Annette Taylor wrote:
> Hi everyone: > > I need help again. > > My son's hockey coach has asked me to put together a little program to > give to the players--14 to 16 years old--about the use of visualization to > help with their performance. Since I haven't read any responses to your request I thought I would give my suggestion. I find most athletes and coaches want to use sports psychology techniques as magic charms so my first step is to try and demystify them. There is a fair amount of research showing that visual practice is a useful substitute for some physical practice. A very good chapter on the research and with suggestions for implementing a program can be found in chapter 16 "Seeing Is Believing: Understanding and Using Imagery in Sport by R.S. Vealey & C.A. Greenleaf in Applied Sport Psychology 4th edition by Jean M. Williams Ed. Mayfield. The sections that are most relevant are page 250 Mental Practice Research which points out that improvement in sports performance has been shown in 12 or 13 different sports. This is what I would stress with the coach. the imagery can be used to improve skills but it is the mental practice that is involved not some kind of unconscious sleep effects. It should be used to supplement physical practice. Second I would do some kind of exercise with the boys like Vealey and Greenleaf suggest on page 258. I have very good luck with the "Arm as Iron Bar" demonstration. I can give you details about this if you can't get a hold of a copy of the Williams book. I would have the team practice a bit as a group before trying it at home. I would use two different kinds of imagery-coping and perfection. The perfection imagery is seeing themselves make a perfect shot. Coping imagery is seeing themselves make a mistake and recovering from it to make the shot. I also find it valuable to talk about imagery from two perspectives-inernal and external. External imagery is seeing themselves from the outside as a TV camera would "see" them. Internal imagery is seeing their action as they would see it from their eyes. The latter imagery has been found to be associated with better performance in some research but I have had some athletes report they get more from the external perspective. Doing both adds some variety to the task. It is worth while to emphasize vividness and controllability as well as perspective. Trying to have the players vividly imagine the shot as they would see it (internally and externally) feel it (notice what your hands feel like/can you feel the cold air on your face?/can you hear the noise of your teammates/etc. and then control it (see the pass coming to you and feel the puck on your stick and put it in the bottom glove side of the goalie/now try to see yourself hitting the top right corner of the net etc.. Remember that there are individual differences and some athletes report not being able to have imagery. There are also varying degrees of control and vividness. the boys should be told to try this and that it often gets better with practice but that there are some very good athletes who can't and don't use it. If you have questions or want more don't hesitate to contact me Bob Grossman Kalamazoo College <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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