SPORT PSYCHOLOGY
Are good results not coming? Are you in the right frame of mind? Jason McCrae – Intern Psychologist
O
NE area often ignored in an orienteer’s performance is the mental side of our sport. Are you an orienteer who has any of these difficulties: • You orienteer well at local club events but poorly at the major championships/carnivals. • The ‘pressure’ of being in a relay team, of having club mates depending on you, often results in you orienteering poorly; • You make navigational mistakes because you are thinking about something else - for example, whether your son/daughter has made it to the start of their novice course. Not being in the right ‘frame of mind’ to orienteer can be the underlying factor in a below-par performance just as often as lack of fitness or navigational errors yet is usually neglected in a competitor’s quest to be a better orienteer. Getting into the right frame of mind, or “the zone” as it is often called in sport psychology, will not increase your skill level but it will assist you to perform to the best of your ability in a race, whether your best means you will come 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 20th or beyond. How does Sport Psychology assist you to get into the right frame of mind? One of the key components Sports Psychology utilises is the Inverted U theory which states that performance is dependent upon arousal, with arousal defined as a person’s anxiety levels, levels of tension or general excitement before and/or during a race. As arousal increases performance increases, until a certain point when it decreases dramatically (Figure 1). Figure 1 For example, a person who is not very excited about going Orienteering on a local map that they’ve run on 20 times before, will have a below par-performance or, a person who is overly “pumped up” and very tense and excited will be too anxious to perform at their best. The zone for getting the best performance is ‘somewhere in the middle’ with each competitor’s personal curve being slightly different. Tennis player Lleyton Hewitt’s inverted U is probably further to the right side of the graph than most as he needs to be really ‘pumped up’ to perform well. You might work out where your zone is by thinking about what frame of mind you were in when you orienteered at your best. Were you fairly relaxed? A common problem amongst sportspeople is that their zone is often in a more relaxed state than they imagine. If you have any of the difficulties listed at the beginning of this article it’s very likely you are going into events over-aroused and more at the right hand end of your personal inverted-U than the left. How do we get into the right frame of mind or the zone? A key technique for orienteering is having a consistent and appropriate preparation on the morning of (and possibly day before) each event. Those who perform relatively poorly and answered yes to some of the questions at the beginning of this article often approach championship races in a different manner to a usual Sunday event. Your preparation leading into every event should aim to have you at the start in the right frame of mind while doing all the things
World MTB-O Silver medallist Belinda Allison’s check-card which she checks before heading off to the start. required to prepare physically (a warmup, some stretches, etc.) and technically (have all the equipment you need – compass, SI stick etc.). To borrow a phrase from my former coach Kay Haarsma - “An orienteer’s preparation needs to be casual but professional” – casual in that you are endeavouring to stay relaxed and not get over-aroused but professional in that you do all the things you require to prepare appropriately. Some tips for developing a race preparation that suits you: • Initially write down the steps of your race preparation so you don’t forget or change them for each event. • Your preparation should be something you can repeat every time you compete. This can be difficult given the variety of events orienteers compete in each year – location, distance to start, terrain all vary greatly so make your preparation flexible enough to fit all situations. • Include in your O-kit a check-card of things you need and always check it as part of your preparation. This will ensure you take all the equipment you require and don’t get anxious about forgetting your compass/SI stick/number/taping/whatever. When you first start using a prescribed race preparation you might feel a little self-conscious. However after a little while it will become natural. Another common problem initially is using a setpreparation at events that perhaps don’t seem so ‘important’ (i.e. non-championships). It might seem unnecessary and a waste of time but using the same preparation at every event produces benefits in the races which really count. Your mind is being trained to get into the same zone every time you orienteer and undertake the same process no matter what external pressures you are experiencing. The sample preparation below illustrates a casual but professional race preparation that you might adapt for your own orienteering to get into the right frame of mind.
Time
Step of Preparation
Morning of race • Make sure wearing lucky tiger-skin undies • Eat 6 weet-bix - 75mins
• Get to event and if necessary register
• If possible have a look at last control
- 40 mins
• Get ready including taping ankles
- 20 mins
• C heck I have everything in list of things I need to orienteer • Jog to start or if start is close by jog around assembly area
- 10 mins
• Get to start • Check O-time • stretch
- 6 mins
• Enter start box or start area
• Check north on compass
• L ook at forest ahead of start and try to work out what features will be on the map
• Check 1st control description
0 mins
Start!
Jason McCrae is a registered Intern Psychologist in the ACT currently completing his Masters in Psychology. He is also OA’s Manager (High Performance) and a keen M21Sledge competitor. He can be contacted on Jason.McCrae@act.gov.au MARCH 2005 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 27
