Tag Archive for 'Errore'

The mistake is not correct it

The quote by Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC), “To make a mistake and not correct it, that, indeed, is a mistake,” emphasizes the importance of learning from mistakes and wrong experiences. In other words, making an initial mistake is not necessarily a problem, but persisting in the mistake without making corrections or learning from the situation is what makes the mistake a problem.

Here are some reasons to reflect upon:

Learning - Mistakes are often a natural part of the learning process. When we make a mistake, we have the opportunity to understand what went wrong and how we can avoid it in the future. Ignoring the mistake or not trying to correct it means missing the opportunity to learn and improve.

Personal Growth - Overcoming mistakes and correcting one’s behavior or actions is a sign of maturity and personal growth. It means being able to recognize when one is wrong and having the willingness to do better next time.

Success - In both the professional and personal worlds, success often depends on the ability to adapt, improve, and correct mistakes. People who cannot do so may find themselves in difficult or unexpected situations that could have been avoided with a change in behavior or approach.

Interpersonal Relationships - In relationships with others, admitting to mistakes and correcting oneself is essential to maintain trust and motivation. Hiding mistakes or always insisting on being right can damage relationships and lead to more serious conflicts.

In short, making mistakes is a common aspect of the human condition, and what matters is how we deal with and what we learn from those mistakes. Not correcting oneself and persisting in mistakes can have negative consequences, while recognizing them and committing to improvement is an important step towards success and personal growth.

The referee: a man alone with his worries

Once again a refereeing error negatively affected the result of the match. It happened in Milan-Spezia where Serra for a supposed foul by Bastoni stopped the attack of Rebic, who had served Messias, whose shot under the cross had been successful.

The referee immediately realized the glaring mistake he had made but obviously could not turn back. This fact shows us once again that sometimes it is the referees who have a major influence on the outcome of the match. Technology helps but does not exempt from mistakes. This new case highlights a substantial difference between the errors of the players and those of the referees. The former have the team to take refuge in while the referees remain alone with their sense of guilt for having made a mistake, which should not have happened. Everyone agrees that mistakes are part of the game but this assumption is not enough for the referee to get out of the angst that a serious mistake causes. Serra’s mistake is like that of Jorginho who misses the decisive penalty or of the gymnasts who pursue the perfection of their performance without succeeding. We never talk about volleyball or basketball refereeing, because the referee’s choices rarely determine the final result, they are sports where points are scored in every minute of the match and the value of referee’s sanctions have less impact on the match. In soccer it is different. The goal is a rare event and the game is influenced by cautions, important facts for that game and the next.

The player goes to the field the next day and has teammates and staff to share his problems with. The referee has no one, he has no teammates, he has a boss, the manager who, if on one hand can understand him, on the other hand is the one who decides the games he will referee and if it is the case to stop him for some championship turns. The referee is alone in having to fight with the insecurities generated by a wrong choice, and I hope that in his private life he has people with whom he can share his feelings and fears, without being judged but simply accepted, because mistakes are part of any profession.

L’arbitro: un uomo solo con le sue insicurezze

What does it mean “mistake” in sport

Have you ever defined sports or what you play as a function of mistakes?

If we try, we have sports in which:

  1. the error can always be recovered: tennis, table tennis, jumps and throws in athletics
  2. the error cannot be recovered, unless the opponent makes a mistake: archery, shooting sports, golf, biathlon
  3. the error is catastrophic: precision sports, artistic gymnastics, diving, synchronized swimming, downhill skiing
  4. the error can put life itself at risk: motor sports, mountaineering, extreme skiing, apnea
  5. the error is determined by the inability to keep up with the pace of the winners: running, road cycling, walking, canoeing, rowing, cross-country skiing, swimming
  6. the error can be compensated by the mates: team sports

Each of these categories requires a different focus, which in turn necessitates a specific program of psychological preparation.

Be focused on the performance and not the outcome

I often wonder if it isn’t repetitive to keep talking about thinking about the performance rather than thinking about the result.

Nevertheless, I still find myself talking about this topic with the young people I work with, for the reason that they bring it up. Some says: “I always think about the result of the match, since the day before so I get tense and nervous and this doesn’t help me” or even “I think about the most important match even if it is in a month and not about the ones that come before”. A tennis player: “Before I was always thinking about the point, now I think more about pushing”.

Let’s just say that most athletes are not trained to think about performance, which concerns the behaviors to put in place to achieve the result goals (win, do your personal best, get into the final) but they think more easily of the result of their actions, I won/lost.

Many young people still think that the result should be their main thought.

Athletes must be aware that the mistake is always technical, if a shot in soccer goes out instead of into the goal it means that the ball has been hit badly, but this is only the effect, the question that the athlete and the coach must answer is:

  • the mistake is technical because the young has tried a shot that he/she does not yet fully possess due to some technical limitation.
  • the mistake is mental because he/she had to pass the ball, since from that position he/she would never have hit the goal.

The same mistake can be caused by different factors, if the coach continually puts the emphasis only on technique or tactics, the athlete will develop a mentality in which every mistake is always technical and therefore he/she never think to train the mindset.

Coach the youth’s emotions

After the Champions League defeat Simeone, the coach of Atletico Madrid,  said that: ” you can win by losing if you play at your best.” It’s a key concept for the development of an athlete and it should be taught until the first day that a child starts one sport. On the contrary, we see young people who just made ​​a mistake they get angry with themselves or get depressed. We know that this happens for the conjunction of different reasons: the parents are distracted and do not give much weight to these behaviors, the coaches are more focused on teaching the technique rather than emotionally to train athletes and the young people themselves also are not good at expressing their emotions and to take care of themselves in a positive way. And so, I look every day tennis players slamming their racket to the ground after a little mistake, alternating moods of depression and anger against them or in other sports in which after one mistake they made ​​a repeat others, because they are dominated by frustration. To change this way of life setbacks and mistakes parents and coaches must be more aware of their role as emotional-coaches and the need to work with their children and athletes to change these behaviors. We must not impose our solutions of adults to their problems. We must instead listen empathetically without to judge, so as to feel supported and respected in their moods. Only after this stage we should start talking about what could be done differently, giving time to express their ideas and for us to express our own. Acting in this way takes time and often it’s this reason that adults do not follow this path. But we must be aware that if we often act in this manner, the young people will begin to think that their reactions are not interesting  for their parents and coaches, and worse they will still continue to behave in a negative way. If we want our children develop the ability to effectively manage their daily stresses,  we have to spend the time to teach them how to behave, feel and think in those moments.

Refocus after one mistake

Many athletes stay focused for a long time, but when they make one mistake it becomes difficult to re-focus themselves on what they have to do. This happens in all sports. I wish to whom is starting a new competitive season to conduct workouts that have the aim of improving this ability to refocus after an error.

La gestione dell’errore

La competenze nella gestione degli errori è l’arma vincente degli atleti. Tutti gli atleti hanno difficoltà ad accettare l’errore e la loro abilità nel guidarsi in questi momenti determina la differenza fra coloro che forniscono prestazioni ottimali e gli altri. Commettere un errore non è mai un problema, è un fenomeno ricorrente, si potrebbe dire fisiologico della prestazione sportiva. La differenza si determina nella reazione, chi è in grado di accettarlo e di ri-focalizzarsi sulla prestazione successiva scava un abisso tra sé e gli avversari. Pertanto gli psicologi non si devono preoccupare degli errori ma piuttosto di come si comportano gli atleti subito dopo. Prendersi cura di questi aspetti è solo apparentemente facile poichè l’atleta è veramente un blade runner. Bisogna capire e sapere come intervenire e non basta solo il semplice utilizzo di una tecnica psicologica, vi è qualcosa di più e di cui parleremo in una prossima occasione

L’errore quando si gioca bene

Un errore tipico degli atleti e che ultimamente ho dovuto affrontare più volte, riguarda le aspettative generate durante la competizione dallo stare fornendo una buona o anche ottima prestazione, ma che a un certo punto, nella sua fase finale, invece, comincia a deteriorarsi sino a diventare insufficiente. Si può sintetizzare così: “sto facendo bene e poi apparentemente quasi di colpo ho fatto male e non mi sono più ripreso”. Questo risultato evidenzia la difficoltà a controllare le aspettative di concludere così come si è cominciato, si pensa che dovrà succedere proprio in questo modo e poi al primo errore si entra in uno stato mentale d’incredulità per l’errore commesso, incrementando la tensione in modo disfunzionale alla prestazione. Che fare. Il primo passo consiste nello spiegare a questi atleti che trovarsi in difficoltà è un fatto fisiologico e che soprattutto quando si sta facendo bene la pressione su di sè cresce e questa, se non controllata, aumenta di molto la probabilità di sbagliare. Si può fare molto, ma questo è il tema di una prossima volta.

Non dare nulla per scontato

Nello sport l’errore è sempre in agguato. Frase scontata solo all’apparenza perchè altrimenti non ci stupiremmo quando le cose non vanno come avrebbero dovuto. L’Inter, è una squadra fortissima e vincente ma in questo momento non lo è più. La Ferrari: errore banale e perde il mondiale. La nazionale di pallavolo femminile ai mondiali non ha funzionato. Non si vuole analizzare le cause ma sottolineare che non è scontato ripetersi: “Abbiamo vinto e allora vinceremo un’altra volta.” E’ molto più probabile l’opposto: “Giacchè abbiamo vinto, non vinceremo”, perchè può essere che non si abbia più voglia di vincere o di continuare a fare gli stessi sacrifici. Perchè i giocatori sono stanchi e meno motivati o perchè la sicurezza di raggiungere il risultato fa affrontare le situazioni con più superficialità. La presunzione è il punto debole dei forti, perchè non si ha più voglia di fare tutte quelle cose che non piacciono ma che sono necessarie per vincere.