Focusing on your own center of gravity : to help avoid thinking of external stimuli which cause distraction. Centering the attention on a relevant external cue : provides a strong focus and gives the mind a stimulus to serve as a distraction from the athletes own negative thoughts.

An example in weightlifting would be: focusing your sight only on the bar when you walk towards it, tightening your wrist wraps or chalking your hands. Other techniques for improving concentration and attention:.

Practice simulation : the idea here is to simulate competition variables during training sessions as much as possible. The more similar the conditions the better as the athlete will learn to cope with and ignore external stimuli.

Examples of this could be getting teammates to act as opposition athletes, or playing recordings of crowd noise whilst training. Using keywords : the coach and athlete can come up with verbal cues that cater to the athletes individual preferences.

These can be used to reinforce attention, motivation and confidence. You may often hear weightlifting coaches at high level competitions shouting certain cues to their athletes as they lift. Visual control : this requires the athlete to pick a physical location to focus on, which does not represent any stimuli that impair their performance.

An example could be focussing on the wall ahead at eye level whilst lifting at a competition as you know that nothing will get in your eyeline and distract you. Technique mastering : as previously mentioned, the more the athlete masters their physical skills the more they will be able to pay attention to other stimuli.

They can then focus more on what the scenario requires, rather than how to perform the necessary movements. Focusing on the present : being able to remain in the moment is paramount for athletic performance.

Focusing on the past can be very distracting, for example looking back over something that has just happened in the game missing a goal , instead of where to go now the next shot on goal.

Audiovisual samples : watching videos of competitions can allow the athlete to see what elements they find distracting. Once the athlete and coach are aware of these they can work to re-focus on other stimuli.

Wrapping up:. Sports psychologists provide athletes and coaches with the tools that they need when they face high pressure, high performance situations. Attention and concentration are key for remaining in the moment and facing tough scenarios head on.

Sport provides incredibly dynamic events, where many stimuli are thrown at you at a rapidly changing pace. Being able to only focus on what is key to your goals is incredibly important if you want to achieve them, whether in sport or in life.

Baden, D. Am I nearly there? The effect of anticipated running distances on perceived exertion and attentional focus, journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 26, Boutcher, S. Attention and athletic performance: An integrated approach.

Horn ed. Advances in sports psychology. Champaign: Human Kinetics, pp. Horn ed Advances in sports psychology. Champaign: Human Kinetics.

Dosil, J. Madrid: McGraw-Hill. Easterbrook, J. The effect of emotion on cue utilization and the organization of behavior. Psychological Review, 66, Gladwell, M.

The physical genius. The New Yorker, 75, Hannin, Y. A study of anxiety in sports. Straub ed. New York: Movement publications. Hatzigeorgiadis, A.

The effect of goal orientation and perceived competence on cognitive interference during tennis and snooker performance. Journal of Sport Behaviour, 22, James, W.

The principles of psychology Vol. Thus, keen focus during competition has the following five basic elements:. This intervention helps athletes regain focus when off-task by taking the following steps:.

The first step to changing their focus is to recognize that they are thinking about or paying attention to something that is not relevant. I like this article! Tennis athletes have to focus on keeping the score in working memory. The score tells them where to stand, when to sit, etc. I sell an easy to mark and easy to read scoring system.

I think it allows players to follow your advice. And it weighs only 3 grams. Would love your thoughts on it! Mail will not be published. Powered by Campus Explorer. Sports Psychology Today — Sports Psychology. Maintaining Focus in Sports. Tags: focus Written by Mike Edger , Posted in Articles for Athletes , Sports Psychology , Youth Sports Articles 3 Comments.

Thus, keen focus during competition has the following five basic elements: 1. The ability to direct attention to a relevant object, thought, or feeling 2.

A present tense orientation or here and now focus 3. The ability to deflect or ignore distractions, irrelevant thoughts 4. The ability to refocus on the relevant cues when distracted 5.

This intervention helps athletes regain focus when off-task by taking the following steps: 1. Recognize when they are off task and take action. Regroup by interrupting their train of thought and preparing to refocus.

Refocus by directing their attention back to execution. Lynne Hartmann.

As a matter of fact, he affirmed that he meditates as much as he trains, allocating a significant amount of time to this practice in his daily routine. The same happens to Pau Gasol, who claimed to read a lot about zen philosophy and meditate in order to see everything from a different perspective, develop self-awareness, live in the moment, and stay calm.

It is true that improving meditation correctly can reduce stress and anxiety as well as enable better emotional control. And this is of great importance. Negative thoughts can distract us and reduce our performance.

According to some research, emotions such as happiness or excitement are more closely related to concentration as they are more likely to lead and promote a better performance focus as well as automating physical movements.

In short, meditation helps to manage the external aspects of the competition as well as to improve our performance. We are surrounded by stimuli which try to catch our attention and make us lose focus on the tasks we are performing.

Learning to select the important ones and ignore the irrelevant ones, as well as to develop techniques to manage all that information, is essential for an elite athlete. Otherwise, losing focus on what matters the most will lead to a distraction that will negatively affect the outcome of the competition.

As mentioned at the beginning, not only losing focus will force us to face our opponent ahead but also our internal one, who can put an end to any personal aspiration.

After all, it is not a less important opponent to look down at. Vast, R. Attention, Concentration and Emotions in Sport. What to Focus on Attention is the ability to correctly detect the environment stimuli. Jose Valenzuela Bibliography Vast, R.

Recommended education. All programs. COACHES ACADEMY II Certificate in Football Tactical Analyst Barça Coach Academy: Introductory Level Certificate in Sport Psychology for Athletes Development.

The most popular model of attention in sport was developed by Robert Niedeffer Theory of Attentional and Personal Style; a, b. Nideffer proposed two dimensions of attention:. Thus, for an athlete the environmental cues can be both external opponent, coach, spectators and internal thoughts, imagery, physical sensation.

In addition, concentration includes the ability to both narrow and broaden her attention when necessary. External and internal cues provide the athlete with needed information for an optimal performance. In any situation, a huge number of cues are available to the athlete. Some of them are highly relevant, others are irrelevant and can damage performance.

For example, during a tennis match the position of an opponent is probably very important to attend to, whereas angry comments provided by the same opponent are irrelevant.

If the player starts to think about the unproductive emotions of her opponent, she will have proportionally less attention available for processing of the game situation.

Concentration on irrelevant cues should result in a decrease in the quality of her performance. A good example of attentional narrowing is cue utilization. Parents, coaches, and other well-meaning individuals often shout out this seemingly useful phrase during competition.

It probably sets off other mental chatter. Sport psychologists often hear concerns from athletes like:. Strategies for improving concentration in sports address each of the components and can be used for all of the common distractors.

At Sterling Sport Mindset, we do a lot of work around concentration. In or Out of Your Control: A great activity is to determine what is in or out of your control. Draw one large circle and one smaller circle within the larger one. In the outer circle, write all of the things you cannot control related to your sport.