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| TIP of the Month |
| The Ideal Performance State |
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| Do you anger easily throughout your matches? Do you give up as soon as you are one or two points behind? Are you a great technician who is a choker, consistently losing to fighters with much less technical ability? Anger, tanking and choking are three of the four mental performance stages in which players may find themselves during a match. Your key is to reach the fourth � the Ideal Performance State. Before you can cope with your mental demons in the ring, you'll need to understand what your emotions mean, in order for you to deal with them on a more subjective level. The Four Mental Stages Picture your mind as a bull�s-eye, which is made up of four concentric circles. Tanking The outside circle is tanking. Players who tank simply quit trying, they don�t attack, and they don�t counter-attack. By tanking, a player can rationalize that he or she didn't really lose because they didn't try. They may do this to avoid giving credit to a rival they can't stand, or to save face by avoiding failure. It's always disheartening to try and fail; not trying eases some of this pain. Prepare for the time you may find yourself tanking. One way to motivate yourself when you feel that the match is lost is to set micro-goals, such as winning the next round, scoring the next point, or getting the last kick in an exchange. Practicing particular kicks, such as a basic counter-roundhouse, or other combinations may allow you to get some success and enjoyment out of the match, and may even get you back into the match. Almost anything is better than tanking. Anger The next circle in the bull�s-eye is anger. The anger ring is closer to the bull�s-eye because anger comes from a player who is trying, but losing, and becoming frustrated. The angry player at least cares. Anger may result from the player's reaction to an opponent (who is cheating or practicing gamesmanship) or may it be directed at him or herself (for poor performance). The problem with anger is that it is an uncontrolled release of emotions, with no positive impact on the player's game. It is most often accompanied by negative self-talk, which are usually put-downs of the player (e.g., �You idiot. You can't even throw a roundhouse!�). Players who throw their helmets, swear, scream, or kick water bottles are letting off steam, but not doing anything about the cause. Before they know it, they are out of the round or match and then out of the tournament! Choking The next circle is choking. Choking is simply fear. When you are trying, but losing, you begin to compensate by becoming more conservative in your match. You throw weaker kicks, not fully committing, your weight is typically static or moving backwards, you just react to your opponent rather than initiating your own match strategy. You may become immobilized (freeze) when your opponent kicks, In short, you panic, and your fear begins to paralyze you. The Ideal Performance State The Ideal Performance State, also known as �being in the Zone� or �in the Flow�, is the �Bull�s-eye! This is the optimal physiological and psychological level of arousal measured in muscular tension, heart rate, blood pressure, and brain wave frequency. When in IPS, the player experiences highly distinctive patterns of feelings and thought, which enable top performance. The discovery of IPS is not unlike the discovery of "flow." Flow is a term describing the state people enter when "things seem to go right," "everything clicks," and "I could do no wrong." Musicians experience flow when the music comes naturally and easily. This is that state in which you are able to score points where you want, how you want, when you want. When players enter the IPS, their confidence soars. They become players, thinking tactically on the other side of the ring, rather than kickers, who think technically on their side of the ring. Even when they are down in a match, or trailing behind an opponent who is playing well, they love the battle. What most players fail to realize is that �The Zone� is more a motor phenomenon than a psychological one. No player who hits the Zone is ever kicking poorly. Players who keep missing their kicks or become �human kicking bags� for their opponents don't talking about being in the Zone. What players who are kicking poorly do, however, is consciously think about mechanics while they're sparring. Players who are in their IPS don't think about their stance or footwork; they are focused on the other side of the ring, measuring up open-side vs. close-side, or trying to set up their opponent with a combination of kicks. Players in the Zone often refer to themselves as �being unconscious.� This means, their brain was responding to the goals it was being given (open-side, close-side, etc.). When players consciously try to override their brain's stored motor memory by thinking about mechanics during the match, there is no way the brain can do what it has been trained to do. To help get yourself get into your IPS, make sure you understand which of the four mental states you may be in. If you understand what the IPS is, and that you need to get out of your brain's way and let it do its work, this may help you clear your minds of the conscious directions that interfere with stored motor patterns. During practices, try to recall any times you were in the IPS during a match, and try to recreate the feeling you had at that time, during this practice. Recall any details of that day. Was it a noisy gymnasium or an unusually quiet crowd? Were there any smells associated with that match, such as Tiger-Balm or a particular sports drink? Make sure that any time you hit the Zone; you take note of how you're feeling, so you can catalogue it for later use in another match. When working at full capacity, IPS should involve all levels of human existence: body, mind, emotions, spirit, and creativity. To remember how to reach the Ideal Performance State, think of the word PERFORM. The job of coaches and players is to keep the body and mind within the following parameters: � Personally challenged � Energized with positive emotion � Ready for fun and enjoyment � Focused and alert � On automatic instinct � Relaxed and calm � Maintaining confidence Just a little bit about the seven components of IPS: 1. Personally challenged: Great players set goals for each and every performance. Even though great players have already won every major championship, they still give everything in practice and games. They find challenges where others do not. 2. Energized with positive emotion: Nearly impossible to do without staying physically fit. Healthy thoughts accompany healthy bodies. Positive affirmations are important too. 3. Ready for fun and enjoyment: The best performances, in anything, always come when you are having fun. 4. Focused and alert: Focus deals with blocking out distractions, while alert means paying attention to what is happening. 5. On automatic instinct: In Taekwondo, automatic would be responding to visual clues mostly, while instinct uses the sense of feeling and intuition. 6. Relaxed and calm: Relaxed refers to keeping the muscles un-tense, while maintaining a calm mentality. 7. Maintaining confidence: Players must keep a highly positive self-image throughout the entire match, even when they falter or make mistakes. |