|
INTRODUCTION
The
secret of success is to train your brain.
You must put it through a fitness program in the same way you train
your body to get in shape.
The
mind can handle a tremendous amount of information as long as all the
parts fit together into some kind of coherent whole.
The whole, in our case is how the game is played, the fundamental
concepts and principles of play.
The parts are the physical and mental components, the moves,
sequences and strategies that allow us to play the game.
The most important characteristic of each part is its relation to
the whole. Learning
fencing develops familiarity with the many types of part-whole
relationships that exist among the fencing actions.
Motor-skill
is the pattern of movements that enables the performer to accomplish a
task. Motor-skill is
goal oriented, that is the pattern of movement comprising the action is
directed towards the achievement of a specific goal.
Competent performers focus their attention on goals and the
necessary cues for action, not upon the action itself.
Skilled performance is largely subconscious.
To access the sport-specific skills of attack and defence your
concentration must be on the distance and movement of your opponent.
When
a musician starts thinking about the complex biomechanics involved, the
music stops. The fine-motor
coordination that comprise superior skill are disrupted by conscious
efforts to regulate the action, normally subconsciously controlled.
You
have no doubt heard top class competitors describing fencing:
“
Definitely an extension of your mind, that de ja vous sensation
.... you just know what he/she’s
going to do................ your point provokes, deceives and
touches as if it’s got a mind of it’s own - you’re an amazed
observer! “
These
are not mere comments on the mechanics of the sport but examples of
controlled focus responding perfectly in time with movement, they describe
a harmonious coming together of all of the parts.
Top
athletes are performance-skill goal driven.
Perfecting the
performance
of the skills themselves should be the athlete’s goals.
Mental
practice is clearly seeing a definite performance in the imagination.
Thinking is an integral part of learning especially with complex
motor skills. The goals,
strategies and cues must be the primary concern.
The thought of each performance must be rehearsed before - the
focus and control maintained during - and an immediate assessment,
evaluating and considering alternatives after - each performance.
Mental practice is an attempt to formalize such activity in the
athlete’s mind.
You
first examine and detail the sport-specific skills in kinesthetic thought
patterns by directing your thought to the various senses.
You learn to bio-mentally feel each and every skill.
Clarity of visualization is your initial
objective.
The
physical sciences have developed to a stage where it is now universally
recognized that physiological training and gains are best made through
specific programs. We develop
strength programs, flexibility programs, and specific energy system
efficiency and endurance programs. We
want to be physically prepared with no limitations to our game and yet we
overlook what is equally and even possibly more important in fencing -
psychological preparedness. When
we think of training in a sport we tend to think of it as being physical.
There is still the belief that an athlete either has what it takes,
or doesn’t. That mental
strength is a natural gift that you either have or you don’t have.
This leads one to believe that the mental attributes are somehow
un-trainable. On the contrary, psychological skills required in
competitive fencing are trainable! We
want to be completely prepared for competition.
Perform to our maximum potential.
We must therefore develop as a whole, have no limitations
physically or mentally.
To
assist this process we use mental training.
As we have been learning we have been relating the physical skills
to what they feel like - kinesthetically.
This in itself naturally stimulates mental visualization.
Once
you have established clarity of visualization you develop the means to
activate and control those neuromuscular sequences in relation to the
co-ordination required for each particular skill.
Mental rehearsal used in this way reinforces the performance of the
skill.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
FENCING TRAINING
Psychological
training for fencing incorporates:
1. Examining
ones personal goals (short term, intermediate and long) and monitoring the
short-term progressions.
2. Examining
ones personal ideal performance state in fencing:
- Discovering
ones own personal ideal performance state, and
- Noting
ones personal “inhibitors” which affect this performance.
3. Examining,
training and developing control of the following techniques:
- Relaxation
control,
- Visualization
and imagery,
- Mental
rehearsal.
4. Developing
and monitoring personal competition strategies to control the likelihood
of “inhibitors” affecting performance.
Psychological
training involves programming our mind to the planned competition
strategies and learning to control all
the possible inhibitors.
This
psychological programming requires being able to relax at will and
develop acute clarity with visualization.
We physically train by repetitively repeating the actions, which we
wish to develop as a natural sequence of the game.
The same methodology is used with mental training.
We mentally rehearse the technical actions and the tactical
sequences until they “feel” and become a natural part of the game.
Mental rehearsal should be used and developed concurrently with the
learning of the physical actions. Thinking
and visualizing the technical and tactical aspects of what is being learnt
will accelerate the student’s rate of learning.
It is now well known that there are identical physiological
responses of a mentally rehearsed action that duplicate and parallels the
actual physical action. As a consequence, all the principles that apply to physical
learning such as the “over load” principle and the training time it
takes for the body to adapt and modify to the new skill/s, can be equally
accepted as true for mental training.
The
athlete should develop these mental skills as a natural part of learning
the physical skill.
Once
properly learnt, mental rehearsal develops as the major training tool in
reinforcing your ideal performance state and competition strategies as
well as controlling “inhibitors” that surface into your game.
By the time the athlete has developed into a competitor, he/she has
adequately trained and developed the mental capacity to control and
maintain optimal performance.
The
need for relaxation in developing visualization.
The deeper the state of relaxation, the more the body becomes
receptive to accepting these mental thoughts and images.
The ability to control, at will, our arousal level is a skill
associated with elite performance.
There are many ways to develop relaxation (centering, controlled
breathing (3 part breathing, 5 to 1 count), progressive muscular
relaxation (P.M.R.), self-hypnosis, yoga, etc.)
Primarily however, they are based on either physiological response
or mental imagery. Physiologically,
there is an inverse myotatic reflex, which is an automatic reflex muscle
relaxation activated by receptors in the tendons as a result of stretch
and muscle contraction. To
utilize this reflex muscle relaxation you simply have to contract the
muscles in the area you wish to relax, hold the contraction for a few
moments, and release.
The
other relaxation techniques are based on mental imagery. Focusing thought
on an object (perhaps your own breathing) or an image (perhaps a scene or
even colours) and mentally telling your body to relax.
Whatever method the athlete chooses is completely up to their
preference.
Some
methods are more appropriate to the competition environment than others,
one of these being “centering” which appears to be quite popular by
athletes across many sports.
|
