1.0 Introduction
1.1 Athlete’s Profile
The male athlete that has been chosen is currently competing competitively in athletics and his main events are 800m, 1500m and cross-country. He is 19 years old and has been in the sport for 6 years. He has participated in many track competitions organized by Singapore Athletics Association and also by other external organization. He has also won numerous events such as the Orange Ribbon Run (5km) in his age group.
1.2 Mental Skill Questionnaire
The mental skills questionnaire was given to the athlete through email to assess his psychological aspect. The questionnaire was divided into several questions to assess the different psychological domains. From the result, it shows that the athlete generally …show more content…
Some athletes are easily distracted by external cues while others by internal cues. This is known as focus style (Nideffer and Sagal, 2001; Taylor, 2001). The athlete needs to understand their own focus style to identify their strength and weaknesses. This will also help them to realize why they have difficulties to focus. Focus style involves the athletes’ focus on two dimensions: Width and direction according to Nideffer’s attentional model (Nideffer, 1990). Width refers to the amount of cues the athlete is required to focus on, broad or narrow. Direction can either be internal or external, depending on what the cues the athlete is focusing …show more content…
This means that they focused on narrow-internal, their bodily cues, instead of broad-external which could cause distraction.
To overcome the issue, he could implement simulation training. This will help the athlete to familiarize with the potential distractions he could face during a race. Simulation training helps to train the athlete with the ‘race-like’ condition by making it as real as possible. This will allow the athlete to know what to expect during the race.
The athlete will be able to simulate distractions and tactics so that he is accustomed to it. Hence, during race day, he will be able to respond positively to such challenges (Singer et al, 1994). It will also increase his awareness and confidence level as he will already know what to expect.
He should implement simulation training during practice session. As 800m can be too fast for the athlete to think while running, he needs to learn to control his thoughts at ‘high speed’ (Dosil, 2006). By simulating the race speed while practicing to block out
1.1 Athlete’s Profile
The male athlete that has been chosen is currently competing competitively in athletics and his main events are 800m, 1500m and cross-country. He is 19 years old and has been in the sport for 6 years. He has participated in many track competitions organized by Singapore Athletics Association and also by other external organization. He has also won numerous events such as the Orange Ribbon Run (5km) in his age group.
1.2 Mental Skill Questionnaire
The mental skills questionnaire was given to the athlete through email to assess his psychological aspect. The questionnaire was divided into several questions to assess the different psychological domains. From the result, it shows that the athlete generally …show more content…
Some athletes are easily distracted by external cues while others by internal cues. This is known as focus style (Nideffer and Sagal, 2001; Taylor, 2001). The athlete needs to understand their own focus style to identify their strength and weaknesses. This will also help them to realize why they have difficulties to focus. Focus style involves the athletes’ focus on two dimensions: Width and direction according to Nideffer’s attentional model (Nideffer, 1990). Width refers to the amount of cues the athlete is required to focus on, broad or narrow. Direction can either be internal or external, depending on what the cues the athlete is focusing …show more content…
This means that they focused on narrow-internal, their bodily cues, instead of broad-external which could cause distraction.
To overcome the issue, he could implement simulation training. This will help the athlete to familiarize with the potential distractions he could face during a race. Simulation training helps to train the athlete with the ‘race-like’ condition by making it as real as possible. This will allow the athlete to know what to expect during the race.
The athlete will be able to simulate distractions and tactics so that he is accustomed to it. Hence, during race day, he will be able to respond positively to such challenges (Singer et al, 1994). It will also increase his awareness and confidence level as he will already know what to expect.
He should implement simulation training during practice session. As 800m can be too fast for the athlete to think while running, he needs to learn to control his thoughts at ‘high speed’ (Dosil, 2006). By simulating the race speed while practicing to block out