SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

Focussing on the process and enjoying your Orienteering

Jason McCrae

Tasmania’s Hanny Allston focussing on the process of reading her map, despite obvious distractions, at the JWOC Sprint in Switzerland this year.

IN most individual sports a competitor can measure their own performance through things other than winning or losing – a golfer can lower their score around the course, swimmers, runners and cyclists can lower their times for certain distances and field athletes can throw or jump higher or further. The best in these sports aim for Personal Best (PB) times/scores/throws etc. In Orienteering however every course, terrain or race is different. For most orienteers the only measure used is comparing our race with other competitors (results) or perhaps, as is commonly done post-run, through how many mistakes one has made.

Outcome Focus

Setting goals and subsequently measuring performance for races based on results is what is known in Sport Psychology as having an “outcome focus”. Too much of an outcome focus can be a deterrent to success. The outcome of any race is contingent on a lot more than just you – there is a lot about the outcome that is out of your control such as how well your competitors run, the mapping, the course set, the particular terrain on the day, the start times allocated or just plain old luck! The only thing you have any control over is your actions and thoughts while actually orienteering. Getting anxious over outcomes you can’t control is often detrimental to performance.

Process Focus

Successful sports people, and successful orienteers, overcome this by using a few simple steps to measure their race by more than just whether they beat Dave Lotty or not. The following are some tips that might ensure in this State Champs season you get some PBs of your own, enjoy your Orienteering and you might even find your results improve also. 1. Make a special effort to enjoy your Orienteering. Every time I go Orienteering, and especially at Carnival races, I see and hear orienteers complaining about their race, how many mistakes they made and how Dave Lotty (or insert any competitor name you like!) beat them. It makes me wonder why some of us go Orienteering at all! By making an aim of your Orienteering to enjoy it you might actually have a bit more fun! Additionally you will probably forget about a few of your other worries (especially about the race results) and consequently perform better.

2. Set one or two goals for each race/run that are focused on how you want to orienteer and write them down. These might be something like “I’m going to have an attack point for each control” or “I’m going to slow down each time I go into the detail”. Then when you finish your run, before you look at the results board, have a look at the goals you set and give yourself a score out of 10 (1 being ordinary and 10 being perfect) on how well you executed these skills. This will ensure that even if your result is poor you can at least gain some satisfaction about how well you performed these particular skills. If you performed the skills poorly (say gave yourself a score less than 5/10) well at least you’ve got something to improve upon next run/race! 3. Maintain a present-moment focus. Stay centred on the here and now, and direct your energy and attention to the task you are performing. If you find yourself thinking too far ahead/stressing/worrying possibly about outcomes, ask yourself “What should I be doing right now?” There will always be a simple answer to that question (e.g., finding the next control, looking at my compass, relaxing and enjoying myself). The answer is NOT “stressing and worrying”. Once you have identified the answer to that question, do the answer! In other words, if you realise you have slipped back into outcome focusing, set yourself an immediate 5-minute goal. Make it something simple and practical and constructive. Stay focused on the goal. Become immersed in it.

Enjoy your orienteering this Spring and keep your mind on the process.

This article was based on the work of Dr. Michelle Austin, Sport Psychologist at the ACT Academy of Sport.

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