As corny as it sounds, I have wanted to be a sports psychologist since I was about 15 years old. I love psychology. I love how you can asses and in some cases predict human behavior using psychology. How peoples minds work, and how that then changes how they approach things. I also love sport, track and field specifically, (but I can get behind most sports to be honest!) So my two loves naturally came together.
I first used psychology in a race I did when I was 15. I was the favorite to win both the 100m and 200m at the Essex County Championships. At the time this competition was my Olympics. I had trained all season to take the county crown. Sadly, a month before the competition I was running on my school track (which was grass and very uneven) where I pulled my hamstring. My 5ft 11 stride was gone, I had no power but I was determined to run the county championships (really bad mistake in hindsight.... but like I said it was my Olympics). The 200m was on one weekend and the 100m was on the second. I won the 200m comfortably, but three rounds of a 200m on my hamstring was risky and I paid it for it the next weekend.
100m weekend, I sailed through the heats, but I was in pain. Not a great deal and I had a fantastic physiotherapist (Nigel was DIAMOND). I was icing and elevating after every round, but the pain was gradually getting worse with each round. The other girls I was competing against began to notice something wasn't right and a few of my training partners had heard chatter on the track that the rumor was 'the favorite was looking shaky'. The other ladies looked smug (I don't blame them!)... I began to panic after the semifinal, I had qualified but it wasn't easy. So here I was, my competition didn't have confidence in me and I didn't have confidence in myself.
Here's where the first part of the psychology came in... I got a massive hamstring bandage and tied it around my hamstring. I perfected an Oscar worthy limp and made a very very dramatic lap around the track. I made sure I 'bumped' into all 7 ladies I was racing in the final later that afternoon. I spoke to their parents, their coaches and to them. Told them I had pulled my hamstring a few weeks ago and I may have pushed it too far last week for the 200m (it's wasn't a full lie). I had the super disappointed face on and said, "I'm going to run the final and see what happens." The Oscars really should have gone to other ladies as they were ECSTATIC that I was out of the running, I saw them whispering in the corner and looking relaxed which I hadn't seen before, but I kept up the act.
I warmed up in a hidden part of the stadium with my parents watching guard (they were both in on it too, talking to other parents). I put my blocks on the line last and didn't do a practice start (my starts were awful anyway). I sat in the blocks, made sure they were comfortable and then limped out before taking my warm up gear off. NOW here is where the next part of the psychology happened. I had a trade mark block routine (well trademark in Essex, which at the time was basically the whole world to me). I would stare down the track, laser focused, mean mug in full affect. As we were called to our blocks I would jump up into the air, (yes I know doesn't sound that impressive in 2022 but in the early 2000's in Essex I was the coolest person ever and at 5ft 11 at 15 years old... that jump was cool!) That day, I did nothing. I stood behind all the ladies, when we were called to our blocks I walked in, last and took my time settling.
I won that race, easily. I was double Essex County Champion.
But I shouldn't have won it, I should have medalled but even thats being generous. I beat those ladies about 2 hours before we stepped on the track. I got into their heads. I didn't intimidate them, I made them comfortable. I was the favorite to win and they thought I was down and out. They were PISSED, I won't lie to you, but I didn't care (still don't). I didn't do anything illegal, or even immoral really. I used sport psychology.
My competitors were ego focused, meaning more concerned with beating me than they were with the race at hand, that when I popped out of the blocks, and got into my stride they were thrown off. They weren't ready to run against me that day. While I was waving at them with one hand, I robbed them (metaphorically speaking of course) with the other. Had those young ladies focused on their own races and executed them the way they knew how to (task focused), I wouldn't have won. I couldn't have.
Unknown to me, that weekend, I fell in love with sports psychology, and you see it all the time when you think about it. Usain Bolt, for example. He redefined what 100m start lines looked like. Dancing and singing and having fun. When historically the 100m start line was a place for serious focus. He was a distraction! Now that may have been his natural personality but for a lot of athletes, they had to learn to block him out. So instead of spending time thinking about their race, they are thinking about how to ignore Bolt. Ego instead of task focused.
Over the next few weeks I will write more about Task vs Ego orientated athletes and provide examples and traits of each. In the meantime I will say this, the purpose of sports psychology isn't to mess with other athletes, it is to be the best athlete YOU can be.
Focusing on your already existing strengths and weaknesses.
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