Then, the 1976 Olympics all of the sudden turned everything upside down, and the Soviet and East German athletes won the most medals in every Olympic sport.
It is true that the suspicions garnered about these wins and medals came to fruition but the steroid use of Soviet and East German athletes turned out to be not as wide spread as first thought. Those tested positive were punished and their medals revoked, however; the amount of revocations were still small compared to the amount of medals won. There had to be another factor.
In 1979 there was a sports conference in Milan, which was widely attended by the Soviet coaches. During the conference the Soviets defended their integrity and explained the reason for their success. During the four years prior to the Olympics all of their top athletes had undergone rigorous physical training routine and a sophisticated psychological program. They developed 4 control groups each of whom underwent a consistent, exhaustive and long training program.
- 1st group: 100% physical training
- 2nd group: 75% physical training and
25% mental preparation
3. 3rd group: 50% physical training and
50% mental preparation
4. 4th group: 25% physical training and
75% mental preparation.
Few months before the Olympics, the results were compared. The 4th group produced a better performance than the 3rd group. In turn the 3rd group performed better than the 2nd and the 2nd better than the 1st. As you might expect, all the athletes chose to go to The Olympics came from the 4th group.
On returning home all European coaches (including mine) adopted the psychological techniques that the Soviets had outlined during the Milan conference.
Finally, another type of training was developed, based on Sports Psychology. This concentrates on the study and improvement of motivation, concentration, personality, leadership, the psychological state, thoughts and feelings of the athletes, and other practical aspects of sport.
Although it is generally considered that 50% - 60% of success in sport is down to mental factors, it is necessary to point out that there are still gray areas on this topic. This is also true about some of the points of view I am going to put forward. That being said, there is an ever increasing interest and awareness in this subject as more and more people appreciate that with the appropriate psychological training, performance can be tremendously improved.
The right order in the series is
- Goal setting
- Relaxation
- Motivation
- Imagination
- Concentration
- Over training
As I have covered relaxation with the CD handed to the boys and touched on goal setting, I would like to elaborate on the later a little further.
GOAL SETTING:
This simply put means having a goal. The soccer player might want to improve his passing, his ball control, run faster over 30 yards, or lose 5-10 lbs. The targets should be reached within a certain time frame, perhaps after one training session, after two weeks, or by the end of the season.
Targets are useful because they have a positive influence on psychological states such as self-confidence, better concentration on the task at hand, directing the effort where it is most needed and improving persistence. They also help with the development of new learning strategies.
These are very useful attributes to have and, if they are combined with hard work and discipline, they help the player to achieve great personal development and maximum performance. But remember that setting targets is not a magic formula with guarantee of success.
Locke, during his research into 100 established targets, said the following: "The positive effect of targets on performance is one of the most significant discoveries in psychological science. Moreover, these findings are reliable both in the laboratory and in the field".
Locke and Burton have described how targets influence performance:
a. They help the athlete focus on the important part of his work. A soccer player would concentrate on improving specific skills in order to become a better player (producing powerful shots more frequently, trying to perfect the 35 yard pass etc.)
b. Targets not only improve effort in the short term but also help maintain this level over the long run. (A soccer player will be able to endure the strain and demands of a long hard season by setting a series of short term targets throughout its lenght).
c. The research has proven that setting objectives helps the athlete develop and use new learning strategies.
d. Finally, when an athlete sets targets that only involve winning, then his future prospects are less than convincing. If the targets are not met, and sooner or later everyone has to lose, then confidence level drop, anxiety creeps in and performance suffers.
Parents should help me (the coach) to help the players establish their own goals, insisting that the most important thing is progress, (play and do your very best to improve), and not winning. These concepts are fundamental as the player should be able to achieve his targets and compare results. The truth is he can control his own performance but he cannot allow for what his opponent might do, so he should concentrate on improving aspects of his own game.
Locke has discovered a direct relationship between the difficulty of the target set and the performance achieved with greater difficulty leading to better execution. But, of course, what the player is trying to achieve should not be beyond his capabilities. If the targets set are not realistic then the player will inevitably fail and end up frustrated. In summary the targets set should be difficult enough so that they are a challenge for the players but at the same time they should be realistic and achievable.
Once a player is asked to set his own targets, my experience is that he will think of long term goals: winning the league, being the top goal scorer, the goalkeeper with least goals conceded. Sports psychologists insist that it is important to set short-term goals as players will see immediate results and this will keep motivation high.
These psychologists suggest visualizing a set of steps to help distinguish between the short-term and the long-term goals. The bottom steps represent where the athlete is currently and the top step represents where he wants to be long term. The others represent constant progress, as in reality any athlete makes improvements on a step by step basis, by achieving a series of short-term, inter-related targets.
The most common mistake when setting targets is to set too many. Some players often encouraged by their peers and coaches, set between five and ten targets. This often becomes overwhelming and leads them to quit. It is far better to start off slowly with one or two, and once these have been achieved move on to a third and progressive targets.
Players should know that it is very useful and I encouraged having a notebook to keep a written record not only of the practice session but of the progress of reaching the set goals. Players should record all the improvements, which is always very encouraging, keeping the player conscious of progress and keeping motivation high.
This record can serve as a personal diary, where the player writes down his feelings and thoughts and reflect on the game, his teammates and any other idea.
It can also serve as a very useful tool and outlet where a player can express his thoughts and feelings in writing and pictures. It is always a good idea to release any pent-up feelings so that they do not cause any unnecessary tension and stress. Writing often helps when trying to express feelings. The writer (player) does not have to write religiously every day but once they write they should date it. While they are training and trying to improve their performances, they are creating their own informal personal diary of their thoughts and experiences.
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