Pre-Competition Plan
Pre-competition Plan: This is psychological training. The goal of psychological training is to create an ideal performance state on a consistent basis.
The objective of pre-competition planning is to arrange the external and internal world in a way to maximize the athletes feeling of control.
External world: consists of the actual physical surroundings, what is happening in those surroundings, and the physical things that the athlete does.
Internal World: The athletes physical state, thoughts, feelings, mental images, and attentional focus.
The best pre-competition and competition plan consists of procedures that ready the athlete physically and mentally for competition.
The ost effective readying procedure is individualized; this means that the length, content, and sequencing of behavior protocols vary greatly from wrestler to wrestler.
A study on Olympic wrestlers revealed that there was a difference between Olympic medalists and non medalisits.
Medalists had competition plans firmly in their minds and did not spontaneously second guess these plans during the match, where non medalists reported spontaneous deviations from competition plans developed for matches and often had negative consequences.
Medalists had very systematic routines that they consistently adhered to throughout the Olympics, whereas non medalists reported deviating from their pre-performance routines, especially in matches that they considered less challenging or less important.
Might include:
What time do you wake up?
Travel to the competition?
Arriving at competition site?
Getting dressed?
Doing warm up exercises and technique drills/
Dealing with the time between warm up and match time?
Some athletes like to find a quiet place at the competition site to relax, and go through relaxation exercises. Some athletes combine their dressing ritual with focusing on what techniques they will use during the competition. Often athletes will procede their warm up with a 5-10 minute imagery exercise of exactly what they want to feel and perform during the competitioin. Some may only use some of these procedures, while others may use all of them.
Refocusing plans:
Worrying about competitors before the competition:
They are human just like me. We’ll see what they can do in the match, not in warm ups or in training. I need to focus on my own preparation.
All I can do is my best. Nobody can take that away from me. If my performance is good, I’ll be happy. If it’s not so good and I try, I shouldn’t be disappointed.
I’m wrestling fro me. It’s my best that I want.
Worrying about competitiors during the match:
If I start to think about my opponent during a match, I’ll shift my concentration to my match, my technics, wrestle your match.
I have the potion….I have the motion.
Pre-event hassles:
Delay in the match start. If I’m ready to wrestle and there is a short delay, bounce around, keep moving, stay warm, do a mini- warm up and follow the normal plan as I approach the line.
Worries during the competition:
Get taken down first: No problem, that can happen. It’s not he first takedown that determines the outcome of the match. Follow your match plan. Push it to the max.
Pain in your leg: shift focus to the specific task at hand. What position am I in, and what do I need to do.
The objective of pre-competition planning is to arrange the external and internal world in a way to maximize the athletes feeling of control.
External world: consists of the actual physical surroundings, what is happening in those surroundings, and the physical things that the athlete does.
Internal World: The athletes physical state, thoughts, feelings, mental images, and attentional focus.
The best pre-competition and competition plan consists of procedures that ready the athlete physically and mentally for competition.
The ost effective readying procedure is individualized; this means that the length, content, and sequencing of behavior protocols vary greatly from wrestler to wrestler.
A study on Olympic wrestlers revealed that there was a difference between Olympic medalists and non medalisits.
Medalists had competition plans firmly in their minds and did not spontaneously second guess these plans during the match, where non medalists reported spontaneous deviations from competition plans developed for matches and often had negative consequences.
Medalists had very systematic routines that they consistently adhered to throughout the Olympics, whereas non medalists reported deviating from their pre-performance routines, especially in matches that they considered less challenging or less important.
Might include:
What time do you wake up?
Travel to the competition?
Arriving at competition site?
Getting dressed?
Doing warm up exercises and technique drills/
Dealing with the time between warm up and match time?
Some athletes like to find a quiet place at the competition site to relax, and go through relaxation exercises. Some athletes combine their dressing ritual with focusing on what techniques they will use during the competition. Often athletes will procede their warm up with a 5-10 minute imagery exercise of exactly what they want to feel and perform during the competitioin. Some may only use some of these procedures, while others may use all of them.
Refocusing plans:
Worrying about competitors before the competition:
They are human just like me. We’ll see what they can do in the match, not in warm ups or in training. I need to focus on my own preparation.
All I can do is my best. Nobody can take that away from me. If my performance is good, I’ll be happy. If it’s not so good and I try, I shouldn’t be disappointed.
I’m wrestling fro me. It’s my best that I want.
Worrying about competitiors during the match:
If I start to think about my opponent during a match, I’ll shift my concentration to my match, my technics, wrestle your match.
I have the potion….I have the motion.
Pre-event hassles:
Delay in the match start. If I’m ready to wrestle and there is a short delay, bounce around, keep moving, stay warm, do a mini- warm up and follow the normal plan as I approach the line.
Worries during the competition:
Get taken down first: No problem, that can happen. It’s not he first takedown that determines the outcome of the match. Follow your match plan. Push it to the max.
Pain in your leg: shift focus to the specific task at hand. What position am I in, and what do I need to do.