The Sports
Psychology Blog
Today's Sports Psychology blog follows Geoff Lawson's appointment as coach to the Pakistan cricket team. In the psychology of sport, the habits and patterns you build, dictate the outcomes that follow.
Cricket: Geoff Lawson - Building Success Patterns
So Geoff Lawson lands one of the toughest jobs in sport. Coach of Pakistan. Loaded with natural talent. Serial underachievers. If Geoff is going to help them breakthrough their stop-situation, he will have to introduce them to serious levels of intensity. Breakthrough levels. Levels of intensity that they have only been able to generate in short bursts.
It will mean that every practise session is intense. Loaded with meaning. Loaded with measurement. Will they be able to handle it?
The truth is sports practise sessions often lack meaningful intensity. Players train because they have to. Only the best coaches weigh up the significance of the subtle nuances of the training.
Ever watched substitutes at half-time at a football match? They casually knock the ball back and forth to each other, but why? To keep warm? Why not stay in the dressing room then. Feel part of the team.
Sometimes, if there is no substitue goal-keeper, one of the players goes in goal to field shots from the other subs. What skill is this he is practising? And who is supervising this session? All the coaches are in the dressing-room. So the purpose is...?
What patterns are needed for the substitutes? Do the coaches ask these questions? How should a substitute best prepare for his role?
Every waking moment you are building habits and patterns. Some are good. Some not so good. Watch Rafael Nadal play. Are there matches where he takes it easy? He dare not lose the precious gift of intensity. Why introduce casualness into the domain of excellence? Under big-match, game point pressure, who wants sloppy thinking to suddenly kick in?
One of the reasons that Nigel Adkins was so successful in his first season in management at Scunthorpe, was that he gave meaning and measurement to all the small processes. All the small details that created the sum of the bigger picture. Their Championship winning season was a direct measurement of their Championship processes. They did the small things better than anyone else. Routines, warm-ups, training, caring for players needs. In sports psychology parlance we call it 'The Inner Scorecard'.
In golf, a 67 on the course is a direct reflection of an internal 67:
- Focus
- Concentration
- Clarity Of Thought
- Decisiveness
- Trust
- Creativity
- Calmness
These qualites and others, make up The Inner Scorecard. How you score in these areas will directly impact upon your score on the course. How did you score today? High for trust...lower for creativity. Thus aim to increase creativity routines on the practise grounds.
We will be able to measure Geoff Lawson's progress by whether Pakistan win cricket matches. But a better measure of their progress will be seen by how they conduct themselves in the practise nets.
