sport psychology

Is this a can of worms I see before me? :) I guess we could have another 'lane', the mental lane or something? Anyway, Dolu, you are about the same age as me, and have been back in masters about as long, maybe a little less. I stopped swimming at 18 as I'd just had enough. I wasn't really enjoying it and put a lot of pressure on myself. It was a tough environment in the UK, because unless you went to the States to college, there wasn't really a good pathway to stay in the sport unless you'd either already qualified for a major championships or were very close. So when I came back into the sport, I promised myself that I'd only compete if I enjoyed it - something I didn't let myself do as a teenager. That's important - appreciate that you're in charge. You set the terms. No-one is making you go swimming any more! I literally, with the benefit of my professional training, set out to cultivate a mindset that I race for fun, and when I stop doing that I stop racing. What does this mean? Everything I do in competition is about challenging myself. It isn't about the medals. They are nice, but they are NOT important. Understand that. We are grown ups with and we do some genuinely important things, like raising children. Swimming is not up there. However, that does not mean that I don't take it at all seriously. I challenge myself to go faster, to defy the ageing process, to lose weight, to train well - and I love to win but this is important: SUCCESS IS NOT DEFINED BY HOW WELL OTHER PEOPLE SWIM. It's defined by how you swim. You can't control anyone else. So training and competing well is about taking care of the PROCESS, then letting yourself go out there and enjoy yourself. Letting go means: It's OK if I don't get the result I hope for If I make mistakes I will learn from them (this is where competition review - in the cold light of day - is helpful) Having a sense of perspective - what other things in your life are genuinely important? Recognising when your mind is on the consequences of your performance, rather than the performance itself. For example - will it hurt, where will I place, what if I lose? None of these thoughts are in the moment. Either put your mind on the process (HOW will swim my race), or perhaps distract yourself with an activity that keeps your mind occupied (could be part of your preparation, but could be reading, doing puzzles, anything). If you find it really difficult to move away from the consequences, or if you find that you are experiencing anxiety to the level that it is really unpleasant and affects your performance, seek help. Remember that some anxiety is normal and is just your body's way of reminding you that you need to be ready to respond to a challenge! Now, you can either enjoy yourself by not caring, or if you care you can help by taking care of the things that impact your performance so that you have the confidence to let go (and let rip) when you stand up on the blocks and just race. I choose to take care of things, and take preparation pretty seriously (more so than the race itself). Notice the difference. So - for confidence: Do you set training goals? These will help build confidence through 'small victories' Do you have a competition plan? Again - nothing helps confidence like knowing you are ready. When you set goals for competition, focus on the process (the components of a great swim), the performance (your time) but not the outcome. You cannot control this - focus on the things that you control. Keep hold of the good memories - from when you have performed well (even trained really well) and replay them Are other people who do the same program doing well? Take confidence from them that you are doing broadly the right things (and if not, change the program!). I'll leave you with this quote, from Ian Thorpe (on his comeback): "I'm more comfortable knowing that, chances are, I'm going to fail at this. I've become comfortable with that."(perspective) "Medals are good but, for us in swimming, times are better because you have very little control over who wins" (care about the things you can control) "The best way to win the nicer-coloured medals is to make sure your process is a lot better than everyone else's. Simple as that. I also don't think you should just limit yourself to trying to achieve this result, because this is what people perceive as being the ultimate." (focus on the process) I hope this helps.

here's a summary of your key points: you wrote: "I feel I lack self-confidence. The same applies for anxiety. The anxiety from failure, not performing good enough after strenuous training" you feel the more you invest in training, nutrition etc and the more you improve and come closer to the best in your category (europe, world) the more pressure you feel. You got a cold at your last meet. It totally negatively affected your psyche. you immediately started to worry about how it would affect your performance. Before start you were more nervous than usual and your legs were slightly shivered on the starting block. but you improved your PB. comments: Lacking self confidence is about your self image, your self talk and what you believe to be true about you. The ways to address this are: have S.M.A.R.T. goals, have workable plans and take action, execute your plans each day, each moment. The most important thing is to SWIM FAST IN PRACTICE know what your abilities are and Feel comforable with who you are and where you are and know where you're going. Know how your practice times relate to your meet times. The faster you swim in practice, the faster you'll swim in meets. Self image is about what you say to yourself and how you say it. What you believe to be true about you. Create a script of what is true about you and what you want to be true Actually write it down. then go over it, 1) right before you go to sleep, 2) right after you wake up, 3) right before you train and 4) while you're training. ACTING AS IF IS CRITICAL act as if you already are what you most want to be. if you want to be a confident person, act as if you already are. Train like a confident person. You don't need to go overboard and be a cocky jerk. just pretend you are a confident fierce humble person. the more you practice it the sooner you are likely to accept it. Do the best you can to prepare for your events and competitions. Your performance is totally related to your preparation. anxiety and nervousness are GREAT, normal and natural, Adrenaline improves your performance. some nervousness is fine. Some athletes shake, some barf, some are jittery, some injest caffiene to feel jittery. use them to your advantage. When you feel nervous before a race, when you feel pressure Welcome it and know you are going to get up and race your race to the best of your ability and let your time be whatever it will be. You might make mistakes in your race which will ding your time. Each swimmer has a performance range. Train to shift yours to be faster and tighter. You want to be in IPS before you race. (Ideal Performance State) don't worry about pressure, just focus on improving yourself, doing your best, the process of swimming fast. DON'T worry about anyone else. If you are close to breaking records. If you are in striking range, train for a few events and adjust your self image to get comfortable with being the record holder. Shift from striving and hoping to knowing. you do this by swimming FAST in practice, by knowing what your abilities are, get comfortable with it. Swimmers sometimes get sick or injured at meets, it happens. If you get sick or injured, what it is? You must decide if you can race or not. Mild cold YES The Flu NO If you're too sick, don't race, if you aren't too sick do. Maybe modify your schedule. Be flexible. You don't have to race every event you enter. Come up with sensible plan for your current situation. Also sometimes train when you have a slight cold and see how your performance compares. At 2007 LCM Nats I got a severe crick in my neck during warm up. It was terrible. Painful. I decided to get a massage and I felt a little better. It went from terrible to bearable. In my past I've been sick at meets or in practice, sometimes I felt like crap and swam like crap, other times I felt like crap and swam faster than I thought I could which shocked me Decide NO or GO. if you're sick and decide to race anyway, don't worry how you'll do just get up and do the best you can and let what ever the result is be OK. Also how critical is the meet? In the US Olympic trials, if swimmers get sick, they are going to race and do the best they can., no matter what. They trained all their lives for the chance and aren't going to let a little sickness mess them up. Aaron Peirsol said, "I train so I can win on a bad day." Eric Shanteau found out he had testicular cancer a week before the 2008 US Olympic Trials, he kept it a secret, made the team then announced his situation and plans. "I have testicular cancer. I'm going to train for the olympics and have a team of doctors to monitor it closely then hopefully deal with it after the 2008 Olympics." Train so hard and get so great you have a buffer. So you can get sick or make mistakes and still do OK. Lastly some people say "I'll believe it when I see it." the truth is "You may see it when you really believe it." The Road to Records is a journey with ups and downs, twists and turns. All you have is the chance. No certainty until you actually do it. Here's my blog from Sat June 7, 2008 (the day I broke my first masters WR.) Training and preparation is what got me there. It really started several years back. I suggest you follow each workout from the end of SCM 2007 which started Saturday, Dec 1, 2007 2004 was when I first decided to try to break a WR, but it didn't happen till almost 4 years later. When it did, it lasted 3 hours then got beaten. But those 3 hours were glorious and addictive. Also if you read the SFF Tip Build a Fortress of Speed & Strength it encourages you to follow Leslie's Journey in REVERSE, starting with her magic moment when she broke 3 world records. Decide what you want and create your own journey. Let your confidence come from what you've done and what you know you are capable of. Train hard, smart and fast. You can't expect to swim faster than someone if you aren't training as fast as far or as hard as they are. Especially if he is already better than you. It's a lot easier to maintain ability than to increase it. Sun Yang went 54 on the last 100 of his 1500, and 25.94 on his last 50. Swimmers who hope to beat him need to develop that ability. What abilities do you need to develop? Take control of your thoughts and actions. Shift your perspective. It takes effort, but if you want it bad enough, you might be able to make it happen. When you feel yourself drifting toward thoughts that weaken you, move your focus back to thoughts that empower you. You can swim faster faster. Good Luck, Enjoy your journey. Ande

Per usual, Ande has some wonderful tips. I'd like to comment on this one, some people say "I'll believe it when I see it." the truth is "You may see it when you really believe it." because my understanding of this concept has evolved over the years and maybe a retelling of that will provide insight for someone else. When I was an age-group swimmer the coach told us, "to achieve something, you have to believe that you can achieve it". He sent some of us to a sports-psychology seminar where we heard the same thing. I remember the seminar speaker telling us that you cannot skip training while you go around believing that you will achieve some fast time and expect to swim that time in a meet, but believing you can swim that fast time is an essential prerequisite to achieving it. That all sounds good, and the salient details are there, but I didn't appreciate what "believe it" really means. What I think I have come to understand better over many years is that, at least for me, I have to have a valid basis for the belief. A valid basis consists of things like: knowing that you train harder than your key competitor; knowing that you usually swim x-6s in your event in a meet where x is your time in practice, and then regularly throwing down y+6 in practice where y is your goal time; knowing that you can swim y+6 in practice on a bad day, so that you know you can swim y in a meet regardless of whether you have a good day or not; knowing that your feet won't slip on the wall because you have swum in the competition pool and know the wall is grippy; knowing that your breakfast will provide energy without weighting you down, because you have eaten the same breakfast before many hard practices and it has always worked well for you. So yes, I think "you need to believe it to achieve it," but at least for me, it is essential that there be concrete foundation of that belief. It's not about telling yourself, "I can do this." "Belief" is not only in the higher thought processes, but a deep instinctual understanding that your body can cash that check your mind is writing, which comes from knowledge that you have the capability and demonstrating it to oneself, over and over and over again. In Ande's quote, "may" and "really" are not inconsequential words.

I found this book to have valuable info for competing in all sports. "IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE" by Terry Orlick (Olympic coach).

I found this book to have valuable info for competing in all sports. "IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE" by Terry Orlick (Olympic coach). Terry Orlick is good. You can do a lot worse than start there if you are looking to improve generally. Another good general book that is aimed at athletes is The Sport Psych Handbook by Shane Murphy.

hi Rob I do not know whether it is from over-training but sometimes I feel I lack self-confidence. The same applies for anxiety. The anxiety from failure, not performing good enough after strenuous training,…. I came back to swimming 3 years ago (now 38) and I think the more I invest into training, nutrition etc and the more I improve and come closer to the best in my category (europe, world) the more I feel under pressure. At the last competition, that was very important to me, I got a cold, my throat inflamed and it totally negatively affected my psyche. I immediately started to be worried up to what extend it can affect my performance. Before start I was more nervous than usual and my legs were slightly shivering at the starting block. dolu - A couple of thoughts - remeber it's all about the journey and all of the great experiences and people you've met along the way (and perhaps some that you would like to forget too): tough practices, icey pool water early in the morning, the swimmers in your lane and at meets, all of the great coaches. In the end it's not if you win, but what did you give and gain. Take it all in, let go, and believe. As an age group swimmer I had the same confidence problems, and never believed enough in myself. But when i look back at all that swimmming gave me and that I've tried to give back, I had lots of successes and what a great ride. I think there is no such thing as a failed swimming performance at this point. Listen to this You Tube link from Janet Evans about her olympic experiences and what she ultimatly found important. If you believe that what you are doing is the right path, I think there will be no more shivering legs on the blocks. Janet Evans: "The Impact of the Olympics" - YouTube . Janet's three part discussion at a USC confereence on Women, also on You Tube, is longer, along the same linies and also very good. She's a champion that seems to get it - maybe we'll see her again at trials in 2012.:chug:

Per usual, Ande has some wonderful tips. I'd like to comment on this one, because my understanding of this concept has evolved over the years and maybe a retelling of that will provide insight for someone else. When I was an age-group swimmer the coach told us, "to achieve something, you have to believe that you can achieve it". He sent some of us to a sports-psychology seminar where we heard the same thing. I remember the seminar speaker telling us that you cannot skip training while you go around believing that you will achieve some fast time and expect to swim that time in a meet, but believing you can swim that fast time is an essential prerequisite to achieving it. That all sounds good, and the salient details are there, but I didn't appreciate what "believe it" really means. What I think I have come to understand better over many years is that, at least for me, I have to have a valid basis for the belief. A valid basis consists of things like: knowing that you train harder than your key competitor; knowing that you usually swim x-6s in your event in a meet where x is your time in practice, and then regularly throwing down y+6 in practice where y is your goal time; knowing that you can swim y+6 in practice on a bad day, so that you know you can swim y in a meet regardless of whether you have a good day or not; knowing that your feet won't slip on the wall because you have swum in the competition pool and know the wall is grippy; knowing that your breakfast will provide energy without weighting you down, because you have eaten the same breakfast before many hard practices and it has always worked well for you. So yes, I think "you need to believe it to achieve it," but at least for me, it is essential that there be concrete foundation of that belief. It's not about telling yourself, "I can do this." "Belief" is not only in the higher thought processes, but a deep instinctual understanding that your body can cash that check your mind is writing, which comes from knowledge that you have the capability and demonstrating it to oneself, over and over and over again. In Ande's quote, "may" and "really" are not inconsequential words. On: Most say "I'll believe it when I see it." but the truth is "You'll see it when you believe it." you wrote: "I have to have a valid basis for the belief." that is true, you need to have proof, you need to know, you need to accept it, you need to have the ability. If your best 100 free is 1:30, all the positive thinking in the world is unlikely to get you under 1:00 in a short amount of time. That's why you MUST SWIM FAST IN PRACTICE. What ever you do and measure improves. Small leaps are possible, if you want to break 1:00 in a meet you need to be reasonably close in practice. YES, your belief must be based in reality. It needs to be a small leap from what you've done in training. You must be within striking range. You need to do the work and hopefully you'll get the result you want. But who am I to say what is possible for you or anyone else.

Here's few inspiring words Thoughts become Sow Seeds When You are Inspired When You are Inspired