Page 17 - Mental Skills for Coaches

“Task” phase is a very crucial stage, this is where the content of the image needs to be as close to real task as possible, in the case of an athlete its usually a skill such as free taking, catching, or in this case – tackling a player.
Ø Begin your re-centering steps you learned last week and have been practising, Ø Now add your Physical which you learned yesterday,
Ø Now add your Environment which you learned yesterday.
Ø Now we’ll add in the task...
Having gone through the re-centering, and combining the physical and environmental aspects of the image, can you become aware of the task at hand? How far are you from your player? Does she have the ball? Can you touch her? Can you touch the ball? How tall is she? Is she strong? Is she protecting the ball well? Are you strong on your feel? Are you upright, are you balance? Concentrate on your breathing and assess the difficulty of the task ahead? Can you focus on the ball, can you reach it? How much effort is needed to reach it? Will it be a safe tackle? Are you risking a card? Even if you are is it worth it? Focus on the ball, focus on your hand, move your hand to hit the ball, reach for it and connect.
Take a deep breath and now open your eyes.
Task: Practice this technique during a quiet moment at home first, progressing to practice while on the training pitch tomorrow. Combine the physical and environmental aspects of the image with the task itself, concentrating on your breathing throughout. Repeat this in the morning after breakfast , before training or any time identified as suitable in yesterdays exercise.
PETLEP – Timing
Objective: Progress your imagery model, by adding in the Timing imagery. Time to Spend: 15 mins.
“Timing” phase refers to imaging the task in real time, Timing refers to the speed at which the imagery is completed, ideally in real time because of the importance of timing in successful execution of a technique.
Ø Begin your re-centering steps you learned last week and have been practising, Ø Now add your Physical which you learned yesterday,
Ø Now add your Environment which you learned yesterday.
Ø Now add your Task which you learned yesterday.
Ø Now we’ll add in the Timing ...
Can you become aware of the timing needed to successfully execute this skill? The attacker has the ball, she is moving away from you. You need window of time to make the tackle, its needs to be right. Identify when is too early, too late. Wait for the right