Evidence

 

Below are some extracts from articles which give evidence to show how powerful the psychological techniques we use are and how they can effect performance.

Tiger Woods and HypnosisTiger was 13, Earl asked him if he'd like to work with Dr. Jay Brunza, a psychologist friend of a friend. Tiger was eager.

Brunza coached him on techniques for relaxation, visualization and focusing, "with hypnotic elements." Brunza shies from talking about hypnotism for fear it suggests county-fair quackery, but in effect he taught Tiger to self-induce entry into what athletes call "the zone," where they transcend mechanics to attain peak performance under pressure, as the dogma goes.

"It's all mental discipline," Brunza says, "and Tiger worked hard to master it at an early age and absorb it into his technical excellence. The unique thing about him to me has always been his great gift of creativity. People are seeing it in his short game."

Golf Digest Article by Nick Seiltz New York Times Company Magazine Group, Inc. 2000

Brunza taught him mental tricks to increase his concentration and hypnotized Tiger to instill some of his lessons. He even taught the young golfer how to hypnotize himself to get the same results.

Michael V.Uschan, Tiger Woods, San Diego, California, Lucent Books 1999,Page 39

 

 

Roger Federer sees Sport PsychologistWhen he was 17 he decided to see a sports psychologist, who helped move him from the explosive McEnroe end of the psychological spectrum towards the composure of Swedish legend Björn Borg. Thomas Stephens, Swiss info

 

Jonny Wilkinson on his Mental routine for KickingWhen I'm kicking, my stance has come from a physical and mental development where I've tried to learn relaxation techniques.

I've learnt how to centre energy, relax and focus all the power I've got in my body into my legs so it's all there for the kick.

I can look at the ball in line with the posts so I'm dead in line. This is where it's easiest to trace a line from the point of the ball where I'm going to hit it. Right from the stitching along an imaginary wire that travels in a dead straight line along the trajectory I'm after to the top of the posts. The ball is attached to the wire so all I'm doing is sending it up the wire.

 

Steve Black on Jonny's mental preperation   "A lot of it is based around mental preparation and visualisation. He imagines he is preparing to play in the games and trains accordingly. It sounds silly to say, but he's been playing games for weeks now. It's the kind of thing that might take a lot out of other people, but not Jonny, because of how strong a character he is. He always goes through the motions he would on the pitch, and he's been doing that in the build-up to this."So he's as ready as he'll ever be for this match. That mental rehearsal is massive for him."

 

Vijay Singh on Zen and the importance of mental preperation   "Anything that you can do to help improve your golf mind is always important,"

 "I am a big believer of Eastern philosophy and of Zen stuff. I read a lot of other Zen stuff, especially martial arts

 

Michael Jordan on visualization "I visualized where I wanted to be, what kind of player I wanted to become. I knew exactly where I wanted to go, and I focused on getting there"

 

Jack Nicklaus and visualization"I never hit a shot even in practice without having a sharp in-focus picture of it in my head. It's like a colour movie. First, I "see" the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I "see" the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behaviour on landing. Then there's a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality only at the end of this short private Hollywood spectacular do I select a club and step up to the ball."

 

Premiership football player Matthew Upson uses Sport psychologistBridge, Cole's understudy at Chelsea, has made only two club starts this season and Matthew Upson, whom Capello considers his best like-for-like replacement for Terry, was shaky on Saturday. The West Ham center-half has been consulting a sports psychologist since his days at Birmingham City and is confident of proving his pedigree at the Dynamo Stadium.

"In the past when I've joined up with the squad, maybe I didn't believe I deserved to be here and that only ends up with a poor performance," said Upson. "Now I believe I am capable of stepping in and doing a good job.

"I first became interest in psychology at City when I was relatively stagnant in my career, doing things the same as I'd always done. I realized that if I wanted to move on, I'd have to sacrifice a bit more to my job and commit in certain areas. I began working with [the sports psychologist] Mike Griffiths and he's been a real help. On Saturday I made a mistake, but you move on, keep your body language good and, the next time you get the ball, you have to be very positive or do something very simple. All these things help with being able to perform at the elite level." The Times, 2008

 

Mary Lou Retton used Mental Rehearsal to score her perfect 10  "That on the night before the finals in women's gymnastics Mary Lou Retton, then aged 16, lay in bed at Olympic Village mentally rehearsing her performance ritual. She had done the same on hundreds of previous nights, visualizing herself performing all her routines perfectly-imaging in her mind all the moves and rehearsing them again and again. The result, of course, was a performance of perfection, presented with charm, poise and confidence, culminating in a gold medal." Time magazine, 1984

 

Meghann Shaughnessy when she beat Venus Williams"I listen to the CDs at night to put what I want to have in my mind," Shaughnessy told reporters. "It's just something I do for myself to have positive thoughts in my mind and be at peace with myself. It helps to come out with the mentality I'm going to go for it and try to be in control."