I can't help but think about these kinds of things as it is my background and a bit part of the work I do...in the lead up to the 2018 season I watched with interest how the NZ Warriors were prepping. It wasn't all about the physical side, it was about the psychological side of things too (things like I have mentioned in the title. Obviously they had experienced a lot of disappointment and set a goal to succeed this season. Anyway, I remember saying to my son that I bet the Warriors would be serious premiership contenders this year and he laughed his ass off at me...I told him mark my words they will. So the season starts and we watch all games so my kid was amazed to watch the Warriors going from strength to strength.
I noticed that in every game, they would do breathing exercises after major plays/tries/goals etc. Here is a little paragraph I found (link below the paragraph):
They defended like Spartans, missing just 25 tackles of 376 attempted. So the Warriors took the points, and took the points. They landed penalty goals in the 53rd and 75th minutes. Previous years, 20 metres out in front, the Warriors, again, might’ve entertained us all with a try or a ridiculous stuff-up. There was rarely anything in between. Repeat set? What? In 2018 they take the points. And they breathe.
Yes, the breathing. After tries, the Warriors gather in a group and “reset” by filling their lungs and becalming themselves. It looks almost spiritual. Always among the most talented of footy sides, it seems they’re grasping for inner peace. It was All Blacks captain Kieran Read’s idea. Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is all over it.
“Scoring tries, you know, we tend to get a bit excited as a group,” Tuivasa-Sheck said. “And in previous years … we’ve been ahead then lost in the last 10 minutes.
“The breathing is just about coming together to reset, re-focus and get ready to go again. Focus on the next task.”
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/09/warriors-nrl-kearney-cowboys-cleary
When Brad Fittler was named Blues coach I was excited. I knew he was a big believer in psych prep too and sure enough, stories began to crop up about his techniques..yoga, breathing, meditation, mindfulness and grounding techniques (examples of this are how he had them walk barefoot on the field, walking to the games). Here's a paragraph from one story (link below the paragraph):
NSW players are barefoot for training because coach Brad Fittler wants them to reconnect to the earth. It’s a frostbitten 12C, a dirty nor’ easter is blowing at 42km/h and the grass is cold and wet. They walk in line as if they’re about to hold hands and sing Fleetwood Mac songs right here on Coogee Oval, but afterwards Jack de Belin says the Blues are revelling in their Origin camps, which occasionally resemble a hippy commune.
“Just getting the minerals in through the feet,” he grins. “Getting the nutrients from the earth. It’s one of Freddy’s things. All the boys are on board. I suppose it’s one in, all in, with this sort of stuff. We’ve been doing some breathing techniques, the mindful breathing that gets you in the moment.
“There’s been an option to do yoga in the morning, which has been awesome. It’s a different approach but if everyone’s in, it’s definitely beneficial. It hasn’t been one of those things where everyone is taking the piss out of it or having a giggle when Freddy isn’t around. We’re into it.”
In watching Parra this season, one thing both myself and my son have noticed is that an element of panic (not sure if this is the right word?) comes into things when something goes wrong for our team on the field, and this panic then has negative effects on the following plays in the games. When something goes wrong, either for footy players or for the rest of us, natural human reaction is to have a negative cognition (thought). These thoughts then have a direct (and usually negative) effect on emotion, and it becomes a bit of a never-ending cycle because negative emotions effect your thought processes and your actions. A few types of negative thinking styles include catastrophising, shoulding & musting, labelling, emotional reasoning, black & white thinking, personalisation.....when I think about the course of an 80 min footy game, I imagine these kinds of patterns could happen.
Anyway, with regard to negative thinking processes and panic, these are things that can be negated by the things in the subject line of this blog. In my clinical years I've seen it make huge differences.....and look at how the Warriors have played this year...and the NSW Blues who just looked spectacular!
If you watch our team following the opposition scoring, our team usually tends to be scattered and not connected...there's no mental resetting going on etc. In these kinds of situations, the Warriors do their breathing stuff...they are all facing each other in a circle etc.
So I am wondering..could some of the above mentioned be things the team could look at when preparing for 2019?
Note: obviously understand that the physical/knowing the game plays the huger part ;) just looking at what other things might help the team.
Replies
Yep completely agree with this and it’s something that parramatta like the warriors has really struggled with. Unfortunately I think the coaching staff are so focussed on the sports science bs that they wouldn’t even consider anything along these lines.
Thanks for the reply X....Yeah I think you might be right with the focus being on sports science stuff (as with most nrl teams eh). I watched a training sesh up in Darwin and they did the barefoot thing, it was around origin time so I reckon they probably picked up on it from the stories about Fittler.
This has merit.With a lot of our blokes being god botherers of the evangelical ,happy clapper variety,they should be well used to group prayers.Instead of praying,some meditation and breathing between sets of six might help.Goal kickers have a breathing routine before pulling their trigger.The only drawback is the shot clock and the pace of the game.
Hey Tom,
Good point re: pace of game/shot clock.
Some of the cognitive training stuff is kinda like 'long game' stuff that gives the full benefit after you practice doing it a lot. Example from my work, a CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) technique I used to teach people who had experienced a bad negative event in their life and they were ruminating about it for many hours in a day was the clock technique...its a way of reducing the amount of time you worry about something negative. You reduce it by an even amount each day and only allow yourself the allotted amount of time to worry, then when that time is up you are to stop thinking it and do something else (in the case of my clients id suggest watch a tv show, go for a walk, call a friend etc). Anyway, it takes time.....but the trick is...you eventually train your mind to notice a negative thought, accept it occured and then dismiss it almost immediately. If you think about a footy player, they make a mistake...something like a dropped ball, a missed crucial goal or whatever....its normal for them to have negative thoughts about it...in some games I have watched Thurston do something wrong, swear at himself, and he is still shaking his head and looking shitty 5 mins later...and usually the sets that occur in that time period are of lesser quality because JTs mental focus is off.
There is no doubt in my mind that footy players could benefit from learning diff cog techniques to lessen the effect of errors in one set on the next sets. And if they can take the time to learn the technique above for example, noticing, accepting and dismissing a negative thought can be a process that takes less than 30 seconds
thanks BEM.
Have you noticed we have had a lot of injuries this season? I feel like the panic stuff is impacting injury wise too. Obviously I reckon there are other possible reasons for our spate of injuries (new trainers, just bad luck etc) but could also be panicked/rushed plays...or players overdoing it to try and improve the teams positions after an error is made etc (Nathan Brown comes to mind here...). The onflow effect is that we are then down key players for upcoming matches, putting us behind the eight ball again....and fuelling that panicked mindset..
Vicious cycle
Thanks Poppa, I will try to contribute more stuff....will have a think about other stuff I ponder
The Warriors have Improved because of Brian Smith
NSW won becasue the Canetoads have lost half their squad .
Matt Elliott was trying this yoga and free sprit hippy rubbish years ago and it got him the sack . Running around bare feet lol ...... please .
Namaste
Ha , the Thai culture myth . The hypocrisy of a country that preaches karma however will leave you to die on the side of the road rather than foot the bill for an accident they caused . The genuine Thais are lovely people, but even most of them will happily toss the Buddhist beliefs out the window as soon as a few baht is on the table . It’s like assuming all Australians love thy neighbour.
Excellent observations Amanda.
Winning is more about mental preparedness than anything else.
A study done many years ago in the American Basketball teams had two teams adopt different training strategies.
One team trained physically, practicing moves and shots, the other trained in a room using only their minds to visualise game plays and shooting.
Guess which team won when they took the court to do battle?
Hey Magic!
The Visualizers for the win!
Visualization is awesome. Not surprised re: the basketball study!!
I know for a fact Freddy uses visualization as part of his repertoire. The brain is such a fascinating tool we have.
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