Tag Archive for 'Coni'

Youth sport and the coach training

Il Seminario offrirà una panoramica delle più recenti ricerche nel campo dell’allenamento dei giovani atleti. In modo particolare verranno illustrati due modelli utilizzati per favorire un maggiore coinvolgimento ed assicurare il massimo impegno dei giovani nelle attività sportive: il Personal Assets Framework (PAF) e il Developmental Model of Sport Participation (DMSP).
Proprio quest’ultimo Modello, che mira allo sviluppo dei tre obiettivi tipici dei programmi per le attività giovanili, ossia Prestazione, Partecipazione e Sviluppo Personale, sarà protagonista del prossimo numero della Rivista della Scuola dello Sport con un approfondito Articolo.
Durante la giornata, si analizzeranno le tre componenti fondamentali di questi Modelli: le caratteristiche delle attività da svolgere, le competenze gli allenatori ed il contesto operativo.

Riguardo la formazione degli allenatori, verrà indicata come utile una prospettiva che metta al centro le relazioni interpersonali come strumento necessario per sostenere una partecipazione a lungo termine da parte degli allievi.

Il Relatore principale del Seminario è il Prof. Jean Cotè della Queen’s University di Kingston (Canada), il quale, per mezzo dello “Sport Psychology PLAYS Research Group”, da lui fondato e finanziato tra gli altri anche dalla English Football Association, svolge costante attività di ricerca sui fattori psicosociali che influenzano la performance e la partecipazione nell’attività sportiva, con particolare attenzione al contesto giovanile.
Il Docente rappresenta sicuramente un punto di riferimento in campo Internazionale per tutti gli studiosi ed i tecnici che si occupano di allenamento giovanile e della formazione degli allenatori.

Seminar: Hit the target

 Tirare al bersaglio

Le componenti psicologiche nei compiti di mira

Mercoledì 3 maggio 2017 – ore 9-17
Roma, Scuola dello Sport – Centro di Preparazione Olimpica “G. Onesti” Coni  

In many sports success and failure depend on the ability of the athlete to hit a target. In some cases, this is the only purpose of the athletes’ performances, as occurs in disciplines related to the shooting. In other sports, the athletes is required to hit a target after an opponent’s defensive measures of the opponent, like in team sports. In other cases the opponent is the target, such as fencing or boxing. In these sports, the performances are closely linked to social, emotional, behavioral, psychophysiological aspects and mental abilities that are investigated by the psychology. The knowledge of these aspects provides to the coaches clear suggestions on how to address and monitor the training and to the psychologists specific tools to correctly orient their professional skills in the field of sports. The goal of the seminar is to provide all stakeholders with the tools to expand their knowledge and to successfully interact in the interest of the athletes and their performances.

The terrible numbers of the Italian sport: sedentary win!

The numbers of the survey regarding the sport practice in Italy by Coni and Istat, show that the sedentary continue to be too many and that the percentage of people doing sport or physical activity does not show significant improvements in all age groups.

In Italy:

  • 25% population practice sport regularly
  • 9.7% sometimes
  • 30.5% practice some physical activity
  • 39.2% are sedentary
  • 30,5%  population with physical active life style in the Northeast
  • 17.5% a re in the South
  • 52.7% of the population in the South are sedentary
  • 5.7% of leisure time of the population between 3-24 years is dedicated to sport for 2h13m per week
  • from 2000 to 2016 the % of practitioners on an ongoing basis has increased by 7%
  • from 2013 to 2016 is increased of 3%

We certainly cannot be satisfied. These data continue to highlight that Italy is split in two in terms of sport and  during the last 18 years the improvement has been really small (8%). This data highlights the lack of national policies for the development of a physically active lifestyle. Sport and physical activity continue to be regarded as leisure activities and not as primary factors for the development of individual and social wellbeing. On the other hand these data were presented without the major sports organizations have denounced their seriousness and the adverse effect they produce on the health of citizens.

Sport psychology 50 years since the 1° International Congress

Interesting and very usful article by Fabio Lucidi titled  ”From Rome 1965 to Rome 2015: Sport psychology fifty years since the first International Congress”, Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, XLII, 3, 2015, 381-394.

Abstract

The first International Congress of Sport Psychology took place on April the 20th, 1965, in the Auditorium of the Italian Olympic Committee in Rome. The Congress, marking the beginning of Modern Era of this scientific field, was organized by a small group of pioneers, led by the Italian psychiatrist Ferruccio Antonelli. Exactly fifty years after, this historical occasion has been celebrated in the very same place of the Italian Olympic Committee Centre, in Rome, during the «International Society of Sport Psychology» 50th Anniversary’ Seminar. This recurrence represents the occasion to reflect on the past, and on the way in which the political and social facts have influenced the development of this scientific field and on the future, namely on the opportunities that it may reserve for sport psychologists.

Free service to know the mental coaching

We are at the beginning of the Pre-Olympic year. In fact the Olympic Games begin in Rio on August 6, 2016 and the Paralympic on September 7, 2016. For most of the athletes will start a decisive period for their sporting careers: they must train and compete to qualify for the most world important sport event. Each of them will live this time in a personal way. There are those who have not participated in the Olympics that they hope to achieve this goal, and next to them there are the more experienced athletes who have already had this experience but who want to be there and be competitive again. Even the psychological preparation is now an integral part of the programs of many athletes and teams. These programs are not only popular in Europe, North America and Australia but also in many Asian countries. So much so that it was just published a book  entitled “Secrets of Asian Sport Psychology” which contains 22 experiences conducted in many nations of this continent.

Below there are the major psychological skills of Olympic medalists:

  • High motivation and commitment
  • Toughness
  • High level of confidence under pressure
  • Identification of objectives
  • Emotion self-regulation in the decisive moments
  • Having well-organized routine during competition
  • Knowing cope with distractions and unexpected events
  • Focus
  • Visualization

In the world, this approach is not diffuse every where as it should be and for this reason many athletes do not reach the level they aspire also if they are technically and physically well prepared, because they do not spend resources in the mental coaching or because they rely on low-skilled professionals with no experience in international competitions.
In addition there is not an organization recognized to ask questions on this issue or to request a contact with a counselor for information on what is a program of mental coaching.
My company, CEI Consulting, wants instead to offer this FREE SERVICE to athletes, coaches and sport managers who want to know more about this aspect of sports training and competition.

To undertake a process of mental training necessary to know what to expect from it. In particular athletes and coaches will find specific answers in relation to:

  • Timing of implementation of the program
  • Skills that will be developed and optimized
  • Utilities for the athlete and the coach
  • And his mode of training periodization
  • Frequency of participation of mental coach to practices and competitions
  • Psychological evaluation of past races

Finally, the proposed system is absolutely new in collaboration with Enhanced Performance System of San Diego related to:

  • Analysis and workout style attentional staff (team) compared with the demands attentive and speed / accuracy of the sport practiced
  • Comparison between attentional and interpersonal style and that of the coach of the athlete (strengths of the report and likely points of friction)
  • Identification of the level of Killer Instinct athlete, decisive in times of increased competitive pressure
  • Feature Comparison attentive athlete with those of athletes from many nations who hold a world record

Those interested in knowing more in relation to mental coaching applied to their sport do not hesitate to contact us on: info@ceiconsulting.it

 

The motivators are the forgers of mental coaching

The motivators and mental coaches without a degree in psychology are spreading in the sport as well as in business. They are people who are involved in these worlds by leveraging on the need for success. Winning is, today, the only thing that counts and too many athletes are duped by people who like change strategies based on the insults or make them walk on hot coals, as if it was an event needed to believe in himself. Unfortunately, some of these motivators are successful, because sport organizations (Olympic Committee, clubs and sport associations) do not do anything to help the athletes and coaches to choose. In fact, sometimes these organizations are glad to this autonomy of the athletes, because in this way they save money and they have not to face the problem of choosing a professional who should also to pay.

The starting point of this reflection came from an interview with the motivator of football player Bonucci (reported by a connoisseur of the sport and of the human soul which is Gianni Mura with the article “The garlic motivates Bonucci but the breath does not make the monk “in which he talked how he worked with him. Everything would be funny if it were not a joke but a counseling job. Of course, every individual can choose who he wants as a personal mentor or mental coach, but as psychologists we have the duty to assert that the individual improving goes through competent and qualified professionals and not by people who are appointed by themselves as motivators, mental coach or whatever just based on personal considerations. The profession of psychologist, as that of the doctor, lawyer or others is subject to strict rules and no one can exercise it without proper qualification. Not surprisingly those who have decided to do without these requirements have had to invent new words to be defined, and so  the term “motivator “and” mental coach ” were born. Anyone can be defined in this way, even the barman near our house and he will not be prosecuted by law.

It’s necessary that the Psychologist Roster as well as the Olympic Committee and sports federations are at the forefront of spreading a professionally correct  approach to mental coaching, otherwise the sports culture will be affected and only who will be more aggressive on the market will win.

Review: #100volteCONI

#100volteCONI

Mille cinguettii per 100 anni di CONI

Gianni Bondini

Absolutely Free Editore, 2014, 175p. 

http://www.absolutelyfree.it/

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) celebrated this year 100 years and Gianni Bondini wanted to retrace this period with a current style. “To flash” writes himself like Twitter but without respecting the rule of 140 characters, too few to make himself understood. But  the purpose was this: to attract young people, the people of social networks to our sport history. The first two chapters cover the 400 years prior to the CONI foundation and we discover, for example, that football in 1400 was a combat sport with two teams of 27 players and 6 referees for a game that could have a duration of a day. That the challenge of Barletta in 1503 can be considered as a team competition. Or that in 1423, Vittorino da Feltre organized a university campus where the rich young men studied and practiced sport, because “the mind develops in harmony with the body.” While in 1519, is published in Venice the “Encyclopedia of exercise” and the United States to cancel the traditional British rugby turns it in American football and cricket in baseball. But these are just some of the valuable information that we find in the 11 chapters, presented more in a few lines, never more than 10/12. Bondini produces a repetition knowledge probably known only  by sports historians and ignored by the multitude of  coaches and managers. Who knows for example that the newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport was published initially on Mondays and Fridays on green paper and yellow to stand out, while from January 2, 1899 comes in pink. Anyone complains today that athletes are often left alone, he’s right if you think with the mind of today, but we may find out that it was much worse before. At first Olympic Games in Athens , officially did not attend any Italian. It is not true. Carlo Airoldi came on foot from Milan, 1338 km, but he did not compete in the marathon because in a race won 2 Italian Lire and for this reason he could not be called as amateur. Of doping it was spoken in 1904 for the Games in Saint Louis, derived from the English word “dope,” which describes a stimulating drink for the horses. I could go on with many other news, the book is full of them, that we can read with great pleasure, because tweets are written with a great sense of humor. I want to conclude by saying that it’s a book of culture, it tells what was and what is now the sport organized by CONI. It ‘s a book stimulating curiosity and more knowledge as tweets do not allow in-depth and not surprisingly, the first  Twitter of the book is entitled: #Buy sports books. These are the words that Giulio Onesti said the March 8, 1948 offering of his own pocket  80,000 Lire to the National Sporting Library.

The disaster of the Italian sedentarity

The sport for all in Italy is now considered to be like the air for the prisoners, toreduce a bit the frustrations that plague us. So at school there are no more than two hours a week and the physical education teacher is the least considered in the class councils. Fortunately, there are parents who are willing to pay to ensure that their children are engaged in a club sport. Not to mention the adult to whom it has never been no policy to introduce them to an active approach to physical activity. It’s an old and repetitive speech that has returned to the fore at the conference organized by the Italian Olympic Committee and Istat on the theme “Sport in Italy – Numbers and Context 2014.”  It  was found that the sedentaries are more than 24 million, or nearly 42 % of Italians. Percentage who is an Everest to the South, 56.2%, while in the North down to 31.7% and Centre to 41%. To understand the dramatic nature of these data, I just remember that in Europe, the countries with higher practitioners, according to the Eurobarometer survey on sport and physical activity, are those of Northern Europe: Sweden, where 70% of people say to do gymnastics or sports at least once a week, they are just over Denmark (68%) and Finland (66%) followed by the Netherlands (58%) and Luxembourg (54%). Negative end of the list, there are Bulgaria, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Italy. Even if the sport as a physically active lifestyle, it’s not part of the Italian political agenda, however, we must move from mere complaint to concrete proposals. I refer to some among those made in the USA from 50 scientific associations, academic and professional skills who sent a letter to Barack Obama to support the urgent need for action in this field to prevent diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular problems and bone and other chronic conditions. The letter takes into account some strategic issues such as:

  • Public education programs to ensure that all Americans understand the benefits of healthy lifestyles and how to take advantage of the range of options open to them;
  • Professional education so that health professionals consider physical activity a vital sign like blood pressure and cholesterol levels, to be monitored and tracked regularly;
  • Electronic Medical Records that include fields for physical activity. As health provider systems convert to EMRs, they can easily begin to track exercise as a vital sign;
  • Medical school curricula that give all physicians an adequate grounding in how to counsel patients on healthy lifestyles, and
  • Increased opportunities for underserved populations to enjoy exercise and physical activity, by addressing disparities in the built environment, access to equipment and other barriers.

Conference: The mental aspect who promote the performance

Program: http://www.scuoladellosport.coni.it/images/Programma_6_ST_2013.pdf

 

 

Psychological Support Brings Olympic Success for Korean Athletes

The Republic of Korea has enjoyed its best Olympic Games results since 1988, finishing 5th in the medal table in London, with a total of 28 medals including 13 golds. Two of its most successful teams, archery and shooting, both benefited from psychological support programmes. 

Support for the Korean archery team was provided by Young Sook Kim, from the Korea Institute of Sport Science, during an 11-month period preceding the Games. Support was provided in 1-2 hr sessions, 2-3 times per week, and included psychological profiling and psychological skills training that was progressively individualiszd in training and tailored towards the Olympic competition. The archery team won 3 gold medals and 1 bronze medal in London.

The Korean shooting team was even more successful in London, winning 3 golds and 2 silvers. Support was provided in the two years preceding the Olympic Games by ByungHyun Kim, also from the Korea Institute of Sport Science, an applied practitioner of 20 years’ experience. Support emphasized anxiety control, concentration, confidence, and coping with the high expectations of the Korean public.