PSYCHOLOGICAL CO-ACTIVE - DAN ABRAHAMS PART 2

Here's another 15 tips from Dan:

Training Environment – Shapes attitude, energy and effort and each of these aren't simply traits players have or not, they are choices the player has to display or not, and you have to bring it out of them and players will become better at choosing them in their given situation when they have been taught, and learned, the appropriate skills that gave them that capacity.

Zone v Flow – Being in the zone is when time slows down for you and it feels like you have all the space in the world where flow is when time speeds up and you can get a lot done quickly

Uncoachable Players – Accept their behaviour. Listen to what they want and how they wanna do it. Brainstorm with them the benefits of their approach. Negotiate acceptable behaviours and make an agreement. Hold them accountable for their behaviours.

Celebrate Anxieties – Have players share negative feelings in groups. Write them down. Celebrate them. Put them up on the wall. Brainstorm solutions together. Decide to plan to work on these together. Emphasise continued support for each other mentally.

Direct Focus – focus on progression over perfection, process over outcome, small steps over big leaps, the next 5secs not the next 5mins and your best over your worst.

Game Day Coaching – for players who get anxious before games help them set objectives that are specific, controllable (or as controllable as you possible) and positive. Have them breathe correctly. Have them rationalise thoughts (question musts and have to’s). Have a game face. Put mindset 1^st on game day.

Coach to Player Psychology – Memory x tell me about your best one. Imagination x talk to me about your dream game. Perception x how can you see this situation in a more helpful way?

Mindset – You can’t be tough on performance but not tough on mindset so be tolerant of performance, but be tough on mindset which can improve performance through a reduction of anxiety.

Internal Psychology – I must pay attention (focus/concentration) by staying on-task. I must maintain optimal internal arousal. I must execute actions with positive intent (confidence/approach).

Decision Making – Your brain is a predictive machine anticipating moment to moment changes and sensing data in order to navigate/control the body and doing so away from conscious thought. The action/s the brain decides upon are based on your memeory of what’s happened before and your current envirnoment and situation. The predictive brain has implications for athletes because invasion sports has a great relationship between space, players and the ball so to help players anticipate with accuracy and speed, you need to help them direct their attention towards cues and clues associated with the relationship between space, players and the ball. This also helps to build chunks of memory around space, players and ball that will help the brain detect patterns and make optimal decisions in the future. In racquet, bat and ball sports you can help players direct their attention towards clues and cues emanating from their opposition.

Isolation Practice – Is likely important in sport because working memory is limited but isolation practice can strip away the noise and allow for the athlete to pay attention to key details that need improving. Isolation practice engages the pre-frontal cortex by giving voluntary attention and this engages neuroplasticity to create new ways of thinking. It might best work on a psyco-socio level rather then neurologically from cultural acceptance/expectation of isolation practice in the past.

Game Day Preparation - Picture a great performance every single day. Avoid thinking too much about the game 2 hours pre-game. Mentally warm up as good as you physically warm up. Leave the last 10mins for an individual warm up.

Staying in the Moment – Pay attention and commit to constantly detecting cues in the environment. Have self talk cues and instructional triggres to stay present. Have time sensitive tasks to accomplish.

High Performace Mindset – Attention x being on task at all times). Intensity x the correct level of activation at all times. Intent x executing every action with positive intent.

Players Mantra – I am in charge when I play football, not my emotions, not the opposition, not the umpires, nobody but me, and I am in charge of when, and how, I play football. I dominate and own me. I am in charge.