Concentration

Question 1

Sport related concentration revolves around three aspects

Answer 1

1. Selective Attention – focus on important cues and ignore distractions which will affect your performance
2. Maintaining Attention – EG concentrate for the duration of match, – dropped catch, missed putt
3. Situation Awareness –EG game situation, opposition

Question 2

Internal Distracters

Answer 2

1. Attending to past events and past consequences – “last time I missed the shot……”
2. Attending to future events and possible consequences – “if I miss this shot ……..
3. Attending to irrelevant cues
4. Game pressure – choking

Question 3

External Distracters

Answer 3

1. Opponents / crowd
2. Visual distracters eg the goalkeeper swaying from side to side as a player prepares to take a penalty

Question 4

Improving concentration

Answer 4

1. Practice with distractions present
2. Use key words to focus on present demands G.R.I.P.S
3. Establish consistent performance routines G.R.I.P.S
4. Simulate game specific situations during training
5. Break the contest into smaller blocks of time