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USING MENTAL IMAGERY IN SPORT
Jl- Kiénard is currently employed by the world known entertainment company Girque Du Soleil as their performance psychology advisor. His mandate is
to ensure the psychological and professional development of the multicultural artists to perform at an optimal level within a high pressure and high risk
environment. Working in collaboration with ihe acrobatic and artistic coachei. at CdS is also part of his daily rfsponsibiiities. ¡n addition to this, he aho consults
athletes and coacha on a regular basis wiihin the Montréal and Ottawa areas. As a former high level athlete and former coach, he dearly understands what H
lakes mentally to excel in sport. His learning and working experiences led him in becoming a well respected consultant in sports, entertainment, and business.
t is nut unusual now in sports to see athletes
take a short moment tn their preparation
routine to close their eyes, relax, and focus
before engaging into their performance. A
baseball player will do it in the on-deck circie,
a hockey goaltender in the dressing room prior
to the game, a skier on top of the hill before a
downhill run, or a soccer player in preparation
for a penalty kick. Why are they doing this? The
answer is quite simple: they are programming
their minds and bodies to respond optimally By
doing this, athletes have the capacity to see, feel,
and believe which gives them the confidence
and the focus 10 perform successfully.
We taped a lot of famous pictures
on the locker-room door: Orr, Potvin,
Béliveau, all holding the Stanley
Cup. We'd stand back and look
at them and envision ourseives
doing it. I really beiieve it you
visuaiize yourseif doing something,
you can make that image come
true.,. I must have rehearsed it ten
thousand times. And when it came
true it was iike an electric joit went
up my spine. - Wayne Gretzky
Mental imagery (or visualization) is a skill
most high level athletes and coaches will use
on a regular basis in training and competition
to improve perfonnance. This polysensory
skill is ver)' useful as athletes can train spon
specific skills, technique, and strategies without
being physically engaged in the performance
environment. As a result, visualization becomes an interesting alternative
for any athlete, but specifically for some who are away horn their training
environment for a cenain |Tenod of time (e.g.: injured athletes) to keep
workmg on their psychological and physical skills without actually being
physically 'active".
Fundamentally visualization Mall allow athletes to program their minds in
creating or fostering the psychological maps needed to perform a physical
action. This helps athletes acquire and understand movement patterns
required for a technical skill, like kicking a soccer ball for example,
consequently creating more automatic and familiar responses afterwards. In
addition to creating psychological direction, mental imagery will generate
muscle memory. Imagining kicking a soccer ball can innen-e the same
specific muscles needed to perform the physical movement itself. Of course
the nervous stimulus sent from the brain to the muscles is at a lesser degree
(lo the point that there can be no physical movement) but enough for both
the body and the mind to register and remember the innervation process.
In consequence, any athlete can speed up the process of learning new
skills or mastering already acquired skills through to the neuromuscular
activity that occurs when visualizing. Several elite level athletes will admit
ihat visualization can be so powerful that, when executed properly, they feel
that their brain interpret ihc simulated
sensations as identical to the actual stimulus in
a rea! situation,
An individual can visualize from two different
perspectives: internally and externally f^unng
internal imagery, athletes will visualize from
I heir own point of view, from their own eyes
as if they were inside their bodies, whereas
during external imagery, they visualize from
an outside perspective like seeing themselves
from the coach's eyes or from a video camera.
One perspective is not better than the other
one; they just ser\'e different purposes.
Athletes will engage in internal imager>' for
any reasons related lo feeling the movement
(e.g.; their spatial awareness, their thoughts
running through their minds, their breathing
patterns'). External imager>-, on the other hand,
will help athletes understand what they should
look like, giving them a basic understanding
of the technical aspects required to perform
the skill. Noticeably both perspectives have their individual advantages.
However using both styles effectively is tbe best strategy to improve overall
performance. In the end. coaches and athletes together need to determine
the Lype of Imagery most useful for their specific needs before engaging into
a visualisation program.
There are many reasons and advantages for applying visualization into an
athlete's training program. Here are a few :
Confidence booster: re-living great past performances enables athletes to
taste the feeling of performing well again It's a great strategy to use when
athletes are in a stump. By doing so, tbey experience positive moments tbat
will afi'cct their confidence optimistically for an upcoming event.
Sharpening (ocusing skills: by visualizing what you want to do and how
you want to do it, your attention is geared towards the important details
of performance. In this case, distractions are less likely to disturb the
individual. Also, an athlete could visualize how be wisbes to regain focus
after being distracted in performance. Tbis can automate a desired reaction
for coping in a positive way
Contimed on page 56.
Spring2010; Vol, 17, No. 1 | COACHESPLAN | 17
Learning and correcting a skill: menial imagery
IS helpful when learning a new skill or attacking a
difficult skill. Repeating a technical skill mentally
will help make the proper links between your
mind and body to execute the physical skill
correctly
Siress reliever: athletes who visualize themselves
reacting positively and performing well in high
pressure situations will program their minds to
react confidently Superstars like Jeter, Fédérer.
Woods, and Gretzky perform well under pressure
because they feel comfortable in these situations.
They rehearse probable future pressure moments
over and over in their minds and see themselves
performing well consequently Then, when the
pressure moments arrive, they are in full control
of iheir thoughts, emotions and actions.
Any athlete who is serious about improving their
performance should consider using visualization
exercises in their daily training regimen. Sport
organizations can ask a sports psychologist to
incorporate mental imagery in their training
programs, however many coaches have the
abilities and knowledge themselves to include
visualization in training and performance for
their athletes. Here are some key pointers for
coaches organizing and facilitating mental
imager)' exercises:
Keep it simple and specific: visualization is
a skill, and like any technical physical skLiI
you need to start with the basics before going
into deeper details. In the beginning, keep the
exercises simple, short and precise. Include more
details and make the exercises longer only when
the athletes feel comfortable doing so.
in slow motion you're programming your mind
in going slower than reality: if you visualize
faster than real time, you're programming it to be
rushed. Mental imagery executed in real time on
a regular basis aids the transfer to reality Coaches
can use a stopwatch or video to guide them in
time.
Keywords: using keywords when facilitating a
mental imager)' exercise can help athletes" master
precise movements and recognize the exact feel
of a perfectly executed action. Keywords will
also help the athletes direct their attention and
prolong ihe length of time they can stay focused.
When the athletes get comfortable visualizing,
the words tend to drop away naturally and then
rely primarily on feel and motor memor>'.
Daily practice: to ensure valuable visualization, it
needs \o be practiced everyday The skill requires
a tremendous amount of energ)', time, and focus,
so atbletes need to be fully committed. It must be
part of their daily training program. In the early
stages coaches can guide the athletes through the
exettises. but in the long run the athletes need
to take initiative, become independent, and use
visualization on theirown.
Use all senses: many coaches will put too
much emphasis on seeing the movement. Proper
visualization is much more than just seeing. Again
the intention is to link mental rehearsal as closely
as possible to physical practice. When more
senses are used during an exercise (eg; seeing,
feeling, hearing, even smelling in some cases) it
makes it closer to reality therefore preparing the
athlete much more lo a real performance.
Use of technology:
athletes for whom
visualizing from an external perspective is
difficult can use video recording (e.g.; good
personal past perlbiinances). This tool gives real
external images for athletes to work with when
imaging. Some CDs, such as relaxation music
or guided visualization exercises, can also be
useful. Terr)' Ortick, an international known
sports psychologist, created a series of practical
CDs to guide athletes in visualization (www.
zoneofexceHence.ca). A ^
Real time: ihe time it takes to visualize a sequence
of activities should be the same amount of time it
takes to do the actual sequence, if you visualize
Resources - L(>nninu'<i 11,im p(i(j,v 2.].
this touchdown, you know"? Of course not! The
tailback has no entitlement to score. He has no
right to win. He succeeds only by aggressively
going after his goal. So when you see the tailback
launch his body through the air like a missile
tr)ing to bowl over the last defender after skillfully
dancing his way between the other iwo, do not
think assertive; think Walter Payton—aggressive.
But that is not the whole story on aggression.
Another type of aggression is called reactive
aggression, sometimes referred to as hostile
aggression. Reactive aggression is behavior that
has 35 Its primary and sometimes solitary goal
to do harm to someone. Ustially, this action is
in response to a perceived injustice, insult, or
wrongdoing. This form of aggression is related
to anger and is the behavior that gets athletes in
trouble, both on and off the field. An example
ol reactive aggression may be the pitcher who is
furious thai the last time a certain batter came to
the plate, he hit a 430-foot (140-meter) homer
that cleared the bleachers. Still fuming, the
pitcher aims his 95 mile-per-hour (150-kilometerper-hour) fastball between the hitter's sboulder
blades.
Violence
Reactive aggression, in its most extreme forms, is
violence, but the definition is not reflexive. Not all
violence comes from anger and reactive aggression.
Violence has, at its root, harm to another as its
planned result.
5 6 I COACHES PLAN | Spring 201D : Vol. 17, No. I
Predatory violence, for example, is behavior
in which the hunter seeks the hunted. In the
animal world, the stealthy lion waits patiently m
the brush for its prey to wander close enough to
be ambushed. In the world of serial killers who
hunt their victims, predators often do not have
an increase in heart rate or S)Tnpathetic nervous
system activity that usually accompanies anger.
Anger is not related to this activity and in fact
would interfere with the ability to hunt.
Terry and Jackson (1985) clarified sport violence
as harm-inducing behavior outside the rules
of sport, bearing no direct relationship to the
competitive goals of sport. This definition nicely
carved out a type of violence different from
society's violence.
In an attempt to explain sport \iolence, I developed
the Abrams model of sports violence that reflects
the seeming overlap between aggression and
violence. Understanding that injury can be part
of the game, we can differentiate violence in
the same way that we differentiate aggression.
Incidental violence is violence that does not have
harming another as its sole goal; it is directed
toward spon goals. In contrast, reactive or hostile
violence has the specific goal of causing harm to
someone else.
Both represent beha\iors that may go be)'ond
the rules of the sport, but incidental violence is
an extension of acceptable behavior. Checking
in hockey provides a useful example. The line
that differentiates checking from cross-checking
or boarding, both of which arc penalties, is
often blurr)'. Overzealous players can certainly
have their bebavior spill over to being illegal.
This behavior is different from reactive \aolence,
in which the behavior is retaliatory. This kind
of behavior can also be broken down into two
categories. The first is the spontaneous response.
There are some players who pride themselves on
their ability to get inside their opponents' heads
and will deliberately provoke them lo take them
off their game. New York Rangers forward Sean
Avery, often described as an agitator, is particularly
praficient at this. So, the player provokes the other
repeatedly perhaps by checking them with their
stick. Finally, the provoking player checks the first
player one too many times, and the player turns
and swings the stick at the opponent's head. The
response, although extreme, was not planned.
This is spontaneous reactive aggression and is
directly related to anger. Anger management
programs specifically target reducing this type ol"
behavior. More immediately though, the league
or organization must penalize, fine, or suspend
players engaging in such behavior as it can very
easily cause serious injury. «
From Anger Management is Sport by Miich
Abrams,
Copyright © 2010 by Human Kinetics Publishers,
Inc. Excerpted by permission of Human Kinetics,
Champaign, IL. Available to order from Human
Kinetics Canada at www.HumanKinetics.com or
by calling 1-800-465-7301.