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Great "How To" approach to using mental imagery in sports! Great for coaches and athletes!
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Seeing is Believing• “I’ll Believe it when I see it!”
• Seeing is Believing
– Seeing yourself perform well creates positive beliefs about your ability
– Tiger’s story “where I want the ball to go daddy!”
– Annika’s story “I won because I imagined myself hitting the ball perfectly every shot”
Seeing is believing Cont.
• Imagery is a mental technique that programs the mind and body to respond optimally.
• Gives athletes the ability to see & believe
• Seeing = Believing = Confidence
• Must be controllable to work!
How it really works…
• Muscle Memory
• Athletes all have brains that send impulses to the muscles to execute a skill correctly
• Similar impulses occur in the brain and muscles when athletes use imagery
• Imagery strengthens athletes muscle memories
How it really works…cont.
• Mental Blueprint
• All movements are encoded in the CNS = blue print
• Imagery facilitates performance by making it more familiar and more automatic
• Imagery strengthens athletes mental blueprint to make a skill more automatic
How it works…(cont.)
• Response Set
• Imagery conditions athletes to make proper responses by creating a psychological & physiological response in the brain
Using Imagery to Reach Peak Performance
• All athletes have the ability to use imagery
• BUT not all athletes do or do it correctly
• All the senses SHOULD be used
• What you See Should be positive
Polysensory experience
• Sight is NOT the only significant sense!!
• Images should include as many senses as possible: Visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, kinesthetic (the feel of the body as it moves…
• The more VIVID the image the more effective it is!
• Emotions may also be a key to control anxiety, anger, etc.
Perspective
• Imagery perspective
– Internal
• Athletes see the image from behind their own eyes as if they were inside their bodies
– External
• They see an image from outside their bodies as with a video camera or TV screen
Re-creating or Creating Imagery• Mimic or modeling
• We are able to imitate others because our mind takes a picture of the skill; like a blueprint
• Can be recall as well
• Ideal performances…
Re-creating or Create Imagery cont.• Olympic athletes take pictures of
upcoming competition sites
• They create effective images of themselves performing in those contexts
• What is familiar to us is not so scary
• Familiarity builds confidence
• Once our minds believe something the body follows!!
MENTAL Practice
•Using imagery repetitively to perform a sport skill in the mind
•Mental practice can enhance performance AND is better than no practice at all (Martin, Moritz, & Hall, 1999)
•Has been studied extensively in basketball shooting, volleyball serving, tennis serving, golf, football kicking, swim starts, dart throwing
Preparatory Imagery
• Used immediately prior to performance
• Has been shown to improve performance
• Used in combination with or opposition to other mental strategies such as self-talk and focusing attention
Multi-modal mental training
• Doing imagery in conjunction with relaxation, attentional focusing, and self-talk
• All can enhance athletes’ competition-related thoughts and emotions
• All enhance self-confidence and motivation• Decreased pre-competitive anxiety
What the research says…
•Imagery enhances learning and performance AND
•Helps control competition thoughts and emotions
•Imagery can facilitate not only HOW athlete perform, but how they think and respond in competition!•Gould & Weinberg, 2003; Tynes & McFatter, 1987; Vealey & Greenleaf, 2001
Top athletes say it works…• “I never hit a shot, not even in practice,
without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head…(Jack Nickalus)
• “I did my dives in my head all the time..at night before going to sleep, in the locker-room, before I climb the ladder, even as I stand on the board…(Greg Louganis)
• “I had no idea what my score was until I was finished…I just kept standing behind my ball before each shot and saw myself hit the perfect ball…(Annika after winning U.S. open in a playoff)
Using Imagery
• Imagery is better than no practice at all, BUT…
• It does not take the place of physical practice
• Imagery is like a vitamin supplement that gives athletes an edge in competition
• Should take place in conjunction with physical practice
4 stages of using imagery with athletes:
1. Sell it to the athletes
2. Imagery ability should be evaluated
3. Develop basic imagery skills
4. Systematically practice
Introducing athletes to imagery
• Hook ‘em
• Define and give evidence
• Explain how it works
• Practice – Vividness– Controllability– Awareness
Vividness Exercises
• A friend in mind
• Empty gym then add spectators
• Equipment in your sport
• Skill mental practice– Start simple, then work in complex skills, or
placing the skill in a competitive context such as reacting to certain defenses
Controllability Exercises
• Friend in mind again, but change
• Mental skill practice, but w/ a partner
• Trouble skills
Awareness Exercises
• Good Performance/Bad Performance
• Re-create anxiety
• Suddenly good to bad
About Stefanie• Stefanie has worked in and around athletics all of her life. She was a dual
collegiate athlete in volleyball and track. Following her playing career she immediately began coaching high school volleyball establishing a winning record of 187-12 in seven short years. She was selected as the Oklahoma Coaches Association coach of the year for two years in 2001 and 2002. She directed and coached a premiere United States Volleyball Association club for five years with teams advancing to nationals every year.
• Stefanie left the world of coaching in 2003 to pursue her doctorate degree in Sport Psychology. She was a Professor of Exercise Science at Oklahoma City University for several years and now is making her way in the advertising industry as a consultant. She also serves as a mental training consultant to many sports teams at OCU and has contributed to the peak performance of numerous winning teams across a variety of sports at the collegiate and high school levels across the nation including Oklahoma State University, University of Central Oklahoma, West Texas A&M University, and Southwest Baptist University.
• Stefanie is a frequent and popular motivational speaker at many schools, workshops, and professional conferences across the country. As a result of her work and experience with elite athletes and teams, Stefanie has authored and co-authored several articles, books, and video programs covering peak performance issues and team-building. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time traveling, golfing, and playing with her four year old daughter, Brynn.
