NLP Sports Training and Coaching Tips for Performance Coaching

Mind’s-eye of the Tiger

Well, let’s be honest, Tiger Woods is unlikely to win ‘Husband of the Year’ in the near future but how do you rate his chances of winning the Masters when he returns to competitive golf after nearly five months away from the game?

Tiger Woods is one of the most recognisable figures in the world, known to sports fans and non-sports fans alike. As an outstanding golfer, he’s no stranger to media attention but after a very public scandal, he knows the eyes of the world will be on him for different reasons. With media and public attention focussed on his personal life, will he be able to remain focussed on his golf?

In terms of career victories, Woods is in third position in the all-time PGA Tour rankings, with only Sam Snead and Jack Nicklaus ahead of him, so his ability as a player is beyond question. However, he has twice before come back to the game after a lengthy lay-off and with mixed results. In 2006 his performance suffered after the death of his father but in 2008 he won, despite playing on a seriously injured knee. This highlights how important it is for competitive sports players to be mentally prepared as well as physically prepared before making a return to play.

Mind Control

American golf writer Ian O’Connor believes that Tiger Woods’ return to golf will create unprecedented interest in this year’s Masters at Augusta. With this being the case, it begs the question why Woods should choose such a major event to make his return? According to former golf pro Arnold Palmer, Augusta is in fact a wise choice as the venue affords the organisers, and the players, a great deal of control over external factors that might affect the game.

“Augusta is the one place in the world where you can really have control. They will control everything from the crowds to the situation that will be facing Tiger”
- Arnold Palmer

A mentally prepared competitor knows that worrying about external factors out with their control is counterproductive. But, with the potential for intrusive media interest, Tiger Woods no doubt views Augusta as his best opportunity to focus on his game without distractions.

With external factors under control, Woods will then need to utilise a number of sports psychology techniques to remain in control of internal factors.

 Visualisation Tiger Woods will have played every hole on the course countless time through visualisation. He will know the best course of action to take under every set of circumstances - no shot he plays on the day will cause a surprise (not to him anyway!), allowing him to feel in total control of every aspect of his performance. He will not only have seen every shot in his mind’s-eye, he will have felt every tiny detail of his body position through every swing he takes, and he will have heard the sound of the ball as it rolls into the cup each time.
 Positive self-talk When you already know that not everyone in the crowd is on your side, positive self-talk becomes invaluable. An ability to boost your own confidence and to keep yourself motivated, even in a potentially negative environment, allows you to remain totally focussed on the job in hand.
 Positive mental attitude / Winning mentality Tiger Woods knows what he’s capable of, he knows he has prepared, he knows he’s ready, and he knows he’s in winning form. Positive thoughts lead to positive actions - he’ll be letting his actions do the talking.

“I can promise you he’s not going to come out if he’s trying to play his way into shape, especially at Augusta - he will be ready, mark my words”
- Jay Townsend, BBC golf pundit

Having recently apologised to just about everyone on the surface of the earth - and their dog - he’ll be out there making sure he doesn’t owe himself an apology for playing anything other than his best.

http://www.sportspsychology2.com/

Unless you’ve been living in a hole in the ground, it won’t have escaped your notice that David Beckham is injured. He’s now facing six months of rehabilitation before he’ll be back to fitness. How must he be feeling? As a professional player, football is his entire life. His every waking moment revolves around football, so what happens when there’s no football?

At any level of involvement, a sports injury that prevents you from doing what you normally do is extremely frustrating. Even if you normally just meet up with the lads for a kick-about once a week, an injury takes away your ability to play, to get some exercise, and to socialise in the process - it affects your life in many ways.

David Doermann of the University of Utah in the USA describes the emotional effects of long-term sports injury rehabilitation as being similar to the ‘five stages of grief.’

1. Denial
Especially at elite level, a sportsperson considers themselves to be ‘superior’ in terms of physical strength - it’s just not possible that they could be injured.

2. Anger
The realisation that they are injured leads to anger, a period of being angry at themselves for having allowed the injury to occur.

3. Bargaining
At this stage, an injured athlete will try desperately to speed up their return to play by attempting to bargain with absolutely everyone. They’ll plead with the physio, the coach, and passers-by in the street to be able to return to training - “if I do this exercise for a whole week, can I try playing next week?”

4. Depression
As the weeks of enforced rest continue, a player begins to feel sorry for themselves and can become increasingly withdrawn as they feel out of sorts with life. It’s at this stage, a player might lose hope of ever fully recovering and give up on their sport completely.

5. Acceptance
At this final stage of acceptance, a player realises that focussing on the physical rehabilitation process is the way forward.

To be able to make the leap from ‘depression’ to ‘acceptance’ takes considerable strength of character. The most important factor contributing to psychological acceptance - and therefore recovery - is mental skill training. Only a matter of days after surgery on his Achilles, a statement from David Beckham’s club said: “The rehabilitation plan has been established and will start immediately.” That’s the key right there, the ‘plan.’

The most effective way to recover from injury and to remain positive and motivated throughout the rehabilitation process is to use the sports psychology technique of goal setting. Just as a player uses goal setting to get them to peak match fitness, the goal setting process can also take them from injury to recovery.

David Beckham may miss out on the World Cup finals but his focus will not be on missed opportunities, it will be firmly fixed on the opportunities that are yet to come his way as he makes a full recovery.

One newspaper report read…

“If there’s one thing we’ve learnt about the man, it’s never write him off”

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