Sport Psychology

Successful Athletes are motivated athletes :

• Distinct patterns in behaviour
• Behaviour performed more often
• Continues and becomes “consistent character”
• Doesn’t require rewards

Development of the motivated athlete :

• Coach-dependent to coach independent (years)
• Becomes educated re cricket knowledge and principles
• Leadership qualities develop
• Continually changing in performance levels & experiences

Coach role in maintaining motivation – recognise/foster achievement in :

• Performance improvements
• Sustained increases in effort levels
• Increased skill proficiency (important)
• Reward supportive roles & task execution (punctuality, assisting younger players etc.)
• Sport as a social environment
• Volume of work performed

Motivating Athletes Establish Important Behaviours :

• Team & General – e.g. laws of cricket, coach & umpire respect etc.
• Specific behaviour at specific times – e.g. appealing, momentum of game in balance etc.
• At these times what are desirable, neutral and undesirable behaviours?

Mental Toughness :

• Considered vital ingredient for cricket success
• Be prepared – do your “homework”
• Replicate match demands and scenarios in practice situations and practice mental processes and decision making

Outcome focus v Process focus :

• “Aint no use worryin’ bout things beyond your control, cause if they’re beyond your control, aint no use worryin’ …”
• “Aint no use worryin’ bout things within your control, cause if you got them under control, aint no use worryin’ …”
• Write down a list of all the issues individual players have NO control over, as well as those they CAN control

Key to mental toughness and preparation is then to figure out what you can and can’t control :

Some uncontrollables	Some controllables
Winning or losing Team score Dropped catches Play and miss Opposition talk What others think	Concentration What to think about How to execute What to look at What to be aware of Your effort level

Starting the mental toughness process :

• Reduce situations to a simple form – e.g. “play the delivery not the bowler”
• Develop a mental performance plan for competition
• Divide competition into “segments”
• Figure out what is necessary to focus on in each segment
• Mental toughness is maintaining the correct focus for the segment you are involved in.

What does this mental performance plan do?

• Makes you feel more in control because you have already considered various situations and how you will handle them
• Acts as a “security blanket”
• Provides a good basis for confidence

Segmenting :

• Break the competitive situation up into segments or stages
• Develop your mental “pilot checklist” at each stage
• Example segments : Night before; Travel to game; Warm-up; Walking out to bat – taking guard; between deliveries; between overs; Just been hit for four or six etc.

Developing a mental performance plan :

Define important stages of your cricket

What do you want to achieve in each stage and how should you

• feel, act, think,
• what should you look at,
• who-what should you listen to,
• how aroused should you be,
• should you self talk or use cue words, etc.

Developing Performance Plan – Have a Go! :

• Define important stages of your cricket day/match
• What do you want to achieve in each stage
• Write-Type out your performance plan
• Learn your performance plan
• Mentally rehearse
• Use the plan in training
• Refine and simplify with experience
• Review in light of competition

Mental toughness research in English cricket :

• 12 “Mentally Tough” English Test Cricketers from 1980’s and 1990’s
• Interviewed at length re Family Background, Childhood, Cricket Development, Success qualities etc.
• Team of psychologists analysed transcripts and produced themes and characteristics

Developmental factors :

• Parental influence
• Childhood background

Personal responsibility :

• Exposure to foreign cricket
• Independence
• Self reflection
• Competitiveness with self & others
• Exploit learning opportunities
• Belief in quality preparation
• Self set challenging targets

Dedication and commitment :

• Environment to overcome early setbacks
• Need to “earn” success
• “Never say die” mindset
• “Go the extra mile” mindset
• Determination to make the most of ability

Belief :

• Resilient self confidence
• Belief in making the difference
• Overcome self doubts
• Feeding of physical condition
• Maintain self focus

Coping with pressure :

• Thrive on competition
• Willing to take risks
• Good decision making
• Keeping perspective
• Honest self appraisal