with VICKI AITKENBA, PGDipPE, MPhEd; BASES Accredited, Member SESNZ

Mental Skills Coach/ACE Coordinator Northern Territory Institute of Sport

Email: vicki.aitken@nt.gov.au or vicki@hpsportsacademy.comDEPARTMENT OF SPORT, RECREATION AND RACING www.nt.gov.au/ntis

NORTHERN TERRITORY INSTITUTE OF SPORT

The Playing Attitude:Why we can’t think technically if we

want to perform at our best.

www.hpsportsacademy.com

About today’s webinarToday’s webinar is part of a series being produced jointly by the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) and Human Kinetics.It scheduled to last for about an hour and will be recorded and made available for download and playback. You will receive an e-mail containing a link to the recording when it is available.All microphones and phone lines are muted so we ask that you submit questions by typing them into the question box, located in the lower right-hand corner of your screen and click “send.” We’ll collect any questions sent throughout the presentation and Vicki will answer as many as possible during a Q&A segment at the end of the session.

About today’s speakerVicki Aitken is a kiwi and re-accredited member of BASES and lived for the best of 10 year in the UK when she was the official sport psychology provider to the Ladies European Tour from 2001 to 2007 inclusive where she worked with over 60 players.

She is the co-author of the book “Caddy-Talk: Psychology of Being a Great Golf Caddy” and is currently the Mental Skills Coach and Athlete Career and Education Co-ordinator for the Northern Territory Institute of Sport in Darwin, Australia working with a variety of athletes from different sports.

SCHEDULE• Assessment • Peak Performance & Flow• Rotella’s “Playing Mentality” and Aitken’s “Playing Attitude”• Over all Philosophy – within periodised programme• Research backing Playing Attitude:

– Motor Control– General Research & Goleman’s Low Road– Goal Orientation Theory & Process Goals– My experiences and “control”– The “Yips”

• Wrap Up

ASSESSMENT • Golfer comes to an initial session with a desire to

improve performance or rectify issue. • Performance Profiles – holistic assessment of golfer’s

performance• Adult athletes = “semi-structured” interview style – using

profile as my guide to dig deeper and truly understand what is going on

• Younger athletes = complete the performance profile and it’s used as a prompt for conversation.

Performance Profile Eg.

The Foundation: Keep Peak Performances in Mind

• Players need to understand what they do when they are in FLOW or in the ZONE: 1. Retrospectively record details of best ever round(s)2. Check how many of 9 FLOW characteristics were

experienced3. See how Playing Attitude and other areas can help player

get into FLOW on more regular basis

FLOW9 CHARACTERISTICS OF FLOW EXPERIENCE (which occur when

our skills match the challenge of the environment):(1) Goals were clear – you knew what you were aiming/going to achieve.(2) The course / competition was challenging but you had enough skills to meet this

challenge. (3) No thoughts of self - so totally engrossed in the game that time seemed to warp.

Game was over before you knew it or you experienced a kind of slow motion over the ball.

(4) Felt every shot went where you wanted it to go -> total sense of control over the ball.

(5) Mind and body feel as one - Swing felt automatic(6) No evaluation of the feedback – not judging each shot as good, bad or otherwise.(7) Totally focused on the right things at the right time.(8) Aware of what was happening but not consciously thinking about it.(9) Totally enjoyable that were motivated to do it again.

(Csikszentmihalyi, 1975; 1990; Jackson & Csikszentmihayli, 1999)

AIM OF MENTAL SKILLS:

THERE IS A TWO STEP PROCESS(1) Self Awareness and (2) Get the Playing Attitude

How do I get into FLOW or have the opportunity

to get into FLOW regularly?

PLAYING ATTITUDE

• Playing Attitude is based on concept of being “IN FLOW” and is process focused!

Foundation Playing Attitude

IPS/ FLOW

House BuildingPerformance Building

Rotella & Cullen (1995 p.196-197)

TRUSTING MENTALITY• Golfer accepts shot• Lets things happen• Feels like reckless

abandon• Patient• Full routine to every

ball

TRAINING MENTALITY• Critical – Analyses

shots• Tries to make things

happen• Very thoughtful• Impatient• Rakes ball after ball

“The Playing Attitude”• Leaving all technical swing thoughts etc on the practice range /area.

• Being target focused• All self talk is positive• No judging of performance DURING the round. Accepting all shots.

• Trusting your swing and ability(Vicki Aitken, 1999)

OVERALL PHILOSOPHY• PRACTISING ATTITUDE (strictly off course on

practice area) Involves:– Technical swing work– Tactical, physical and psychological work– Practising to play i.e. full pre shot routine shots to varying

targets in the playing attitude.

• PERIODISING OF ANNUAL PLAN- Takes into account when you want to peak for certain events, and means you can spend more time in the off season working on technique and then closer you get to playing the more you want to be practising to play in the playing attitude.

PHASES GUIDEPERIODISED PLAN PHASES GUIDE

S&C Practice Play Imagery Off-Season - General Preparation

(Rehabilitation) Prehabilitation (flexibility, mobility & core-stability) Cardio fitness 2x/week Increase strength 2-3x/week (start high volume and decrease with increasing intensity)

80 -90% 3 or 4 sessions/week Long game 75% Short game 25% Technical 90% Play attitude 10%

10 – 20% 1x round/week Play attitude 100% TRUST

1-3 sessions/week

Pre-Season – Specific Preparation

Max strength increase Power 2-3x/week Maintain Cardio fitness 1x/wk Continually increase flexibility, mobility & core-stability

Approx 50% 2-3 sessions/week Long game 25% Short game 75% Technical 50% Play attitude 50%

Approx 50% 2-3 rounds/week Play attitude 100% TRUST

3-4 sessions/week

On-Season - Competition Maintain Cardio fitness 1x/wk Maintain Strength & Power 2x/week Continually increase flexibility, mobility & core-stability

Approx 25% Approx 3 sessions + 1 practice round (tactical assessment)/week Technical 10-20% Play attitude 80-90% (Increase to 100% before competition)

Approx 75% Approx 3-5 rounds/week Play attitude 100% TRUST

Daily

© 2005 Vicki Aitken & Liz McKinnon

Other Research to Back up “The Playing Attitude”...

• MOTOR CONTROL– Masters & Maxwell (2004, p.211) “The reinvestment of task –relevant

knowledge that is responsible for break down of performance under pressure”.

Consciously processing what one has to do is detrimental to performance! TRADITIONAL EXPLICIT LEARNING IN THE BRAIN:

start

finish

Thinking technically is equivalent to taking the neural LONG CUT.....making performance inefficient and beginner like

Instructional Neurons

Main Neurons involved in task

Brain works on two levels...

• Daniel Goleman’s (2007) basic analogy of our brain circuitry:

• High Road can over ride Low Road– Most likely to happen in novel, problem or stressful

situations

LOW ROAD HIGH ROAD

- Automatic - Controlling

- Super fast / instant - Slow / deliberate

- Sub-conscious / below awareness

- Conscious

- Effortless - Effortful / tiring

- Instinctive - Rational / logical

- Efficient & Effective - Clumsy & Inefficient

RESEARCH - Perkins- Ceccato, Passmore, & Lee (2003)

Found high skilled (elite) golfers did better having an external focus (ie focus on target) than low skilled golfers who did better with internal focus (ie swing thoughts).

- MacPherson, Collins & Morriss (2008)Javelin throwers found that the athletes who won regularly had holistic focus during execution vs those athletes that were ranked 35-80th who focused on parts on their technique.

- Mullen & Hardy (2010)Anxious athletes using holistic process goals (focused on global movement patterns) outperformed those using part process goals (focused on part of their technique). - “One swing thought” or single process goal thus no deterioration against baseline

TRANSITION

INSTRUCTION

-Technical / instructive thoughts

EG: swing club inside the line on back swing

HOLISTIC AUTOMATIC

- Translate technical into a holistic goal“chunking”

EG:MS Coach = “What does that feel/ look/ sound like to you?”

- Can operate with out thinking

= optimally efficient & effective

TRUST & LET GO

Need to Operate on Low Road

• When refining a swing move: – Elite players should be encouraged to focus on club (grip,

shaft or head) rather than body parts– Beginners can also focus on near externals too

IE effectiveness of Gallwey’s (1981) “Back-Hit” drill – Elite players when working on technique need to keep

target (external focus) in mind– Chunking the moves together..... Make it holistic and non-

forcive. Use an analogy EG: Daisy- Cutter, hot knife cutting through butter, washing machine...

RESEARCH - Land, Tenenbaum, Ward & Marquardt (2013)

Putting task using skilled golfers (<6 hcp). 3 groups: external = focus on where ball to go, irrelevant = tone counting, control = no instruction – all with full & occluded vision. Found significant advantage to those with external focus and occluded vision. Concluded it must be cognitively mediated.

• An ex-client: Never looked at the target – but because she thought about it I let her do it....requires massive discipline.

GOAL ORIENTATION THEORY

• Outcome, Performance & Process Goals• Researchers (e.g. Kingston, Hardy, Swain , Hodge, Aitken and colleagues)

started to differentiate between Performance Goals and Process Goals in 1997 and 1998.

• Key because:• Mastery/Task oriented goals – self comparative can be divided into two

categories:(1) Performance Goals (eg comparing your score last week with this weeks score) of which you have large amount of control over but not 100% . Self competition => more like Outcome Goals.(2) Process Goals – which are your PURE task/mastery oriented goals. Because you have 100% control

What are Process Goals?- THE HOW TO....• Kingston & Swain (1999) suggested that process goals should

focus on “for example the grip, the stance, the pre-shot routine”. All happen before you initiate the swing.

Process goals should be goals that:• Facilitate Concentration• The athlete has100% control over• Specify the behaviours to be engaged in during

performance• Is the primary focus when performing• Helps lead to automation of performance

(Kingston & Hardy, 1997)

PROCESS GOALS MUST ENCOURAGE STATE OF FLOW

• Clearly defined goals where “action and reaction become so well synchronised that they appear spontaneous and almost automatic” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, p.18)

• Therefore process goals cannot be technical/instructional in nature – especially if it relates to the critical time of the pre-shot routine (i.e. After the moment of initiation....this is the point to give up conscious control in accordance with motor control theory).

Helpful Process Goal Examples: - Any from the playing attitude - Do your full pre shot routine- Switch off between shots

Hurtful Process Goal Examples:- Clear the hip-Turn back on the target- Keep head down on putts

What Bubba Watson Thinks

2012 Masters Champion“That’s the trouble with amateurs – they just think about everything way too much. The pro golfers are the best in the world and they think about their swings, but when they get to the golf course, they aren’t thinking about that anymore. They are thinking about game plans and how to plot their way round the course. They don’t think about technique and the ones that are, well, they’re probably struggling. Amateur golfers cloud their mind to an extent where they can’t play golf.”

Yani Tseng

World No. 20 Professional Women Golfer (when she was at no.1 she said:)

• “When I’m out there, I don’t think about anything. I just grip it and rip it. I don’t like to worry about technique”.

• Gary Gilchrest Yani’s coach says “When anybody’s playing at

their best they’re not thinking. So we work on Yani’s preparation and setup and on training muscle memory. We’re not trying to change her swing, just improve on her tendencies”.

MY EXPERIENCES• Golfers at elite and even at beginner levels perform much

better if their focus is external to themselves....ie keep target in mind (cf. to Perkins -Ceccato et al., 2003)

• Any athlete which replaces excessive self talk with simple “technical instruction” is on a slippery path– “But in golf you have time to think.....” – Instead athletes need to focus on things that lead to flow or automation

of performance such as those aspects in “Playing Attitude”

• Orlick (1990) “Time to connect...time to reflect”– Open skills easier than closed skills..– Later requires knowledge and discipline

• When is time to let go of conscious control?

THINGS YOU SHOULD/SHOULDN’T CONTROL

Closed Skills- Trust & letting go = Eg: Pre-shot routine in golf – can consciously control preparation and set up (although automatic with purpose better)Moment of initiation need to consciously give up control

Open Skills- Connection timeEg: Netball - Reactive & in the moment. Can consciously locate players/gap to throw ball to but shouldn’t instruct “how” to throw.

Playing Attitude – Personal Experience

• Personal Anecdotal Observations: – Beginner golfers learn quicker when not bogged down in

internal focused thought – Elite golfers can only perform at their best when they are

unhindered by technical thoughts. Those who are maybe “getting away” with technical thoughts are underselling themselves.....potential is greater again.

– Extra seconds on the routine = extra thought– Process goals need to be set and written down for every

round.

What are the Yips?

Focal DystoniaYips/ DartitisShankParalysis By Analysis

The Yips Continuum

• Roberts, Rotheram, Maynard, Thomas & Woodman (2013): Looked at the yips and perfectionism in golfers, dart players and cricketers.

- Individuals with yips engage in obsessive thinking and experienced a lack of control, decreased confidence etc and experienced a significant sport related event (eg the shanks?) at onset of yips.

- Unhealthy perfectionists have both increase in perfectionist striving and an increase in perfectionist concerns.

- People with unhealthy perfectionism more likely to experience the yips.

YIPS• Success with helping people conquer the yips... Playing attitude,

eyes closed (trust) and react and go drills (for reaction) EG:

“I thought you would be pleased to hear that within the last 10 days I have achieved a BREAKTHROUGH. I was beginning to despair when on the 15th at…[my golf club], I suddenly found that by applying your trick of focusing on the target and then bringing one's gaze back to the ball, I was able to swing and hit it without any stutter, yips or whatever. It hadn't worked previously and so, not believing it I played again on Wednesday, and during a full round, I had absolutely no problems whatsoever. I still don't quite believe it, but am keeping my fingers crossed. At least I persevered, and you did say that it would require hard work. I am therefore, provisionally! very happy to give you the fullest praise and grateful thanks for your expert guidance”

– 20 Handicap Club Golfer May 07 (who’d been suffering from the yips for many years).

AIM OF MENTAL SKILLS:

THERE IS A TWO STEP PROCESS(1) Self Awareness and (2) Get the Playing Attitude

How do I get into FLOW or have the opportunity

to get into FLOW regularly?

WRAP UP• To think technically or even mentally what you are

doing is to perform below your potential. To maximise performance we need to trust our ability -> to do the playing attitude and /or function on the Goleman’s “low road”.

• Playing Attitude remains something that is so very helpful to all athletes I work with – and the research only reinforces its value .

• Golfers, athletes, coaches, sport psych’s, mental coaches would do well to employ the playing attitude as the foundation stone to building performance!

Any questions?We have received quite a number of questions and we will try and answer as many as possible in the time remaining.

I’ll keep the Q & A session going as long as is practical and we still have an audience to address.

Any that remain unanswered will be forwarded to Vicki and she’ll try and email you a reply in due course.

ThanksThank you to everyone for joining us today and thanks also to Vicki Aitken for what I’m sure you will agree was a great presentation.

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We will email everyone a link to the recording of today’s presentation, so you can view it yourself or pass it along to friends or colleagues.

Thank you again for your participation today and I hope you will join us on Wednesday, 20th November, 2013, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM GMT , when Professor Alison McConnell will present “Inspiratory muscle training: the state of the art and its application”

Thanks and enjoy the rest of your day.