sports performance 15 attentional control. attentional control is about concentrating on those...
TRANSCRIPT
Attentional Control
Attentional Control is about
concentrating on those things that are
important during training or competition
and avoiding all _______ __________.
Attentional ControlDefinitions:
Attention: is the ability to be aware of information
from inside or outside of yourself.
_____________: ability to stay focused on your sport
task or role.
Focus: ability to attend to meaningful or relevant task
cues.
Attentional ControlDefinitions:
Distractions: meaningless or irrelevant information
about your task.
______: ability to totally involve yourself in your
sport/task.
Attentional ControlAny sport or physical activity requires
attentional demands.
There are two useful
dimensions to help you
understand your own
attentional control.
Attentional ControlThe two dimensions of attentional control
are:
1. Broad Narrow
2. Internal External
Attentional Control2 Dimensions of Attentional Control:
1. Is your attention narrowly focused or broadly focused?
2. Is your attention directed toward the external environment or internally, to the self?
Attentional ControlWith the two dimensions an athlete:
• Can have a broad, narrow or somewhere in between focus.
• Can have either an internal or external focus– no in between.
Narrow BroadFocus
Internal ExternalOR
Focus
Attentional ControlWhat kind of attentional focus would a sprinter
have?
What kind of attentional focus would a quarterback have?
What kind of attentional focus would a batter up to bat have?
What kind of attentional focus would a striker in a volleyball match have?
Attentional Control A sprinter would need a narrow internal focus.
A quarterback reading a defense and looking forrecievers would need a broad external focus.
A batter getting to hit the ball would need a narrow external focus.
A striker in a volleyball game about to make a hit would need a broad internal focus.
Attentional ControlAttentional Styles:
1. Broad – Internal Style
2. Broad – External Style
3. Narrow – Internal Style
4. Narrow – External Style
Attentional Control1. Broad – Internal Style
• These athletes are thinking players; they plan the game well in their heads, are quick to make tactical adjustments in the game, and are skillful at ________ ______ _________ of their opponents and making anticipatory responses.
• They can get caught up in analyzing too much and tend to out guess themselves and miss important cues.
Attentional Control2. Broad – External Style
• Athletes are able to attend well to rapidly _______ ___, taking in a lot of information.
• Are susceptible to information overload, which can result in their not being able to decide how to respond to rapidly changing events that they readily perceive.
Attentional Control
3. Narrow – Internal Style
• Good at being able to focus on a single thought/idea with full attention but such diagnostic tendencies carry the risk of becoming highly critical self-analysis.
• Athletes with this type of attention style perform better in sports where change takes place slowly
Attentional Control
4. Narrow – External Style
• Are able to focus on one or two objects while blocking out distractions. For example golfers and bowlers.
• Except when the environment changes and decisions need to be made about how to respond to the changes.
Attentional ControlWhich is your Attentional Style?
Ideally you do not want to be dominantin any one particular style. The idealathlete is strong in all four styles andis able to readily shift from onetype to another.
Attentional ControlExercise 1: Identify a list of common or
recurring distractions that you experience
in your sport.
____________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
Attentional ControlExercise 2: What kind of things do you do
to get ready for a game? To get focused?
____________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
Attentional ControlScan the following sports carefully. Use yourpowers of concentration and imagery.
Attentional ControlNow try and remember all the sports you just saw.
What were they?
_Baseball____ __Soccer____ __Tennis____
_Golf__________Football___ __Rugby____
_Hockey_____ __High Jump_ __Basketball_
_Javelin_____ __Volleyball__
Attentional Control
Too Focused, miss important cues
Perfect amount of Focus . Takes in relevant cues and Ignores irrelevant cues.
Not focused enough.Take in all relevant andIrrelevant cues.
Attentional ControlMany athletes find it difficult to focus correctly,especially when under competitive pressure. Thiscan result in:
Loss of concentration Perception is hampered Makes poor decisions Performance deteriorates Attention narrows, feel overloaded Increased internal focus, more mistakes and
tuned out
Attentional ControlChoking under pressure is mainly due to the fact athletes ____ ______of their ability to focus their attention. They rely on their attentional strengths and are not flexible to the changing environment.
Attentional ControlThere are two types of distractions:
1. External Stimuli: Fans yelling, noises in the crowd, playing environment (poor fields), coach yelling.
2. Internal Stimuli: worry, unrelated thoughts, think too much.
Attentional ControlHow do we lose out attention?
Attention is broken because . . . .
The performer entertains distractions (internal & external).
The performer attempts to attend to too many cues.
The performer loses motivation. The performer becomes anxious/stressed.
Attentional ControlWays to improve attention:
Stay in the present moment. “Be here now” Recognize the attentional demands and shifts
involved in your performance. Ie. passing vs. shooting.
Learn to concentrate under the worst conditions. Develop pre-performance and performance
routines or plans to keep you from being distracted.
Park all your problems and distractions.