The Power Of Thinking
In the world of sport, an athlete’s physical profile is often the first thing people notice. However, the new era of athletic prowess is here.
We call this the power of thinking.
The way an athlete thinks is something that can’t be seen, it can’t be touched and it can’t always be heard, which is why the best athletes in the world don’t want to share these valuable secrets.
If you have never heard about mental resilience, visualisation, self understanding, cognitive function, mental bandwidth, processing speeds or pattern recognition, you have already been left behind.
These terms are rapidly becoming the topic of conversation when it comes to measuring an athlete’s potential for success or failure.
Tom Brady, Luka Doncic, Serena Williams, Breanna Stewart are just a few of the many athletes we think of when we hear the words “high IQ athlete”.
If you want to be great, dedicating time to your craft is a requirement but you will only ever go as far as your ability to study the game and your mind.
This blog has been written with the intention of opening your eyes and exposing you to a whole new world of thinking that you may never have even thought was possible.
Drop us a line when you finish reading and let us know what you think.
Mental Resilience:
The cornerstone of athletic development and success. Mental resilience is the ability to focus, stay disciplined and driven throughout the day to day grind, during setbacks, challenges and times of hardship. Athlete’s who cultivate mental resilience are capable of navigating their way through the highs and lows of not only sport but also life. This resilience is built through regular mental conditioning and requires extreme levels of self awareness which comes from practicing strategies such as self talk, mindfulness and stress management.
When measuring an athlete’s mental resilience, we dive deep into their minds on how they respond during times of hardship and also personal success.
Visualization:
The ability to see something before it happens, both figuratively and literally.
Visualization is a powerful mental tool which involves creating a vivid mental image of something that could happen or is going to happen. By practicing visualization, an athlete can prepare their mind, body and spirit for almost anything.
When practicing visualization, immerse yourself in the feelings, sounds, smells, sights and even tastes of your success.
The details matter; every play, every possession, every action counts towards a reaction.
What are you willing to dream?
Self Understanding:
The ability to seriously understand your own personality, behaviors, emotions, thoughts and motivations.
Self understanding requires a deep and honest examination of the layers beneath your own skin. Self awareness and understanding of these intangibles will lead to a greater ability to be present, emotionally intelligent and demonstrate high levels of self belief.
Understanding your personal strengths, weaknesses and motivations physically, mentally and spiritually unlocks a complete new world of thinking.
To develop self understanding it requires endless hours of self evaluation through journaling, meditation, deep level conversations, coaching and exploring your own brain.
What makes the cogs turn in your brain?
Cognitive Function:
Cognitive Function refers to the mental processes which allow us to think at a deep level which includes; mental bandwidth, processing speeds and pattern recognition.
Key components of cognitive function include:
Attention: Your ability to focus on specific information and ignore distractions.
Memory: Your ability to store, retain and recall information (Short term, long term & working memory).
Perception: Your ability to interpret and understand sensory information from the environment around you such as recognising movement, sounds, smells and objects.
Language: Your ability to understand and produce spoken or written forms of communication such as vocabulary, grammar and your ability to create or comprehend meaningful sentences.
Executive Function: Your ability to cognitively process goal directed behaviors such as; planning, decision making, problem solving and personal inhibition.
Reasoning & Logic: Your ability to draw conclusions and make judgements based on information and experiences which can include deductive reasoning (drawing conclusions from general principles) and inductive reasoning (forming general principles from specific observations).
Spatial Awareness: Your capacity to understand and remember spatial recognition of objects, smells, sounds and environment.
Cognitive function can be trained through activities such as memory games, puzzles or brain training applications, games and riddles.
Mental Bandwidth:
Our minds are very similar to a computer which means they can only store a limited amount of information and handle a certain amount of data at one time. Mental bandwidth refers to the capacity of cognitive function that your brain can comprehend in any given moment.
Key aspects of mental bandwidth include your ability to pay attention, make decisions both fresh and under fatigue as well as your personal emotions and stress levels.
These can all be further impacted by your sleeping habits, nutrition, physical health and the environment surrounding you.
As an athlete you can maximise your mental bandwidth by:
Prioritising Tasks: Focusing on the most important and demanding tasks earlier in the day.
Limiting Multitasking: Concentrating on one task at a time.
Scheduling Breaks: This can include short breaks during a training session or game (such as a timeout) and can also include time off in between seasons or trainings (this is the reason why rest days become so important).
Staying Organised: Put everything into a calendar or planner and keep track of your commitments.
Managing Stress: Mindfulness, meditation and deep breathing techniques can each improve stress levels.
Processing Speed:
Processing Speed refers to the rate at which you perceive, understand and respond to critical information. This is a key component that impacts the cognitive function of an athlete.
Perception: The ability to quickly and accurately take in sensory information from the environment around you.
Comprehension: The speed at which your brain can make sense of this perceived information, recognise patterns, understand language and interpret the data.
Response: The ability to quickly formulate and execute an appropriate response to the information that has been presented.
Much the same as cognitive function, your processing speed can be trained through a variety of methods such as memory games, puzzles, brain training applications, games and riddles but by manipulating the pressure of time required to complete these tasks.
In sport, this could be as simple as manipulating a shot clock or putting athletes in specific game based scenarios where they are required to make quick decisions.
Scientists are beginning to find ways of measuring processing speed through common tests such as: symbol searches, coding tests and reaction based games.
Pattern Recognition:
The final piece to our puzzle is called pattern recognition, the process of identifying patterns, regularities, or trends in behaviors, flows of the game, athlete/team tendencies and overall game environment.
Some examples of pattern recognition include:
Opponent Tendencies: Many athletes do this already in the form of scouting without even realizing. Identifying what dominant hand someone is, their go to moves or preferred shot selections are all examples of pattern recognition.
Teammate Tendencies: Recognising how a team mate likes to play, understanding their tendencies, where they like the ball to be passed or how they respond under pressure are also examples of pattern recognition.
Trends: This can be in game flow, statistical trends of a team or individual athlete and even coaching strategy.
Overall pattern recognition is a core piece of the puzzle for athletes when anticipating and responding to the dynamic and unpredictable nature of sport. It requires a combination of experience, intuition and cognitive skill to recognise and interpret these patterns quickly and effectively.
Conclusion:
This is the new era of athletic excellence and is rapidly taking over the sporting world.
Improving your ability to think, learn, process and reflect is the cheat code every athlete needs if they want a competitive edge.
Working on your mind is as important if not more important than working on your body and your craft.
Spend the time improving your ability to think and watch instinct take over.
To summarize this information we have provided a reference table below.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more reach out to us.
We would love to hear what you think.
Email: info@srasportstherapy.com.au
| Mental Skill | Description |
|---|---|
| Mental Resilience | The ability to focus, stay disciplined and driven throughout the day to day grind, setbacks, challenges and times of hardship. |
| Visualisation | Creating a vivid mental image of something that could happen or is going to happen. |
| Self Understanding | The ability to seriously understand your own personality, behaviours, emotions, thoughts and motivations. |
| Cognitive Function | The mental processes which allow us to think at a deep level which includes; mental bandwidth, processing speeds and pattern recognition. |
| Mental Bandwidth | The capacity of cognitive function that your brain can comprehend at any given time. |
| Processing Speed | The rate at which you perceive, understand and respond to critical information. |
| Pattern Recognition | The process of identifying patterns, regularities, or trends in behaviors, flows of the game, athlete/team tendencies and overall game environment. |
References:
- Gee, C.J., 2010. How does sport psychology actually improve athletic performance? A framework to facilitate athletes’ and coaches’ understanding. Behavior modification, 34(5), pp.386-402.
- Sulaiman, T., Baki, R., Abdullah, B., Garmjani, M.G. and Motevalli, S., 2013. Review of critical thinking and fighting spirit among athletes. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 3(3), pp.169-177.
- Predoiu, R., PREDOIU, A., MITRACHE, G., FIRĂNESCU, M., COSMA, G., DINUŢĂ, G. and BUCUROIU, R.A., 2020. VISUALISATION TECHNIQUES IN SPORT-THE MENTAL ROAD MAP FOR SUCCESS. Discobolul-Physical Education, Sport & Kinetotherapy Journal, 59(3).