The Sports
Psychology Blog
Today's Sports Psychology blog comes after Blackpool's victory over arch rivals Preston North End in the first Lancashire derby for seven seasons.
Football: Wes Hoolahan - The Perfect Focus
It's sixty eight minutes into the Preston - Blackpool derby, when Blackpool are awarded a penalty. Two weeks ago Wes Hoolahan missed a vital penalty against Norwich City and with it went the Seasiders unbeaten home record. Now the pressure is really on. The derby is goal-less and the spot kick could decide the match. You would expect Hoolahan to be nervous.
Coolly and calmly he steps up and lifts the ball over the diving body of Preston's Andrew Lonergan. The keeper has moved and Hoolahan has simply planted the ball in the middle of the net.
This is not a player consumed by doubt. His Norwich miss a thing of the past. So how does a player overcome the psychological fears that a penalty miss can cause? Firstly a good player will know why they have missed a penalty. They will be able to analyse the rhythm of their run; their levels of decisiveness; the power of their kick; their state of mind in that moment. There is a reason why they have missed and they will find out why.
They will be able to diagnose any critical weaknesses in their process. Perhaps their rhythm wasn't as fluent as usual. Maybe they changed their mind at the last minute. Maybe something was on their mind. Perhaps they gave too much visual information away to the keeper.
Either way, they will know why they missed. Once they know why they missed, they can put into practise the penalty disciplines necessary to ensure a perfect kick next time. So when they run up to take a kick in a tense local derby, their focus will be on their processes that lead to success from the spot. Not on the consequences of missing.
They know that their processes lead to success from the spot. No other outcome is possible. The mental battle with the keeper has already been won. This is the state of supreme confidence that can cause a player like Wesley Hoolahan to take the calmest penalty amidst the greatest pressure. In the presence of confidence - doubt doesn't exist.
