Thanks for joining me today's lesson.

I really enjoyed that, and I hope you got a lot out of it.

As I said at the beginning of the lesson, some of these techniques are really useful, and they are things you could apply to your own life from today, from now, next time you have a test, or you've got a performance in music or drama.

And of course, lots of applications in sport, as we should well and truly know by now.

So give them a try.

And I look forward to seeing you in another lesson.

Bye-bye.