In questi anni, il termine “mental coach” è diventato un’espressione diffusa per identificare una persona esperta nell’allenamento delle abilità psicologiche. Si riferisce alla pratica sistematica e distribuita nel tempo delle competenze psicologiche e mentali allo scopo di migliorare le prestazioni, incrementare il piacere tratto dall’impegno e sentirsi soddisfatti della propria attività fisica e sportiva. Lo psicologo, dopo un percorso che lo ha portato alla laurea magistrale e all’iscrizione all’ordine degli psicologi, è il professionista che è legalmente abilitato a fornire questo tipo di prestazioni. La psicologia dello sport è la disciplina che nell’ambito delle scienze dello sport e della psicologia, rappresenta il riferimento teorico e applicativo per l’esercizio di questa professione. E’ un campo piuttosto diffuso tanto che a livello internazionale sono presenti otto riviste scientifiche che pubblicano i risultati delle indagini in questo ambito di studio. Una di queste, International Journal of Sport Psychology, viene pubblicata in Italia da 48 anni e rappresenta un ambito di eccellenza. Stupisce quindi che il settimanale SportWeek della Gazzetta dello Sport abbia pubblicato un’inchiesta intitolata “I mental coach servono davvero?” a cui fornisce una risposta positiva: “A patto che ci si rivolga a un professionista ossia a uno psicologo dello sport o a un mental coach serio e qualificato”. In questa inchiesta si equiparano due figure professionali differenti. Per una di queste, il mental coach, non è previsto alcun tipo di formazione universitaria specifica riconosciuta e può essere svolta da chiunque decida per motivi personali di intraprendere questo lavoro nello sport. E’ sufficiente avere partecipato a un corso di pochi giorni o essere stato un atleta o avere una laurea in qualsiasi ambito. Persone di questo tipo sono sempre esistite in ogni professione, dagli esperti in benessere che propongono terapie mediche, ai personal trainer non laureati in scienze motorie, a chi si propone come allenatore solo perché ha svolto un determinato sport per molti anni. Le università e l’ordine potrebbero agire per migliorare la formazione e la professione degli psicologi che intendono lavorare in ambito sportivo ma ancora non ci sono riusciti. Spetta quindi direttamente agli psicologi agire in modo più propositivo. A tale riguardo, dovrebbero impegnarsi a migliorare la loro presenza sul mercato dello sport agendo su tre leve principali. La prima riguarda l’interesse a ottimizzare le loro competenze professionali con una formazione adeguata in psicologia dello sport che sia specifica e continuativa nel tempo. La seconda si riferisce al sapere interagire con il mondo dello sport in modo professionale e pragmatico, senza essere percepiti come troppo teorici o comunque inutili al miglioramento delle prestazioni sportive. La terza riguarda la capacità di formulare programmi d’intervento che siano percepiti come utili e innovativi da parte degli atleti e degli allenatori. E’ una sfida che si basa su una solida competenza in psicologia e nelle scienze dello sport e sulla capacità di saperle adattare alle situazioni pratiche e alle persone che s’incontreranno sul proprio cammino professionale.
Monthly Archive for January, 2018
During the descent from Nanga Parbat died Tomek Mackiewicz while his companion Elisabeth Revor was saved by two climbers coming from K2 base camp by helicopter and who moved up for 2,000 m from 4,800 m.
Another challenge almost impossible, climb on Nanga Parbat in winter on Messner-Eisendle track, never completed by anybody and conduct in Alpine style without any help and in total solitude with night temperature of-40.
These the words to a friend:
“Sometimes in winter mountain I get the impression that the feel free is not a mood, but something beyond the mind. It’s an elusive feeling that sometimes I reach but I am unable to grasp and analyze. Just I feel it, it run away. It’s so strange, I wouldn’t be able to describe it well in words. It’s elusive. It’s the absolute freedom, I believe. It’s something I feel and it’s probably the reason that pushes me to come back here every time.”
Moving your body at least every half an hour could help to limit the harmful effects of desk jobs and other sedentary lifestyles, research has revealed. The study found that both greater overall time spent inactive in a day, and longer periods of inactivity were linked to an increased risk of death.
“If you sit at work all day, if you sit at home a lot, then you should be really mindful of trying to take a break from your sitting habits as often as possible – at least every 30 minutes,” said Keith Diaz, co-author of the study from Columbia University Medical Center. “Even if you exercise, you still should be mindful of taking breaks and be moving throughout the day, because exercise is not enough to overcome the risks of sitting, and sitting in long bouts.”
Writing in the journal the Annals of Internal Medicine, Diaz and colleagues from seven US institutions describe how they kitted out nearly 8,000 individuals aged 45 or over from across the US with activity trackers between 2009 and 2013.
… the team found that both the overall length of daily inactivity and the length of each bout of sedentary behaviour were linked to changes in the risk of death from any cause. The associations held even among participants undertaking moderate to vigorous physical activity.
(by Nicola Davis)
The development of mental toughness has often been regarded as a strictly individual factor and we have few information to understand how the sport organizations show and build their culture of toughness and how this promotes the athletes’ toughness .
The article by Eubanks, Nesti e Littlewood (2017), A culturally informed approach to mental toughness development in high performance sport, IJSP, 48, 206-222, revived some new insights about this topic.
The purpose is to explore the importance of culture in the development of Mental Toughness (MT). This is done by means of a critical review of the current literature that exists in relation to the conceptualisation, definition and development of the concept. We argue that despite recent advances in our understanding, most research into MT has focused on the characteristics of mentally tough individuals. Although important and useful, the role of the environment, culture and context, and how these impact MT and its development has been given somewhat less attention and is perhaps not well integrated into practice.
The notion of Mental Toughness (MT) being broadly represented by “the ability to achieve personal goals in the face of pressure from a wide range of different stressors” (Hardy et al., 2014).
One of the criticisms frequently levelled at psychology as an academic discipline is that it often focuses on the individual, and forgets, or ignores the environment within which the individual exists.
Culture may be best seen as the hidden yet influential force, involving core values, beliefs, and traditions that operates as a type of soft power, which shape the working practices, ideas, strategies and philosophies of groups and individuals.
Weinberg et al. (2011) focused on the views of ten National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches, who reported that a tough physical practice environment, a positive men-tal environment and an environment that provided mental toughness awareness and learning opportunities were fundamental to MT development.
The authors said that is clear that the optimum environments to build MT are those that are imbued with a challenging and stimulating culture, where personal responsibility is emphasised in all things.
The problems related to kid sports (and not just, think of the baby gang) have always urged psychologists. At this regard I would like to recall that the issue came out not just in these last years but that back in 1980 Rainer Martens wrote a chapter called “Kid sports: A den of iniquity or a land of promise?” In conclusion, to explain how the environment can affect our young he reported these words, which today continue to be true.
Believe to know what you don’t know is not really the most shameful form of ignorance?
(Socrates)
No people can be both ignorant and free
(Thomas Jefferson)
The Run of Miguel comes from an idea of Valerio Piccioni, journalist of Gazzetta dello Sport to remember Miguel Sanchez, young Argentine disappeared in 1978, during the military junta of Jorge Videla. The first edition of this event was in Rome in 2000 and today also Buenos Aires hosts an edition of Miguel.
Miguel was killed because he was a student, runner and wrote poetry and this race recalls not only him but also all 30,000 people that the dictatorship has disappeared and it wanted they were forgotten. This race wants to keep alive the memory of those terrible years and to remember the importance of the fight for civil rights.
Para vos atleta
para vos que sabés del frío, de calor,
de triunfos y derrotas
para vos que tenés el cuerpo sano
el alma ancha y el corazón grande.
Para vos que tenés muchos amigos
muchos anhelos
la alegría adulta y la sonrisa de los niños.
Para vos que no sabés de hielos ni de soles
de lluvia ni rencores.
Para vos, atleta
que recorriste pueblos y ciudades
uniendo Estados con tu andar
Para vos, atleta
que desprecias la guerra y ansías la paz.
By Miguel Sanchez
During the training to provide continuous feedback about commitment is a key point to enhance learning. Athletes should be aware about the commitment level they must show during exercises of every training session. The reasons why one should not engage just enough are as follows:
- promotes technical errors
- leads to a reduced focus on the task
- reduces intrinsic motivation
- obliges the coach to provide the same technical instructions, because the athletes often repeat the same mistakes and improve slowly
- builds the habit to consider improving as something very hard to get
- stimulate the commitment continuously
- accept that athletes just because they undertake with great intensity can commit more technical errors
- recognize first the commitment and secondly the technical aspects
- stimulate in athletes that the improvement comes by personal commitment
- teach be aware that the individual technical and motors limits can be discovered only by training with intensity and motivation
- teach to be satisfied of the personal commitment, although it not always determines the quality of performance
- teach be aware that the quality of performance is related to the commitment and it takes more than talent to be good athletes
- teach, in team sports, the intensity is a collective resource that no one should ignore and everyone should encourage the mates
- point out even before technical errors any lack of commitment
- explain what are the behaviors that show athletes who train with intensity and that we want to watch in our group
Review
“It’s Not about Taking the Easy Road”: The Experiences of Ultramarathon Runners
Duncan Simpson, Phillip G. Post, Greg Young, Peter R. Jensen
The Sport Psychologist, 2014, 28, 176-185
Ultramarathon (UM) running consists of competitive footraces over any distance longer than a marathon, which is 26.2 miles The distances of UM races vary from 31 to over 100 miles and are often distinct due to the challenging environments in which they take place (e.g., forests, mountains, jungle, and desert).
Research that has been conducted has primarily examined the sport motivations, changes in mood states, and sport-specific cognitions of UM runners. Research on UM participant motivations suggest that these athletes compete to experience feelings of personal achievement, to overcome challenges, socialize with other runners, and to be in nature.
Evaluations of UM runners’ cognitive orientations, race thoughts and mental strategies indicate that these runners are more confident, committed to running, have higher goal-orientations compared with other athletes, use dissociative thoughts (e.g., thinking of friends, music) and use several mental skills (i.e., imagery, goal setting, self-talk).
Results
The present study explored UM runners’ experiences of training and competition using the method of existential phenomenological interviewing: 26 participants ranging in age from 32 to 67 years.
UM Community was the most prominent theme that emerged from the interviews. Specifically, these participants perceived the UM community helped them to effectively prepare for events (e.g., obtain information on how to train), manage in race demands (e.g., support from crew members), discover new environments (e.g., running new races) and enhanced their sense of personal achievement (e.g., the exclusivity of the small number of individuals participating in UM).
UM Preparation/strategy highlights the amount of time, dedication, and personal sacrifice needed to be a successful UM runner. While prior research indicates that training hours are key predictors of success, it does not adequately describe the dedication and sacrifice made by these runners. UM runners train for long periods of time without large incentives (e.g., monetary rewards, sponsorships) or established training protocols (e.g., coach, training guidelines). To train effectively these UM runners often sacrificed social relationships, family, and work needs. Therefore, the incentive to train and decisions about nutritional/training needs largely rested with each individual.
UM Management is consistent with prior UM research examining cognitive strategies and goal orientations. With regard to goal orientations, prior research suggests that UM runners focus on task goals (i.e., process) more than outcome goals (i.e., winning the race). This was supported in the current study, with the majority of participants indicating that they were primarily focused on simply doing their best. This included running specific time goals or simply finishing the event within the allotted time. In terms of cognitive strategies, participants described using goal setting, self-talk, attentional focus strategies, cognitive restructuring and imagery to assist with managing the physical and mental demands of the race.
UM major factor in dealing with pain was being able to accept the pain. Specifically, before the race participants acknowledged that the run was going to hurt, and as long as the pain did not exceed a certain threshold, it was viewed as a normal aspect of the race. Several runners also described using associative strategies to manage pain.
UM Discovery and personal achievement suggest that UM are motivated to participate in these races to experience personal achievement, to push themselves beyond their perceived capabilities, and to experience nature. Discovery was also about exploring the unknown, overcoming fear, and unveiling new personal insights (e.g., that they were capable of running a much farther distance than they thought possible).
