Ch.

17 Summary – Concentration– Ryan Collins

This chapter was the last in our section on using psychology and mental training skills and

strategies to improve/maximize potential performance. We’ve already discussed in past papers many of

the benefits of putting time and effort in learning, developing, and practicing skills such as imagery in the

past, or now concentration. There are many physical differences between elite professional athletes and

amateurs or less successful ones, but the ability to use these skills to their advantage to maximize their

potential and ability is maybe what truly sets them apart. We often see this in professionals’ great runs

such as LeBron bring the Cavaliers back to win an NBA title, or Michael Phelps winning 8 Golds in a

single Olympic year. These skills can be developed and practiced similarly to physical skills and as

coaches we must help our athletes do just that.

Perhaps one of the most critical factors in increasing concentration, is learning to focus on the

important, relevant information or aspects of competition. This is critical in actual competition or even

practice and learning and improving significantly by being active or engaged through concentrating and

giving effort and attention to the more critical aspects of your sport. This coincides closely with another

concept I’ve discussed prior, emphasizing process over result and outcome. Similarly to the goal-setting

conversation, the more we emphasis outcome goals during competition, the less likely it is they’ll occur.

We must stay attentive to our actions and things in our control. For swimming or sports like golf without

direct interaction with an opponent, this is especially critical in order to put up a faster time or lower score

and “beat the opponent”. As skills are learned and practice and ingrained in muscle memory, like the

dribbling a basketball example given, we don’t have to focus our finite attention on actually dribbling

anymore but instead can focus on the game, opposition, and whatever other information is now relevant.

The section on using positive self-talk to enhance concentration and therefore performance makes

a lot of sense and also must be practiced and can be encouraged by coaches and teammates. The section

on “choking” is very useful and I believe is the opposite of being in the zone or flow as covered in earlier

chapters. I believe pairing these concepts discussed with focusing on appropriate goals from chapter 16

and flow from even earlier we can help guide and teach our athletes what information and concepts are
Ch.17 Summary – Concentration– Ryan Collins

important to focus on and think about at certain times, and what should be disregarded or viewed in a

different light in order to not cripple or lead to impaired and reduced performance.