The Super Mental Training Book (52 page)

Shortly before the Olympics the team came to L.A. I went to the practice field with them. We had some group sessions. I was available at times to help people with relaxation, because it was getting crazy and intense. Sometimes after practice I'd have 10 people say, "Let's just relax." And I'd take them through 1/2 hour of relaxation. Other times we'd do imagery.

Stevenson: What was the imagery you used?

Ravizza: The players saw a lot of videotapes of themselves. When they saw a well-run play, I'd have the coach turn off the machine, and they would image that play after seeing it. I would work with them sometimes in terms of feeling themselves go through the play, and other times seeing themselves on a TV screen. Two things that are important with imagery: 1) you get down all the motor programming that's going on, the motor neurons firing and this type of thing; 2) but, the real power of imagery is in terms of developing concentration, so that one can learn to focus on a performance. When one's mind wanders, recognize that and pull it back.

When the team came to L.A. in January (of 1984) to play on the Olympic site against Japan, we had the players pick out focal points around the field—palm trees, a statue, whatever. And what this focal point was: it was a thing they were to look at and remind them that they are a helluva field hockey player—they've paid their dues, they've trained hard, they've worked hard, they're ready.

Then come the Olympics. We go out and the first game was against Holland. The Dutch were the superpower; they were No. 1 and the whole shebang. Here are our women in the tunnel. The crowd is chanting "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" And these women had not had that much experience playing

in front of—field hockey is not a big crowd sport. So, now they are going out to 30,000 people. The feedback I got back from the players after the game was: besides the use of breathing techniques, the focal point so many times helped them. The world is going totally crazy around them, but that focal point was there. It kept them in focus. It reminded them to be "steady," "calm down," "get ready."

The other thing we did was—and the coach was excellent and very supportive on this—during the week before the Olympics, we simulated coming to that first game. We followed the same routine every time. We would go to the practice field, spend a half hour on the field. We'd now move through the locker room. We'd go to the bathroom. We'd change and get everything ready, and now we'd go down to the tunnel and out to practice. So, every day this simulation was incorporated into the practice.

Stevenson: How did the team do against the Dutch?

Ravizza: We lost to the Dutch, but we played a very good game. In the Olympics overall we won a bronze medal, and we weren't picked to win a medal. Getting the medal, the team did that well. We ended up in a shoot-out for the bronze medal involving five Australian players, five American players. One American shoots, one Australian shoots, back and forth—pure concentration, pure stress. We hit 10 for 10, because each player takes two; we didn't miss one. Our goalie was excellent.

Now, it was not my mental training that was responsible for the team earning a medal. My mental training was one component of a coaching staff really working with the athletes, with athletes really paying the physical dues. Because one thing I want to make really clear is: I don't see magic in sports psychology . I think there have been a lot of people in the past making some wild claims about what can be done.

In my work with teams where I'm spending over 60 hours with a team, I'm not going in and having them walk on coals, or doing a quick hypnosis fix. The point I really want to emphasize is the amount of time involved in doing mental training work with athletes, in creating the relationship. You cannot come in and do a one-time deal because this always has minimum effect.

Having read Dr. Ravizza's story of his work with the 1984 U.S. Olympic field hockey team, one sees more clearly why Dr. Unestahl contends that "it seems better to have a good coach who learns about mental training, than a psychologist who tries to learn about sport." Dr. Ravizza went to great lengths to learn the ins and outs of field hockey, clearly sacrificing much of his valuable time to do so. But, most other mental training experts probably would not go to such trouble, and instead would pin their hopes on some quick fix approach. The field hockey team was most fortunate to have someone as conscientious as Dr. Ravizza work with them in 1984, but they might not be so lucky in the future. This is why Dr. Unestahl, Dr. Nideffer, and Professor Medve-dev want coaches to learn mental training. With the coach as psychologist, the integration of mental training with the coach's directions proceeds smoothly and on a regular basis. Also, a short supply of mental training consultants and sports psychologists who go about their work in a professional and diligent manner will not affect a sports program whose coaches and/or athletes are their own psychologists.

An interesting section in Dr. Ravizza's commentary is where he advocates that selection of Olympic team squad members should occur one year before the Olympics. In his work he found that the field hockey players, having once made the squad, learned to be a team (that is, developed the team concept) and became much more open to mental training; their goal changed from making the team to working together as a team to do great in the Olympics. We recall Dr. Unestahl's

study of top Swedish soccer players—that 70% of them considered earning "a place on the team" their top priority goal, a goal they had already achieved! This making-the-team goal seems so ingrained in athletes that the question of who will play on the team should be settled as soon as possible. By doing so, coaches will have more time to fashion a cohesive, well-trained unit and instill amongst their players a "win the championship" outlook. Choose the team a year ahead of time, says Dr. Ravizza. This proposal certainly provides the athletes plenty of time to select for themselves the bold goals Dr. Unestahl recommends, like "winning the gold," "going undefeated," etc.—goals which generate interest, increase motivation, and boost morale. The proposal also takes into account the fact that feelings of uncertainty over one's status on the team need to be quickly dissipated, for such feelings beget stress and, by consequence, reduced performance. So, for Olympic team sports, it makes sense that the team members be chosen one year or thereabouts prior to the Games.

Dr. Ravizza mentions how he had the field hockey players practice "relaxation," that many players attributed their good performances to "the use of the breathing techniques." A natural question arises: precisely what kind of "relaxation" did the Cal State Fullerton professor teach the field hockey team? Basically, he presented a progressive relaxation routine to the players. This routine is completely spelled out on a cassette tape Dr. Ravizza has produced and makes available. The tape, called "Point of Balance," begins with Dr. Ravizza informing you, the listener, that "like any skill relaxation needs to be practiced.".[47] You are then instructed to find a comfortable, quiet place where you can lie down. Once in this position, you are then told to take a nice, deep breath, which is followed, not surprisingly, by a relaxed and steady exhalation. With soft, solo flute music in the background, Dr. Ravizza next presents these remarks and instructions on "Point of Balance":

We begin life with an inhalation. We bring in the energy; we bring in the life force. And when we die, we exhale. We give that breath back. Every breath cycle is a mini life-and-death cycle, where you restore and recharge the body on the inhalation, and you remove the wastes from the body on the exhalation. As we go through these relaxation procedures, I want you to be focusing on your breathing, because when you hold the breath, you hold the tension.

Inhale . . . take a nice breath . . . and exhale, slowly letting the breath go. With each exhalation, let go of any unnecessary tension.

And now I want you to move your awareness to your left hand. Make a fist with your left hand, and gradually tighten that fist. Feel the tension build up as the muscle cells of the left hand become totally involved. Observe the tension, and now release. Let the tension go. Observe the left hand. Notice any differences from the right hand. Notice the temperature, the weight, and any sensations in the left hand.

And now move your attention to your right hand. . .

After the right hand is dealt with, other parts of the body in turn are subjected to similar tensing and untensing instructions. The philosophy behind this approach, according to the Cal State professor, is that "we are the ones who tighten the muscles; we are the ones who can release the tension in these muscles." One finds Dr. Ravizza's progressive relaxation method much the same as that used by Bud Winter, though Winter started at the jaw, claiming that "if your jaw is relaxed, it is a good bet your whole upper body is relaxed." One thing not found on the "Point of Balance" tape is a combination of hypnotic suggestions with the relaxation; Dr. Ravizza's tape deals strictly with stress reduction and relaxation—no hypnosis. Coach Winter, by contrast, urged his athletes to create a "mental set" while performing the relaxation. Creating a "mental set," as noted earlier, is like giving yourself autosuggestions.

In working with his college's gymnastics teams, Dr. Ravizza has the players follow a mental

Name

Opponent

Date

GYMNASTICS MEET FEEDBACK

Please go into as much detail as possible because this will help me in working with you.

1. What specific stressors did you confront in this meet?

2. How did you experience your pre-meet stress?

3. Describe your feelings BEFORE & DURING the following events: Use the inverted "U".

Vault

Bars Beam

Floor

4. What techniques did you use during the meet to manage your stress?

A. WARM-UPS

B. PRE-PERFORMANCE

C. DURING PERFORMANCE

5. What did you learn from this meet to make yourself a better gymnast?

6. What was one thing you enjoyed in this meet?

7. Anything you want to say?

training program similar to the one he devised for the U.S. field hockey team. One nice element in his program is a "Gymnastics Meet Feedback" sheet, appearing on the preceding page, which he has the athletes fill out and turn in to him after each meet. Within 24 hours after the competition the gymnasts are expected to fill out and return the form; it is not something they have to do immediately. But, they should complete the sheet within a day (before recollection grows hazy).

Question #3 on the feedback sheet refers to arousal vs. performance. The inverted "U" is the shape appearing on a graph of an athlete's performance, formed by gradations in the level of arousal (heart rate, body temperature, etc.). A chart illustrating this concept appears on the next page. When the athlete's arousal level is low, so is his performance. As his arousal level increases, his performance increases and improves. At the top of the curve the peak performance area signifies that the athlete has also attained his optimal level of arousal. Eventually, as the chart shows, there comes a point where the athlete is too aroused, too emotionally charged up—his heart beating way too fast, etc.—and performance drops down. Therefore one thing Dr. Ravizza works with the gymnasts on is avoiding both ends of the chart, where arousal level is so low or so high that performance suffers. This entails developing the athletes' awareness skills so that they can fine-tune their arousal level as needed.[48]

Dr. Ravizza uses "feedback" sheets, not only with the gymnastics teams, but also with the baseball and Softball teams. By developing an on-going relationship with the athlete, something the feedback sheet (i.e., communication channel) encourages, rapport is usually achieved between the two parties; the overall approach, in short, serves as a good model for sports psychologists and mental training experts to follow.

As we have seen throughout this book, there are few time constraints on when one can practice mental rehearsal techniques. Unfortunately, many coaches are unaware that two birds can be killed with one stone—meaning that mental training can be done by the athlete at the same time he is doing something else. Dr. Ravizza takes advantage of this fact in his program. He states:

One of the comments I hear about mental training from coaches again and again is: "Ken, it's wonderful; it's fantastic. It's really good stuff, but we don't have time for it. We already got things we have to do; there's no way we have time." What I have done is incorporate a lot of the mental training into things the team is already doing. For example, the stretching period at the beginning of practice: that is a key time for such activities as breathing to relieve tension, concentration, and imagery. Also, the basic drills can become a concentration exercise.

Dr. Nideffer has also had coaches tell him the same thing—that there is no time to squeeze in mental training into existing workouts. Like Dr. Ravizza, he maintains that time for mental training can always be found in any sports program. In his Athletes Guide to Mental Training, Dr. Nideffer recalls the concerns of one unenlightened coach:

I remember hearing Britain's National Rowing coach talking about how badly she wanted to include psychological training in the British program, but lamenting that the athletes had no time in their schedules for another activity. She pointed out they were up early for a practice before having to drive 11/2 hours in London traffic to get to work. They then worked all day and drove another 11/2 hours in heavy traffic for another workout and a meal. It was all they could do after this to just go to bed. She had not entertained the notion that much of the rehearsal and mental work in which the athlete would be engaging should be occurring during practice. It is during practice that you should be practicing concentration and tension control. Likewise, this coach had not considered the fact that in stop-and-go traffic, there are many opportunities to think of and to rehearse other things besides how irritated you are with the drivers around you and with the delays.[49]