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Sports Psychology spreads its wings
The first group of students completing the new Certificate in Sports Hypnosis received their certificates this week, so I thought I'd put some thoughts down about my impressions of the course and it's impact.
Hypnosis is increasingly being used in sport, and a handful of sports psychologists have added it to their repertoire of skills, however it is still largely the domain of hypnotherapists, who usually only touch on sports performance as part of their basic training.
What's different about this new certificate is that it introduces qualified hypnotherapists to sports psychology, enabling them to understand both the psychology of sport as well as how hypnosis can be used in many typical interventions. Hypnotherapy too often gets a bad rap, and this course hopefully goes some way to providing some credibility to hypnotherapists working in a sports setting. It also enables those looking for a suitable hypnotherapist to know that someone with Cert.SportsHyp(CSH) after their name, has done advanced training in the subject.
What has been particularly pleasing has been the response, not only from the students, but also from sports psychologists who have been in touch. There's clearly a demand for better and more standardised training in specialised areas like this, and the keenness to learn more about sports psychology from hypnotherapists is very encouraging. This course won't make a hypnotherapist a sports psychologist, or vice versa, but I hope the very least it does is provide practitioners with a greater understanding of the subject, so they can use it effectively.
If you're interested in Sports Hypnosis at all, or want to know more, please feel free to join the iStadia club, or have a look at The Centre for Sports Hypnosis website. The next course is end of January 2009 - this one's for hypnotherapists, but if you're a sports psychologist then please get in touch as a course for you is currently being designed.
Being perfect may not be so bad after all!
Aiming for perfectionism is often seen as a bad thing, or even destructive. New research by Stoll and Stoeber (2008) however seems to suggest otherwise, and that it may even be beneficial to performance.
The researchers firstly suggested that perfectionism had two parts: striving for perfection, and negative reactions after an "imperfect" performance. They proposed that the striving part would be good for performance, but the negative reactions would be detrimental. They tested this using a basketball task and whether the participants agreed to striving statements before playing, and negative statements after playing.
What they didn't expect, was that those participants who had both a high striving for perfection and negative reactions after a less than perfect performance, showed the most improvement in the task. They suggested that perhaps those who were not so concerned whether the reached perfection or not were less motivated to do well in training.
Stoll and Stoeber concluded that striving for perfection could help with achieving excellence by providing a motivational boost which leads to a better performance.
The researchers admit that more research needs to be done in this area, but considering competitive sport in schools is considered by some to be bad for children, you have to wonder whether some of the reasoning that's used for that decision might be ever so slightly flawed if this research is anything to go by...
Gary Baker
The Centre for Sports Hypnosis
From the BPS Research Digest - http://www.researchdigest.org.uk/blog
STOLL, O., LAU, A., STOEBER, J. (2008). Perfectionism and performance in a new basketball training task: Does striving for perfection enhance or undermine performance?. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 9(5), 620-629. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2007.10.001
Visualisation in Golf - Speed Matters!
Visualisation or imagery is already used extensively in golf to improve self-efficacy and performance as a whole. Usually, it is suggested to golfers that they visualise the shot at the same speed as in real-life in order to ensure the accuracy and realism of the visualisation. New research by Beilock and Gonso (2008) suggests there may be more to the speed of the visualisation than just keeping it real.
Beilock and Gonso compared the accuracy of putting of novice golfers with experienced golfers after a slow mental rehearsal and a fast mental rehearsal of the putt (i.e. "10 imaginary putts performed as fast and as accurately as possible"), and found that the more experienced golfers putted more accurately after the fast mental rehearsal, while novice golfers performed better after the slow visusalisation.
I suppose it's not that surprising though, because as Beilock and Gonso suggest, it confirms what we already know in practice - that experienced golfers shouldn't play shots too slowly to avoid having time to think of the mechanics rather than trusting their instinct. Novice golfers however need this time to ensure their grip, stance, posture etc is right before playing the shot. What is interesting is that although this is usually the case in practice, perhaps in mental rehearsal the speed of rehearsal needs to be more emphasised.
Gary Baker
The Centre for Sports Hypnosis
Beilock, S., Gonso, S. (2008). Putting in the mind versus putting on the green: Expertise, performance time, and the linking of imagery and action. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61(6), 920-932.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470210701625626
From The British Psychological Society Research Digest, Issue 119.
http://www.researchdigest.org.uk/blog
How young is too young?
Had an interesting conversation earlier with a parent regarding sports psychology for their child, who is turning 10 in a few months, and whether that is too young for mental coaching. It's actually been recommended by the child's coach, though others have suggested it's too young. There seems to be mixed opinions on this, and certainly the youngest I've worked with in sport has been 11, though in psychotherapy it's not unsual to have clients much younger than that. Those 11 and 12 year-olds I've worked with seem largely to have enjoyed it and benefited from it, though maturity certainly is a consideration, as is the approach that is used.I'd be interested in other views on this, and what your experiences are?
Gary Baker
The Centre for Sports Hypnosis
