Date: January 28th, 2023 Vol:2 Issue:45
The benefits of teaching imagery to your athletes.
I love a good meme. My personal favourite is the Paul Rudd meme. "Who would have thought? Not Me?" It's so versatile, I am sure I send it to someone every week.
The above meme was Dak Prescott warming up his injured Hip Flexor last season by imagining the throws he was going to have to make that game. The internet exploded when someone sped the video up and made it seem like he was dancing.
While it looks funny sped up, Dak's use of pre game imagery is pretty common at the NFL level. Many players use imagery to rehearse what the scenarios they expect to see in competition. For NFL players like Dak that means envisioning the coverages they will see and predicting the throws they will need to make in the game.
Drew Brees took this a step further in 2019. Running through an entire game that only he was playing in. This was during the Saints bye week but Brees didn't want to lose focus by taking a week off so he played a game in his mind.
This is pretty extreme but an interesting way to use imagery.
Imagery is most effective when you use the most senses possible. The more realistic the image an athlete uses the more effective it will be.
- Smell- What does the venue smell like?
- Taste- What does sweat or gatorade smell like?
- Sound- Imagine the sounds of the game
- Feel- Texture of the ball
- Sight- Create realistic detail of what everything looks like.
Imagery is effective for athletes because it allows them to mentally practice and rehearse their sport in a way that is similar to physical practice. Research has shown that mental imagery can have a positive impact on an athlete's performance by:
- Improving motor skills: By visualizing themselves performing a skill, athletes can strengthen the neural connections responsible for that skill, leading to better performance.
- Enhancing motivation and confidence: Imagery can help athletes to build confidence in their ability to perform well and increase their motivation to train and compete.
- Managing anxiety: By visualizing themselves successfully coping with difficult situations, athletes can reduce their anxiety and perform better under pressure.
- Improving focus and concentration: By using imagery to visualize themselves staying focused and concentrated, athletes can improve their ability to maintain focus during competition.
- Improving injury recovery: Imagery can also be used to help athletes recover from injuries by visualizing the healing process and their return to competition.
Overall, imagery can be a powerful tool for athletes to enhance their performance and improve their overall well-being.
5 tips for teaching your athletes how to use imagery.
- Start by educating your athletes about the benefits and principles of imagery and how it works. Explain that imagery can help them to improve their performance by mentally rehearsing skills, managing emotions, and building confidence.
- Encourage your athletes to create a specific, clear, and vivid mental image of the desired outcome. This could include the successful execution of a specific skill, a positive outcome in competition, or a specific personal or team goal.
- Help your athletes to practice imagery regularly, ideally in the same environment where the actual performance will take place. This will help them to build a strong association between the imagery and the actual performance.
- Provide your athletes with guidance and feedback on their imagery technique. This could include tips on how to create more vivid images, how to stay focused and, utilize all five senses in their imagery, and how to integrate imagery into their pre-performance routine.
- Encourage your athletes to use imagery to practice mental skills such as focus, motivation, and self-regulation. This can help them to improve their overall mental game and perform at their best when it matters most.
The more that your athletes practice utilizing imagery, the more effective a tool it becomes.
Optimal Conditions for learning
I view practice as an extension of my classroom.
The content of what my athletes learn at practice certainly differs from the classroom. Basketball is immeasurably better than math. Like students, every athlete learns differently. Some are visual learners and need to see to learn. Others, are kinesthetic learners and need to work hands on with what they are learning. It is the coaches job to reach all their athletes despite their learning style (and to figure out what style works best).
It is the athletes job to make sure that they are in the best state to learn.
There is nothing more frustrating then working with athletes who struggle to learn in practice. They often get frustrated too.
How can coaches create optimal conditions for their athletes?
There are several conditions that have been identified as optimal for learning in athletics. Some are responsibility of the coach while others fall on the athlete. They include:
- Specificity: The training should be specific to the sport or activity being performed. This means that the exercises, drills, and movements used in training should closely resemble those used in the sport or activity. The movement towards more game like training provides athletes with training that resembles games. I am shocked it took coaches (me included) so long to figure this was the most effective way to learn.
- Progressive overload: The training should gradually increase in intensity, volume, or complexity to challenge the athlete and promote adaptation. I have found that moving from scripted situations where the response is predictable, to random practice is the best way to progress from beginning to mastery.
- Variety: The training should include a variety of exercises, drills, and activities to target different aspects of fitness and skill development. It is important to vary drills to keep things fresh. An important note is that too much variety is not great either. The first time any athlete does a new drill they are learning the drill, not the skill.
- Feedback: The athlete should receive regular feedback on their performance, which can be used to make adjustments to their training and improve their technique.
- Mental training: Mental training techniques, such as imagery, goal setting and self-talk, can be used to enhance the athlete's psychologic al skills, such as focus, motivation, and confidence.
- Sleep and recovery: Adequate sleep and recovery is crucial for athletes to be able to perform at their best and to reduce the risk of injury. This is a huge challenge, the vast majority of athletes are not getting enough sleep and are training far too much. Technology, jobs, schools and the demands of modern sport mean most players are not resting enough.
- Nutrition: Proper nutrition is essential for athletes to ensure that they have enough energy and nutrients to perform at their best and recover from training. I am always blown away when I have my athletes track their nutrition for a week. They seldom eat enough calories and are frequently deficient in the amount of protein they are ingesting.
- Motivation: An athlete should have a clear and positive motivation to participate in the sport, having a positive attitude towards the sport and the willingness to improve is essential. Keeping athletes engaged increases their ability to learn.
It's also important to consider that every athlete is different and may have different needs and preferences, so the optimal conditions may vary from person to person.
Resources that will help your coaching
I spend a lot of time thinking about the most effective way to get my athletes to learn. There are some great resources to help coaches in this area.
The coaches guide to teaching-Doug Lemov
I have mentioned this book a great deal over the last year and if you haven't read it, go to Amazon and order it now. Go ahead... I'll wait. OK, this book is fantastic. It has so much good information on how to help your athletes effectively learn.
If you prefer a podcast, Chris Olliver interviewed Lemov back in May of 2021 and it is an excellent podcast.
