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Unless you have successfully isolated yourself from playoff hockey the past few seasons, you know that Marc Andre Fleury has had his issues during the postseason.
Those struggles have directly led to him being left off of the Olympic camp roster for Team Canada.
The struggles have not been talent based; Fleury possesses one of the more impressive skill sets a goaltender could have. There has been much speculation that Fleury’s problems in goal have been in between his ears and that the pressure of succeeding in the playoffs has started to defeat him. Confidence is a delicate thing at the highest level of sports, especially when playing the goaltending position.
In previous seasons Penguins General Manager Ray Shero has suggested to Fleury to go see a sports psychologist,
this summer for the first time he will take that suggestion.
I personally think that it is a great thing but a lot of people are probably going to have some misconceptions about what sports psychology actually is. Going to a sports psychologist does NOT mean that a person has mental problems. Sports psychology is not psychiatry. Sports psychology is more about using certain methods and cues to help an athlete focus their attention in the right areas. By utilizing the proper tactics and cues it should result in an athlete reaching a high level of performance.
Sports psychology is not just for athletes who are struggling. There are tons of athletes who are at the top of their game and use sports psychology and sports psychologists to help them reach their athletic goals. They not only use those resources to help achieve their goals but also as a means of maintaining that success as well. There should not be any negative connotations about an athlete who sees a sports psychologist.
Athletes are like finely tuned performance vehicles, when something little is off while trying to achieve peak performance, it throw the entire equilibrium off kilter. Seeing a sports psychologist is like getting a vehicle fine tuned and making sure the alignment is correct. It doesn’t mean the engine is cooked or the transmission is about to blow.
To try and dispel some of the negative connotations associated with sports psychology I am going to list a few of the basic approaches that sports psychologists will use with a client. While I am not anywhere close to being a certified sports psychologist, I have majored in both Physical Education and Health. I hold a teaching certification for both subjects in New York State. Sports psychology was part of my college curriculum to achieve both my Masters and Bachelors degree.
Here are five of the more basic approaches to sports psychology:
Arousal Regulation
This is an approach that will help an athlete regulate the stimuli that surrounds him or her during competition. The goal is to focus the athlete both cognitively and physiologically in order to maximize performance. Part of this approach is geared towards decreasing anxiety that can occur during high pressure sporting events. Tactics such as progressive muscle relaxation can help with tension within the muscles and overall stress levels. Breathing exercises and meditation are also used in an effort to help the athlete focus on what stimulus is important, while relieving the feelings of anxiety.
Goal Setting
This is a basic approach but can really help an athlete (or anybody really) focus on what the task at hand is. A person using goal setting should be setting specific accomplishments during a set period of time. These goals should be measurable, difficult at times to reach, but attainable. The important part about goal setting is to make sure that the goals that one chooses are progressive. Goals at the beginning of the process should be small and over the course of time add up to a bigger longer term goal. These goals should be written down so that they are easily accessible and provide a concrete reminder of the task at hand.
Imagery
This is the tactic of an athlete using visualization to help assist during performance. The athlete taking part in imagery will be using multiple senses (sight, sound, taste, feeling, smell) to try and recreate, as vividly as possible, certain situations they will find themselves in during game play. The more specific and vivid the imagery, the more likely the brain is to interpret that as close to the real event. This is similar to muscle memory but for the brain. By using imagery as a means of mental practice, the athlete should feel more comfortable when they actually find themselves in the real situation. This in turn can cause an athlete’s confidence level to go up. Familiarity breeds confidence
Self Talk
Self talk is a strategy that uses the thoughts and words in an athlete’s mind to help direct them towards a specific skill or concept that they need to focus on. Athletes will use cues or phrases to help assist them in refocusing their attention on what is important. For a goaltender in hockey it might be something simple like “stay square” or for a golfer “keep your head down”. By using cues it can help refocus an athlete’s attention in the right areas.
Pre-performance Routines
These are the steps that an athlete takes in order to prepare for a game. Every athlete has their own habits that they partake in while preparing for competition. It is important for an athlete to try and maintain a similar approach before each game. By using similar pregame routines it can be a helpful tool for relaxation. By doing similar things over and over again it helps build familiarity, which in turn can breed confidence (like previously stated). Pre-performance routines can also blend in some of the other tactics discussed above such as imagery and self-talk. A prime example of this is how Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres meditates at the bench in an empty arena before the game.
Those are just some of the basic approaches that are used in the field of sports psychology. As you can see they are very basic, but very helpful tactics that can help assist an athlete achieve the highest level of success in their sport.
These tactics are not limited to athletes competing at the highest levels of their sport. These are tactics that can be employed by any athlete at any level of competition.
The next time you hear that an athlete is going to see a sports psychologist, don’t treat it as a negative. Treat it for what it is; a great resource and tool to help athletes reach the best of their abilities.
Thanks for reading!
You can find my non-Penguin related articles over at
HockeyHurts.com
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