NLP and Sports Performance So far the articles which have appeared as part of this series have focussed on how you can help your clients achieve their fitness goals. NLP, however, has many applications, and has been used with outstanding results for many years, particularly in the US, to help sports men and women, and teams, enhance their performance. For those of you who work with elite, (and perhaps not so elite), performers, having an understanding of how you can use NLP with this group will increase your skill base. Indeed, if you want to expand your client base and business you might consider developing your NLP further - many of the skills and techniques taught at Practitioner level, for example, are those used by the Sports Psychologists and Consultants called in to look at why an individual/team might be under performing.
why do athlete’s do what athlete’s do - MOTIVATION
In the first instance, the Consultant will establish the athlete’s motivation.
What drives them to compete? What are their values; in other words,
what is it that really matters to them about competing?
Most serious sports men and women will tell you that winning is what matters, or, at the very least, performing well is important; maybe chalking up a PB is what they go out their for. That much is relatively straightforward, but in order to find out what is really going on, what the real driving force behind their desire to compete is, you need to ask WHY?
WHY is winning important? WHY is performing well important? WHY is it important to get out their do better than you have before?
This type of questioning, ( known as Values Elicitation), will elicit either an Away From type response or a more Toward motivation. Let’s go back to the scenario where an athlete hasn’t performed well at their last outing. It is likely that won’t want to do badly again and will want to avoid the negative emotion that went with the previous disappointment. If they are a team player they may be concerned about letting the side down. They are being motivated to perform well by the desire to move Away From a particular state, rather than wanting to achieve because of what they get out of it (Towards). They do want to perform well, but because they are being driven by a fear of failure, their focus will be more on the previous poor performance, that is, what they don’t want, rather than what they do want – a better performance. And, as you get what you concentrate on, the athlete is likely to get a repeat poor performance. If they continue on this track their performance will go in to a downward spiral; this explains why some athletes and teams experience a run of bad results.
What is needed?
A Sports Performance Consultant trained in NLP will use a variety of techniques which will create a real shift in thinking - this is the ‘P’ in NLP – in this case we are interested in re-Programming. The athlete/team needs to refocus on their goal if they are to turn things around and climb back up the spiral. A number of techniques will help here, for example reviewing goals using the Well Formed Outcomes model ( see ‘The NLP Induction’ article in the June/July issue) will be useful as it will re-engage the athlete in positive thinking. Most consultants however will employ techniques that work with the unconscious mind as the blueprint for success will be more deeply imprinted.
be focussed, be ready – MENTAL REHEARSAL
Mental Rehearsal is a powerful tool which has been used successfully in sport for many years. However, those athletes who do use the technique can probably do so with greater effect; likewise there are athletes out there who aren’t using it because they don’t understand the principles. Mental Rehearsal works because the unconscious mind cannot distinguish between an imagined performance and a real one. As the athlete imagines themselves performing, perfectly, the neural pathways fire off that are actually used in the skill for real. This has the effect of making the desired performance more familiar and will create the micro movements in the muscles that they need in reality. Ultimately this will make the perfect performance easier to attain.
Essentially the athlete has to imagine what it will be like to achieve their desired performance – basically what you see/hear/feel is what you get so encourage your charge to imagine everything exactly as they want. The more realistic the better, so encourage them to use all of the senses – to see, hear and feel perfection; it must be a total sensory experience.
However there is a difference between daydreaming and mental rehearsal; when you day dream you focus on the result happening as if by magic! When you mentally rehearse you focus on the process; every part of the skill - this is what makes good results inevitable. For example you would encourage a golfer to imagine each of the stages they go through; they would see their hand reach for the right club and feel it’s weight in their hand. They would feel themselves balancing and settling into position, making all of the usual moves while leaving out any bad habits. Once they have the perfect stance they focus on controlling the putt and watch the putt going into the hole. Finally they hear the crowd roar with approval.
Basically the more detailed the image the deeper the imprint will be, so get specific right down to their kit. Have them watch themselves as though they are watching a movie and then have them be in that movie. What else works? 1) Relaxation - being chilled has been shown to optimise the effect of mental rehearsal and 2) Practice – the better you get at it the better it will work.
You can use any technique you are familiar with to help your client relax; on Practitioner training we teach a technique based on the Mental Room Training developed by the internationally recognised Sports Psychologist Lars-Eric Unesthal. Students learn how to help their client achieve an altered state of consciousness using progressive relaxation. The client designs a room with a comfortable chair and a projection screen and imagines a future desired performance. It is the degree of relaxation experienced which ensures the success of this technique ; students are taught to use hypnotic language to facilitate the process:
You can relax as quickly or as slowly as you want, NOW……….and you know it is possible for you to experience a deeper state of relaxation than you have ever felt before. You can, can’ t you?
be invincible – REMOVE SELF DOUBT
During the Values Elicitation, the consultant will have their radar tuned to pick up on any limiting beliefs which might have crept in following a bad patch such as
I ‘ll never make the final – I’m just not in that class
The consultant will work with the athlete to negate these unhelpful thoughts using techniques such as a Submodality Belief Change. Alternatively they might use a more kinaesthetic, movement orientated, belief change pattern ,( athletes tend to like these), such as those developed by Robert Dilts (1). These have the athlete literally make a sequence of steps across the floor whilst changing their thoughts and their language ( the ‘L’ in NLP) from the negative to the positive. Both of these are ‘big’ techniques and need to be understood, experienced and practiced before you can use them; however you can adopt the principles and get your athlete to do the same – think positive and let your self expression reflect this – you have to make room for the possibility of success, out loud!
Our athlete is focussed, their goal firmly in their sights. They have rehearsed time after time, living their dream in their imagination. Where they had doubts about their ability to succeed they have only self-belief. They are in pretty good shape – mentally – as well as physically.
What else can we do to give them that edge; to ensure success ?
get the edge- ANCHORING and CIRCLE OF EXCELLENCE
Anchoring is a basic technique taught at Practitioner level which is used when you want to perform at your peak. Incidentally, the technique can be applied to other scenarios; you can use it equally well for an interview, public speaking perhaps, or even a hot date! As far as the sporting arena is concerned the athlete identifies a resource they feel they need to boost their performance - they will know what it is that is missing that will make all the difference. For a 100m sprinter, for example, it might be that sense of finding every kilo of strength, while a golfer might be more interested in remaining calm and keeping their presence of mind. For a marathon – well it could be endurance! Each individual will know what will work for them.
Essentially what you have them do is to remember a time when they had that resource. This might have been in a previous competition, during training, or it could be in another realm of their life. For example, somebody wanting to work on confidence to counter the effects of performance anxiety might be supremely confident in their business life. This then is the example they would use. Using the same approach as you do during mental rehearsal, you get them to be back in that experience, seeing what they saw, hearing what they heard and feeling what they felt. When the intensity of that ‘recollected’ experience reaches it’s peak, they anchor it , and by this we mean, for example, by stepping into an imaginary circle. They step back out when the intensity subsides. They can add as many resources as they need and then you future pace by getting them to imagine how they will perform with the new resources on board. Then, when they need to, before or during their next performance, they can step into the ‘circle’ again and access the resources quickly and easily. You can even shrink the circle and wear it around your wrist - now that’s a pretty cool sweatband!
Practice the technique for yourself and with colleagues
1) Decide what resource you need to enhance your performance
2) Imagine a circle in front of you, big enough for you step into
3) Recall a time when you had …………….
4) Imagine you can see yourself in that experience inside the circle
5) See what you look like, sound like and feel like, watching that you
6) When you have a strong recollection of this and are ready, step into the circle and straight back into the experience as though you are there now
7) Relive that feeling of ……………, making the experience more alive
8) When you have absorbed as much of the ……………as possible from the memory, step out of the circle
9) Repeat this exercise again for any other resources you need
10) When you have done it with each, step into the circle again and relive the experiences again, one straight after the other
11) Now think of the event in the future when you will need those resources-Imagine yourself in the circle just before you need to be…………… in other words, just before your next competition
12) As you see yourself, step into the circle and feel ……………….
13) Imagine the competition unfolding around you, with all of your resources fully available to you
14) Step out of the circle and think about the competition
15) Notice how different you feel about it
16) Look at the circle on the floor. Shrink it in your minds eye.
17) Now pick it up and slip it onto your wrist
18) Squeeze it around your wrist and, as you do so, allow the feelings of……………..that it gives off to spread throughout your body
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