SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

Are good results not coming?

Are you in the right frame of mind?

Jason McCrae – Intern Psychologist

ONE 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).

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

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 Figure 1 into the right frame of mind.

World MTB-O Silver medallist Belinda Allison’s check-card which she checks before heading off to the start.

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 • Check 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 • Look 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

Gunnilla Svard in WOC Shocker

One of Sweden’s most experienced competitors, Gunilla Svard, had a really bad day at the WOC’05 Middle-distance race. Worse still – her home country was hosting the event. Leg 7 to 8 was just 300 metres long yet it took her an astonishing 34 minutes to find the control. Her account of what she believes happened follows:

“After a mistake at the 3rd control, I slowly found my flow again. From the 7th, I ran through the green area. I checked the direction over the hill and jumped across the stream. I sensed that this was not right and checked my compass again. Yes, up onto the hill.

It had the sloping but the way to the control did not seem right. I headed for the big blue marsh SW of the 8th control (which was actually the one NE of the 4th). Suddenly, I met the last starters, Minna Kauppi and Simone Niggli-Luder, and became very puzzled!

I decided to run in their direction and realized that I was at the 4th control. I took my compass-course straight through the green area, heard the loud-speaker, and suddenly found myself at control 15 (!). I ran across the stream and up onto the hill.

Now I was on the hill between controls 8, 9 and 13. It was all open. Jenny Johansson crossed my path. I wanted to go in one direction – my compass pointed in another – the map suggested a third. I felt I was simply wandering about…. I found the 13th and took my compasscourse again.

The terrain was swampy and I got out onto a path next to a stream (SW of the control). The direction of the path fitted the one east of the 8th control. I followed it for a while and headed into the forest. There was a cutting area, a green area, and then a forest road. But I couldn’t find myself on the map. The direction didn’t fit any of the forest roads on the map.

I turned around and got onto the path again. I followed it for a while and then entered the forest again. I reached the turning point at the corner of the path SE of the 12th control, where I once again tried to set the map in the right direction. I started to feel incredibly exhausted and a thousand thoughts ran through my head. I managed to find my way back to the 13th control.

This time I tried going in another direction. I read the yellow marsh from the map and saw the control guard at the 8th. Finally !!!

On the way to the 9th I looked at my compass again. Oh no, was I running completely in the wrong direction again? But, I could hear the sounds from the finish area!?!? When I adjusted the map according to the sound, not according to the compass, I FINALLY understood everything. The COMPASS was pointing in the wrong direction !!!!

I completed the course in the end, but thought of how many times I had trained without a compass. I felt ashamed. This time, however, I just couldn’t get it right on the map (which I adjusted wrongly) and decided to trust my compass instead ……”

The very next day, in the WOC Relay on the same terrain, Gunilla led the first leg runners in to change 1st for Sweden. The Swedes eventually took Gold in a sprint finish with Finland.

We all have days like that and it’s comforting to know that even the best in the world have them too.

Gunilla, right, with her gold medal winning WOC Relay teammates.