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Attention Control February

-Attention control is about concentrating on things that are important while avoiding the distractions.

Concentration

-the ability to select and maintain a correct focus
-factors which assist in concentration are:

a.  focusing on one thing at one time
b.  focusing on factors that are in the present
c.  selectively seeking specific factors, while learning to ignore other factors that may be a distraction.
d.  totally getting involved in the task at hand

Focus

-the ability to bring the important things under control, direct them to the task at hand while blocking out all other distractions.
-focus can have direction (internal or external) and emphasis (broad or narrow).

Refocus

-This is necessary once concentration is broken or lost.

Some Things We Can All Try to Improve Your Ability to Concentrate

1.  Determine what conditions cause you to become distracted on a regular basis?

2.   Develop and use Goals and Goal Setting for each day/weekl/month.

3.  Develop a pre-competitive routine that is made up of all the situations where you have been successful. In those situations, the distractions either were not present or you had them under control. See Appendix 3.

4.  When you have a disruptive thought try to “visualize” it “being compressed by a crusher”, throwing it into the garbage, or “put into a box and then the box being exploded”; or consider them a “bug” and step on them. If some things are bad and disrupt what we are doing some athletes are able to consider this a challenge and actually use the disruption to focus on the tasks or priorities at hand.

5.  “Parking” is the ability to put distractions away until you can look at them at some other time. Imagine that you have a big parking lot with lots of space in it. When you don’t want to deal with some distractions put them in your parking lot. Good performers have learned to park mistakes and move on quickly to potential solutions or consider the next challenge as an opportunity to succeed. Don’t dwell on the past, you cannot control this easily, but prepare for the next attempt at the present. Later come back and assess what happened in the past and how you can prevent it for the future. For example if an official call goes against you it is important to learn how to “park” the call and refocus quickly on “taking care of business”. Look at the bad calls as a test and that can gain you increased energy and intensity, rather than take it away.

Training and Competitive Environment   
- Opponent Capability           
- Opponent Behavior           
- Scoreboard/Clock           
- Officiating               
- Crowd Conditions           
- Media Activities           
- Public Interest               
- Ceremonies               
- Delays/Rushes           
- Practice/Preparation           
- Dressing Room/Warm-up Conditions   
- Facilities               
- Equipment               
- Injuries/Medical Services       
- Doping Tests               
- Other ...   

General Living and Environmental Factors   
- Other ...
- Leisure Activities
- Privacy/Personal Space
- Interaction
- News/Communication/Phone
- New/Different People
- Soci-Economic Conditions
- Political Conditions/Security
- Domestic/International Flights
- Local Travel
- Sleep/Rest
- Accommodation
- Beverages
- Food
- Air conditions
- Weather
       
Previous Preparation Factors       
- Technical Readiness           
- Tactical Readiness           
- Physical Readiness           
- Mental/Emotional Readiness       
- Competitive Experience       
- Observation/Visualization       
- Health/Injuries               
- School/Job Conditions           
- Other...   

Relationships   
- Other ...
- Family/Friends
- Reporters
- Trainer/Massage Therapist
- Sport psychology consultant
- Medical Staff
- Coaches/Manager
- Teammates
- Roommate

6.  Another mental skill is “reading”. Volleyball is a sport where the athlete should have a wide focus and be able to see cues that allow you to anticipate what is going to happen. On the other hand during service and serve receive the athlete must have the ability to narrow the focus. This constant change from a wide focus to a narrow focus is part of the development of concentration. When you start to learn to read you may have to exaggerate your movements of our head, eyes, and body. If you can also improve the skills of staying loose, relaxed and responsive to situations then it will assist in keeping a wide focus of attention.

7.  When you feel yourself starting to lose concentration have one “key word” or “action” that can help you refocus. You may need different words for different skills. i.e. “behind” or “slap the hands together”, etc. Above all you have to be positive and feel that you can control the actions that you do. Keeping concentration is a matter of also knowing when to “not concentrate”. You need some key words in your head that will cause you to focus in on the task at hand. For yourself, for example, as a center blocker, after a T.O. or substitute or even after one serve - say something to your self like "identify" - this means you will look immediately for the oppositions center blocker, where is she, what does she normally attack with, etc. Secondly, as the action is to take place a word like "push quick" - this is the technical part of blocking which means you want to get your hands over the net (penetrate) quickly to the ball. If your team is receiving the serve and you are the attacker then think of some word in your mind that gives you a desire to "explode" at the ball, or if you are going to receive then something like "behind" or "straight arms" or “fast feet” which will help you get ready. All the mental words are like pictures.

Examples of “Key Words”

Technique

-loose, stretch, straight, form, shoulders, arms, wrist

Powerful

-explode, stride, react, quick, cat, fast, boom, lunge, whip, dash, fly, crisp, lift, panther, dynamite, groovy,

Emotional Control

-aggressive, arouse, relax, in control, stay positive, calm, composed, body language, be confident

Positive Words

-great, phenomenal, stupendous, magnificent, terrific, special, unbelievable, super, amazing

Sounds

- bang, whoosh, zing, ping, thud, crunch, blast, thump, stuff

Senses

- taste, touch, see, smell, hear

When the play is finished try to use the time when to touch someone or come together for a cheer with the rest of the team. This is the time to let the concentration go or open up. When you come back come with the next key word in mind according to the phase of the game you are in. When you serve or serve receive you are in control of the ball because you have time to prepare yourself before the action takes place. In the other skills it is a little more rushed

7.At times you may learn to go to “somewhere in your mind” where you know that you control everything around you. “You are the person in charge”. It is a place where you are comfortable, positive and in charge. At first you may have to take some time to create this but eventually you can do this quite quickly - again a key word for your special world may be necessary to transport you there. This is called “centering”. You can do it sitting or standing.

8. Use of “body language” can be a positive step towards allowing you to focus in on the tasks at large. Your “body language” can show a response that you are in control and not out of control. Consider this a major challenge. Negative body language can show poor use of eyes, hands and showmanship for spectators, use of too much voice or lack of voice in certain situations, etc. There is nothing wrong with using “emotion” as a cue word to push you back into reality and refocus your attention. It is wrong when “emotion” controls your responses and you dwell upon it at the expense of performance.

a.    Breathing focus - use controlled breathing to relax and assist in focusing. Sit on a bench or chair, focus on an object somewhere on a wall or in your mind, think about positive experiences, listen to your breathing.

b.    Clock Face

i.Look at a clock on the wall, concentrate on the 2nd hand. Blink eyes every five seconds or snap the fingers.

ii.Next time snap fingers every ten seconds.

iii.The third time, try it every five seconds but with eyes closed.

c.Alternate or Shuttle Back and Forth

i.Sit down, be comfortable, close eyes and think about something very specific, open eyes and see if you can recognize many things around you. Turn directions to get a different focus of attention when you open your eyes. Each time you open your eyes can you find some different things?

ii.Same as above but put your hands around your eyes, (close your eyes) they should become like a pair of binoculars, open the eyes and focus in on one object. Hold for 5 - 10 sec’s and then take your hands away - what do you now see? Say what you see to yourself.

iii.Take two radios, with music, and put them about the same distance away from you (i.e. 3 m), one on each side. Make one of them the point of distraction and the other the point of concentration. Can you only listen to the one and not the other, i.e. can you tune out the one that you consider the distraction?

iv.Do the same as iii but find some talk shows. After concentrating on the one can you repeat what was said or the essence of the content?

d.    Watch a match or a sequence of events in a match through a rolled up piece of paper, like a telescope. Focus in on one player or movement. Take the paper away and watch the same type of movement. What do you see that is different, what keys are different or the same?

How Do You Control Distractions?

1.    “dress rehearsals”

-doing everything that will happen in the match itself

2.    rehearsal of simulated competition experiences

-exaggerate what can happen

3.     mental rehearsal

-use of visualization with relaxation and imagery skills. “The eye of the mind” is very important to build confidence, to build positive responses, to handle stress situation. One learns if a new technique has been learnt by what happens in a “stress” situation. Rehearsal in the mind makes learning of the skill easier. See yourself scoring the last point, making the dig, blocking it down, etc.

    Above all we must be prepared to open our minds, attempt to create change and work at being in control of the things that we can control - “because if they are not in our control then they are no use worrying about”. We cannot think of “winning” as the only measurement of what we do with our lives. Yes, it definitely is a part of everything we train for. However, if we think that playing volleyball is a process and not an end in itself, then we can turn negatives into positive. We can measure our performance by things other than “winning” . However, winning is how we measure the final success or failure of our current goal. Each competition is not final. It is for this one moment in time and if we if we do the small things correct we will find that the “process leading to winning” will give us a better chance to have success in all our goals.

    This article is a summation of the major ideas of the authors listed below – all have had volleyball application experience. To accomplish the ‘skills’ above takes practice and ‘trial and error’. However, without treating it as a ‘practice skill’ you will not all be naturally gifted with the talents needed to make your players better. Mental training is important within the 13-17 age groups. Start mental training early and players will have solutions, start it late and then players will have not be able to respond to the pressures they will face.

There is no achievement without goals!

This one step - choosing a goal and sticking to it - changes everything!

There is no success without hardship!

There is always a better way ...
Your challenge is to find it!

Information take from:
Botterill and Patrick, Human Potential, 1996
Hogg, J. Mental Skills, 1995
Dr. Lorne Sawula