The Stunning Dynamics Of Mind Sport

By RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR

Just take a look at a top-class gymnast, who is prepared to mount the horizontal bar for the last event in any Olympiad. His/her bar routine, or even mechanics, is without an element of fault; his/her body language, and astounding form, not to speak of grace and elegance, have full control on all his/her optional tricks. If his/her entire act is spectacular, so are his/her release moves. S/he lets go his/her frame of the high-bar in mid-air, and cruises along in anticipation of a perfect landing. The entire journey is human engineering ingenuity at its very best. So much so, a solitary blemish, howsoever trivial, is, quite simply, dreaded by the greatest in the business. For one simple reason: the way to winning a gold medal is more than a touch-and-go affair.

How do gymnasts achieve such great levels of perfection? Not by physical excellence alone, but by way of what is termed as their imagery disk. A replay of the actual exercise in the mind: something that would be in sync with one’s mind and body. Research has shown that calling on one’s mental practice training helps ensure a flawless performance. Studies have also revealed another primal fact: those athletes who actually made the Olympic team, and competed in the Games, were doing more mental practice in the final stages of preparation than their less successful colleagues.

Mental Preparation

Psychologists believe that mental preparation, or its timing, is the basis for one who succeeds. But, they are also next to nothing if visualisation strategies appropriate for a particular event aren’t incorporated, pitched-in for, with purpose and fortitude. Mental training, after all, is now an accepted part of most training programmes. What’s more, we are also in an epoch where athletes/sportspersons can honestly assert, that, they won only because they trained hard physically and psychologically, or psychically, to use a holistic description. A case in point: the Australian cricket team, under Steve “Magic” Waugh, and now Ricky Ponting.

Mental homework holds the password for every sporting effort. If sportspersons are not prepared with a set of images that are out in front of them, they may not have anything to fall back upon when they race, or strike it out in the middle. Sport goals would only remain a chimera: a case of just not doing enough. Be that as it may, and thanks to the many dramatic changes that have occurred in the way players prepare, train, and compete at all levels of sport, coaches are now game to the mind/body approach to training. The results speak for themselves -- more so, in the developed world, and also very palpably in some Asian countries like China. Here are its dynamics:

Steven Ungerleider, PhD, a renowned sports psychologist and author of “Mental Training For Peak Performance,” is a researcher with his own expanse and detector. He focuses his study on a host of mental strategies champion athletes use to excel in a variety of sports: from running, cycling, golf, tennis, swimming to weight training. His bottom line: before you can win on the track, court, etc., you have to win in your head. It is a prescription that is more than worth its weight in gold.

“Mental practice,” according to Ungerleider, “simply means repeating a task in your mind without any movements from your body.” He adds: “Imagery can [therefore] be described as an exercise that uses all of the senses to create an experience in the mind... [And] visualisation is just one part of this imagery experience.” “Competitive athletes,” he further explains, “use imagery to help control anxiety, anger, and/or pain. Athletes who learn these skills recreate emotions in their minds to enhance the quality of their performances.” When imagery is used effectively, notes Ungerleider, the learning process becomes exciting. It also opens up a whole new realm of human potential.

Imagery

Imagery is an animated part of the learning process. Athletes, for instance, emulate the actions of others because their minds “take a picture” of the activity. Next? You have it taped. And, you use it as a model for your performance/s. Says Ungerleider: “Imagery is based on memory, and we experience it internally by reconstructing external events in our minds.” One paradigm: if you are a tennis player, it tells you what to do. “[Leander] Paes, get your girlfriend out of the picture, relax your grip, get your feet in motion, and derive joy from the game.” The alchemy looks quite easy to understand, but it is a delicate relationship, or balance: a template of mind-over-matter parallel.

How does mental practice work? Sports researchers contend that there are two possible explanations behind the idea. One is called the symbolic learning theory; two, the psycho-neuro-muscular theory. It is believed that imagery maybe part of a coding system that actually helps athletes understand movement. The symbolic learning theory says that every move we make in life is first coded like a blueprint in our minds and the nervous system. When an athlete, for instance, mentally rehearses an athletic event, s/he is factually blueprinting each move, making the gestures symbolic, or more familiar, to his/her body chemistry. By constant mental practice, the stage is set for movement to become quite automatic, and also easy to recall.

Example: If Rahul Dravid wants to improve his drive still further, he might break out each component of the task by mentally rehearsing each sequence of the shot: of each movement of his hand, forearm, and elbow. From such a code of symbolic components, he’d create a familiarity that would enhance his shot, make it more relaxed, strong, and also accurate. Ultimately, Dravid can think of the whole exercise as an appui: a platform for the higher purposes of his dexterous game itself.

Even when one sits on a chair, relaxed, one is actually producing very small muscular contractions similar to those involved in a particular sport. Which is also a passive kind of mental practice, and one reason why mental practice works. To cull an example from Ungerleider: “In the mind of Olympic diving champions such as Greg Louganis, mental “faxes” and other electronic impulses are constantly sent to the muscles and tendons to remind them how to leap from the springboard, prepare to tuck, rotate for several spins, and then unravel the body for a perfect no-splash entry into the pool. These messages travel at lightning speed, and cause the muscles to fire at appropriate sequences so they can perform the correct sporting movement.”

All great, new programmes that have been devised to help the modern sportsperson are broad-based on building one’s confidence, with affirmations and self-talk. Tennis legend Pete Sampras, for example, used such positive affirmations and self-talk to remind himself that he could conquer an opponent even if he was behind, and not playing well. Talking to oneself, psychologists opine, boosts belief in one’s own ability. In the process, they become great emotional strengths and enhance self-esteem and self-worth. It is a lifelong event that we never lose.

Breathing & Meditation

Ungerleider also emphasises on the magical, potent qualities of clearing the athlete’s mind with breathing and meditation. Meditation is nature’s most natural antidote for competitive stress: more so, in this age of greater expectations, where there’s always so much at stake. He explains: “Breathing properly is important because it sets the stage for other mental and physical responses that cue your body to prepare for competitive stress. With each inhalation, you should include a feeling of relaxation; with each exhalation, focus on letting go of any muscular tension in the body.”

It goes without saying that athletes can maximise performance with mental snapshots, even without realising it. It helps one call the shots. But, you ought to be careful. You’d, of course, as a sportsperson, always practice the correct imagery response -- not the imperfect. Practice, after all, makes things perfect. You should also try to be relaxed: to rev up. Ungerleider has this illustration to drive home the point: “In tennis, as in any other sport, strong emotions are involved in the mental practice of the correct athletic skills. When you are tense or annoyed, you might fire off an out-of-control backhand followed by a series of terrible shots. If you don’t correct the imagery, the shots get worse.”

Relaxation holds the key to physical and mental skill development. It brings the best in us all. Relaxation, in sports, must be cultivated through a structured training programme that includes imagery and visualisation strategies. Agreed that most of us are susceptible to all sorts of emotions, including anxiety and/or anger. Emotions can be very disruptive to learning and practicing imagery skills. So, how do you go about the “ideal” method of relaxation contiguous with proper imagery and visualisation skills? Here goes --

Relax

Sit in a chair and begin to tighten your right hand fist. After 10 seconds of tightness, release all the muscles, and let your hand go completely limp. Now, do the exact thing for your left hand, making a tight fist and increasing the muscle tension for 10 seconds. Now release. Notice the tension, followed by a sensation of letting go and relaxed energy flow. It should feel pretty good. You can see that if you were to spend 30-40 minutes each day tightening and loosening all the major muscle groups of your body, the outcome might be quite delightful. You can add on to the programme too. On your own. For better results. In addition, you can make your own tape, and talk your way through a complete body relaxation. All you have to do is get more comfortable and visualise a pleasant, relaxing image -- of yourself, and not just run for the next commercial assignment.

With relaxation, you are also assured to get into a level of sharp focus: of precise structures without many distractions. You are also loosened up. It is a skill anyone can learn. Once you have become quite proficient, you can get into your acme of what is known as guided imagery: to make your visions more vivid, to fine-tune your style, to rewind and review, and have access to your image bank. It is a visual rehearsal of sorts, where you have your strengths and weaknesses taped in your mind. It is also a roadmap, which helps you get over your faults and improves upon your strengths.

All athletes, says Ungerleider, should get psyched up without losing the edge. If distractions can destroy concentration, he avers, you ought to be more focused, and not let feel yourself forced. It’s imperative, then, that you controlled yourself, and made last-minute adjustments, and/or studied your opponents. Here are some basic pointers every sportsperson -- big or small -- should consider before a game:

• Begin with some breathing exercises.
• Follow it up with a short imagery and visualisation session. Use familiar scenes, images from prior successful events.
• Use positive self-talk and positive affirmations to help yourself get ready.
• Remind yourself that you have been there before [and, you could be there, again!], you are fit, and you are raring to go.
• Remind yourself of your personal mantra: that you are relaxed, and that you will do well -- come what may.
• You’d also listen to good, soft music to relax.

Such a “composed” raison d’etre has more to it than what meets the ear, or the Mind’s eye: a toolkit of mental practice for any sport, or the nuts and bolts of it. Of a customised, “tangible” training programme, which both players and coaches could adapt anywhere, with effect and constancy: for the ultimate purpose of winning, or doing one’s best, whatever the outcome. Here are a few more additional, or potential, keynotes:

• Set goals. If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll never get there.
• Use a verbal cue. “I’m okay. I’m all right and I’m doing fine.”
• Focus on the positive. Think positively. Keep telling yourself you can do it!
• Relax. But, build the right tension level at the right moment.
• Take a look at your opponents. Evaluate their plus and minus points.
• Study the course, pitch etc., specific to your area of specialisation.
• Visualise proper techniques; imagine coping with extremes.
• See yourself on videotape.
• See yourself winning.
• Maintain cool under pressure; make your emotions work for you.
• Develop your own [pre-event] rituals -- maybe a lucky pair of socks, or a favourite song, which works for you.
• Be yourself. Let the “magic” flow for you.

All this unravels the psychical ensemble of your own Mind-Works’ fulsome visage -- a complementary aggregate, a part of the whole and sum of its parts. That sport is [also] played in the mind -- between your two ears.