Establishing Goals Involves Focus and Mental Preparation

Sports Programs are starting up again. It is time-appropriate to determine athletes; individual goals for the upcoming season/year.

I always had my ways of preparing for competitions in gymnastics, swimming, or athletics (track& field). During my competitive years, sports psychologists did not exist, and it was up to coaches to figure out how to prepare us mentally, which was minimal because research data were scarce. I played Cello in the school orchestra, and classical music was my “go-to” in training to keep focused, calm, and ready. How did I do it? I played those tunes in my head while training, although I messed up at times with the lap count, resulting in having to start over on the order from the coaches! However, it worked in competition because I kept away from the traditional “RA-RA” team atmosphere, playing my “phantasie concert” and visualizing myself swimming the breaststroke race to “my head tunes” with a certain rhythm (which I followed in the race!). Crazy? Yes – but it worked!

I created goal sheets posted on the back of the bedroom door to see every day when passing, although Mom was not too happy with all that paper and glue on the door. I had no clue or help designing those sheets, but I knew what I wanted to achieve, the time frame, and the pursuit of my sports and academics. My Preparatory High School for Humanities reinforced mental discipline, which was the ‘high order.’ Why am I telling this? It is essential to list short and long-term goals in sports and life.

I told my maternal grandmother, whom I adored that I would go to America after graduation. She was horrified but supportive, though she advised me to keep quiet because nobody would take me seriously! Well, I immigrated and obtained a Ph.D. However, it took 12 years of frustration while teaching and coaching with a certain amount of tenacity to achieve this goal, facing constant obstacles at Arizona State University during the summer semesters.

According to Bob Bowman, Olympian Michael Phelp’s former long-time coach,

… Goals are essential to help swimmers as they provide motivation, direction, and focus. They are the proverbial rocket fuel during long training cycles, tiring weeks of practice, and the yo-yo of confidence when viewing the results of competing swimmers. Which is why it is so important to set goals intelligently. Goals where you have maximum control of your performance …

(cited in Poirer-Leroy, May 5, 2024, Weekly post) Poirer-Leroy, O. (2024, May 5). Bob Bowmann on setting smarter goals.m Victoria, BC, Canada: olivier@yourswimbook.com

Personal coaching experiences include the USA and Canada, from the beginner to the elite level. I started in a private country club with Summer Recreational and Novice competitors, whereby swimmers developed from the Club Tot lesson program over the years. Both groups had to draw or write down “what they liked about the water, about learning to swim, what they wanted to learn if they wanted to be a competition swimmer, and what they wanted to accomplish.”

That was my first approach to developing the Questionnaire for club swimmers. After two years, I realized that the goals I had in mind for the competitive group were somewhat different for each swimmer based on the training and bi-weekly “technique Show and Tell Meets” we had organized. Subsequently, I designed a Questionnaire for the Coaching staff. The following season, a mother signed up three children in the program. We quickly discovered that only one wanted to be a swimmer, while the other two liked soccer and baseball. Mom declared that “it was easier for all 3 to do the same sport because she was not going to be a “taxi driving kids to different training sites.”

That experience led to designing the Parent Questionnaire because issues may quickly arise since three parties are involved: coach, swimmer, and parent, who could have various goals. Comparing the results indeed confirmed differences within the three groups.

Reasons for Goal Setting:

  • To decide and plan desired goals and the pathway to achieve such goals

  • To become functional in the desired activities

  • To be in control of the activities and one’s emotions in training and competition

  • To develop more self-awareness and self-confidence

  • To strive for personal improvement in training and competition

Types of Goals:

Process Goals:

  • Developing Steps to be taken– how to ‘get there – how to achieve these goals

  • Establishing the goals and committing to them (i.e. what needs to be accomplished, and why is this important)

  • Stating the goal clearly in terms of performance or outcome

  • When does the process begin?

  • When and how to assess and/or evaluate the Progress – goals achieved

  • Stating the goal clearly in terms of performance or outcome

  • Identify specific strategies to achieve the goal (i.e. what must be done to achieve this goal, and how will this be done

Performance Goals – represent changes in performance relative to the athlete’s existing performance, such as improvements in fitness levels, technical improvement, skill mastery

Outcome Goals:

  • Athlete wishes to achieve training goals and self-improvement goals

  • Type of training; type of Warm-up and Warm-down (Pre-and Post-hase); type of cross-training; type of alternative activities

  • Competition results and achievement goals

Ladder to Success

We designed the Pre-Mid- and Post-Season Questionnaires for athletes 12 and older and the Pre- and Post-Season Questionnaires for Parents. We also developed the Pre-Mid-Post-season Questionnaires for Coaches. Still, we decided they should be left to individual club team coaches to design their own but link to athletes’ and parents’ questions. Click the button below to download a PDF of the Pre-Season Questionnaire.

Reference:

Schloder, M.E. (2019). Supplementary Lecture Notes. Calgary Alberta, Canada: www.coaching best. Coaching Association of Canada. NCCP Modules: Basic Mental Skills and Psychology of Performance: Goal Setting.

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