Monthly Archive for August, 2014

The mental skills of the soccer teams

Published on August 30, 2014 in Allenatori, Calcio and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Today begins the Italian football championship. The  Napoli exclusion from Champions League immediately put in evidence the importance of the psychological capacities in determining the supremacy on the field as well as the final result. Among the main features to look for in the game to know if a team is a match positively oriented are:

  • Tactical Intelligence: do the right thing at the right time
  • Combat: do not allow to the opponents to be comfortable when they play with us
  • Toughnes: try harder and persist longer under adversity
  • Responsibility: accepting the role and instructions provided by the coach
  • Sense of belonging: feeling an active player of the team, collaborate and support the teammates at all times
We’ll see during the season which teams will show more of these psychological skills.

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Napoli has melted in Spain

Published on August 28, 2014 in Allenatori, Calcio, Generale and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

At the first big match of the new season Napoli has been eliminated from the Champions League. This was due, according to the newspapers in a “careless defensive line,” “a harmless launch from the sidelines, Albiol has not understood with Rafael, the two have made ​​surprise by Aduriz who burned them on time and he easily slipped the door was unguarded “,” the defense gives the score.” Regardless of the technical value of individual players and the team as a whole, these comments highlight the lack of psychological value of Napoli. Benitez has not build a  fighting and determined team. The attentional errors did by Napoli have been made regardless of the technical value of the single player and I am convinced that aggression is an indispensable and trainable team quality if you want to compete at a high level in Europe. Little attention is given to the search for players who possess this mental dimension in favor of the search for even the most technically gifted players in the field but that will melt like snow  at the sun. This parameter is too often forgotten and so, while in Europe the teams run and fight, we continue to complain.

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Intensity in judo: the example of Tadahiro Namura

Published on August 27, 2014 in Allenatori, Giovani, Mental coaching and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The intensity in training and competition is a key component to becoming a world class athlete. This video of  Tadahiro Namura represents an example of how the intensity is applied in this sport. The intensity comes from the conjunction of: speed, accuracy, attention and will. The training must develop steadily over time these personal skills.

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Sport learns from sport

Published on August 25, 2014 in Calcio, Giovani and Young and Football. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

The third time in rugby is the moment in which the opposing teams and fans gather to eat and drink together, exchanging thoughts and opinions, beyond who won and lost. The third time celebrating something more important than a competitive match:  mutual respect and fair play, all qualities that have made ​​this sport first in sportsmanship.

In recent years, youth and school division of Italian football federation has included in its official document provided to the clubs at the beginning of the seaon, the promotion of the third time: “The Youth and School Division promotes the organization of the Third Time Fair Play. During the Third Time “FAIR PLAY”, the two clubs and families make available to the participants snacks to share among them, spreading naturally the invitation to the coaches, managers and parents involved in the match. In this way, the Youth and School Division wants to disseminate the values ​​of fair athletic competition.”
The introduction of the third time in football has been much criticized because the less than correct behaviors that characterizes the Italian football, little befitting with the tradition of rugby fair play. I believe that young players do not need to pay the expenses of adult football and for this reason, if football does not know how to teach to himself the fair play, it must learn from those who have most deeply rooted traditions. I remember it to the presidents of the football schools, leaders, and parents who often forget that and even more often ignore the existence of the third time. It is not a theft of football, I see it rather as a sign of reflection of a sport first in popularity, which borrows from those who know more. Much of my work is to provide psychological tools to the adults involved with the young players to ensure that their sport experiences will be the best, and if  the tird time can be an additional tool to send a positive message, then we have to promote it. Today the professional soccer does not know how to sustain the third time, while children can do being an example for the players. People too often forget that real change can only happen in football from its roots: the football schools.

(by Daniela Sepio)

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The issues of the high level shooters

Published on August 21, 2014 in Mental coaching, Stress and Tiro a volo. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Today I am at a shooting international competition in Todi (Italy) and athletes of different nationalities, from Iran to Great Britain have asked me about their difficulties face in the race, here are a few:

  • What should I do first when for a while I forget what I have to do?
  • What do I do to remove the panic that sometimes comes over me?
  • What I have to do not think of breaking the target and be focused only on my performance?
  • Which are the skills of clay shooting champions?
  • How do I know I am ready before to start?
  • I have not always the same time to shoot, what I have to do to be more consistent?
  • After a mistake I get too nervous, how can I control myself better?

These questions highlight how the difficulties of international level athletes are specific and require that the sport psychologist has specific knowledge of this sport. As psychologists, we must not only provide global responses based on the idea that we must improve the confidence of these athletes, as these questions are asked by athletes who are the best in their country and are used to compete, but this in itself does not eliminate these difficulty.

What do you think?

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Review: Secrets of Asian Sport Psychology

Published on August 20, 2014 in Libri, Mental coaching, Olimpiadi, Stress and Tiro a volo. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Secrets of Asian Sport Psychology

Edited by: Peter C. Terry, Zhang Li-Wei, Kim YoungHo, 
Tony Morris, and Stephanie Hanrahan

Free download at http://peterterry.wix.com/books

 

Secrets of Asian Sport Psychology includes more than 20 accounts of how many of the world’s best athletes have used sport psychology techniques to achieve their success. The book links countries in the Asian-South Pacific region to the sports at which they excel. Learn about the sport psychology secrets of Archery in Korea, Gymnastics in China, Boxing in the Philippines, Golf in Taiwan, Triathlon in Australia, Rugby in New Zealand, Judo in Japan, Wrestling in Iran, Shooting in India, and much much more.

 Written by experienced applied practitioners working at the front line of elite sport, Secrets of Asian Sport Psychology provides a series of authentic accounts of the psychology underpinning the success of Olympic and World champions.

Sponsored by the Asian-South Pacific Association of Sport Psychology and the University of Southern Queensland, Secrets of Asian Sport Psychology is the very first text on the subject of applied sport psychology to be published under a creative commons licence.

Peter Terry and I, we are the authors of the chapter entitled Shooting in India, dedicated at our experiences with the top Indian shooters.

“Secrets of Asian Sport Psychology are now out in the open! Congratulations on producing the very first Creative Commons licensed book on the subject.”

Emeritus Professor Jim Taylor AM, Honorary Fellow of the Commonwealth of Learning

“Secrets of Asian Sport Psychology is a must read for anyone interested in the psychology of sport.”

Dr. Gangyan Si, President of the International Society of Sport Psychology

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Published on August 19, 2014 in Calcio, Generale and Giovani. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

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How an habit is established

Published on August 19, 2014 in Generale. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Any behaviour that can be reduced to a routine is one less behaviour that we must spend time and energy consciously thinking about and deciding upon. Habits therefore free up time and energy for other matters. As Charles Duhigg puts it in his book “The power of habit”, “this effort-saving instinct is a huge advantage… [for] an efficient brain… allows us to stop thinking constantly about basic behaviours, such as walking and choosing what to eat, so we can devote mental energy to inventing spears, irrigation systems, and, eventually, airplanes and video games”. Duhigg then moves into the area of how they are formed and how our brains fall into habits and draws on the research from disciplines such as – advertising, sports, addiction, religion and others. According to Duhigg, it comes down to a simple,three-part loop: cue, routine and reward.

In the author’s own words: “first, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical, mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future”. If everything lines up, the brain ‘remembers’ the loop, and is predisposed to using the same routine when the same cue comes up again in the future.

The more often the brain uses the loop to good effect the deeper the behaviour becomes ingrained— to the point where the behaviour itself becomes more and more automatic. Eventually, the cue ends up being so bound up with the reward that the cue itself will trigger a craving for the reward: “the cue and reward become intertwined until a powerful sense of anticipation and craving emerges”. Habits could be brought about by a craving for positive emotions, or accomplishment or relationships.

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The integration of the sport psychologist in a football school: 10 rules to follow

Published on August 18, 2014 in Allenatori, Calcio, Giovani and Young and Football. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Working with children and young people introducing them to the world of football requires the involvement of several professionals committed to create the proper environment for the sport and psychological growth of young football players.  Sometimes this job becomes difficult if it’s not handled with clarity and respect for the role of each expert. The key word in these actions is integration. During these years, I have learned, that the sport psychologist who is working with a football school must follow 10 basic rules to integrate himself into the staff including coaches, managers and parents.

  • Know the context
  • Joining the staff
  • Start from the demands
  • Knowing the language (technical terms, jargon, examples)
  • Help in the enhancement of existing roles
  • Use specific psychological tools
  • Producing visible results
  • Working with mediation
  • Escaping from the stereotype of Mental Health Care
  • Get on the field

The sports psychologist should not be just a phantom written only in the federal documents, but an expert integrated in the football team, so that the club could actually take an add value from thes kills  he/she can lead.

(by Daniela Sepio)

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Marathon is Zen and Italian in Europe

Published on August 17, 2014 in Corsa. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Atletica, Europei: Meucci vince l'oro nella maratona

Daniele Meucci won the gold and Valeria Straneo the silver at the marathon at the Track and Field European Championsip.”The marathon is a challenge to useless thoughts. It’s zen. A the start you are concerned, the anxiety slowly melts, the head should work technically, it should never meddle in the heart affairs.” (Enrico Sisti)

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