“When I’m on the mound, I’m so locked in I don’t even see the dugout. It’s just me and the glove. There’s no way I can hear what’s going on in the bleachers.”
--Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens
Nideffer and Sagal (2001) argue that “Concentration is often the deciding factor in athletic competition.” Regardless of the specific sport, attention and concentration are essential for success. The basketball player who needs to focus to make a free-throw, the ice-skater who has to land a particular jump, the drag racer who has to have excellent reaction times to win the race, and the stock car racer who has to keep concentrated on the task at hand for long periods of time. Perhaps, no other mental skill is more important to the athlete than the ability to concentrate, focus, and appropriately pay attention.
If you ask any racer (and they are honest!) they will tell you that they have lost a race because they lost their focus or they lost their concentration. In life in general, we spend a lot of our time on "auto pilot." Have you ever had that experience where you are driving on the highway and you see mile marker # 125 and then all of a sudden you see mile marker #150 and realize that you have no conscious recollection of the past 25 miles?! In our day to day life it doesn’t hurt us too much to space out while driving on the interstate, brushing our teeth, or even watching television. However, what we are teaching our brain is that it is OK to be lazy and not concentrate on life. Unfortunately, this mindlessness can transfer to our athletic endeavors. In auto racing, even the slightest lack of concentration or focus can result in a loss or even in an accident.
Although athletes and coaches use the words attention, focus, concentration interchangeably and people often use these words such as saying, “Pay Attention!” “Focus!” or “Get out there and concentrate!” Social sport psychologists have tried to more clearly articulate these phenomena. Most sport psychologists define attention as the ability to concentrate and direct senses and thought processes to particular objects and thoughts. Research on Attention Control Training (ACT) has articulated the following steps to help athletes develop selective attention in their sport:
- Assess attentional strengths and weaknesses
Take a moment to think about when and where you have good concentration and when sometimes your concentration tends to wander.
- Assess the attentional demands of a given sport
Each sport is different. In drag racing, for example, there has to be a high level of concentration for a short amount of time (really no longer than 10 seconds!). In circle track racing, concentration needs to be extended for a much longer time.
- Assess what happens to attention under pressure situations
For many people there is an optimal level of energy that aids to our concentration. When we are too bored like driving on the interstate we may lose concentration and if we are too stressed (a big race) we may lose our ability to focus.
Strategies for Improving Concentration, Attention, and Focus
“As fast as the game moves, his mind moves faster. He is able to analyze the game frame by frame, as if the play unfolds in slow motion. He can sustain concentration in each frame of the game. If an opposing player loses his concentration for a split second—Bam! Michael grabs the advantage.”
–Isaiah Thomas (1998) Talking about Michael Jordan
With so much at stake in terms of success and safety, it is only logical that a variety of techniques have been postulated to help improve concentration and focus. In terms of ACT, these techniques would be implemented after considering the athlete’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the sport-specific demands.
Some of these strategies are commonly used sport psychology strategies that are useful for relaxation and concentration such as teaching athletes to focus on breathing (there are few better methods to regain and keep focus than simply to breathe deeply), mentally rehearse possibilities (use guided imagery to visualize your driving in different scenarios), use positive self-talk and cue words (practice using words such as "breathe, look at the light, relaxed hands, etc.), take practice seriously, try to be in the here and now and stay in the present (Vealey, in press). Moran (1996) emphasized the importance of a clear pre-performance routine for attention and the ability to refocus during competition. Many sport psychologists have found that having a clear routine before, during, and after a race could help you keep your focus. Sugarman (1999) summarized more attention and concentration specific activities in her book Winning The Mental Way. One activity that she suggested is doing activities blindfolded or with non-dominant hands. For example, get in your race car blindfolded and visualize driving, turing on and off switches, shifting, etc. This forces your brain to pay attention without visual cues. Doing things with your non-dominant hand also forces you to use different brain circuitry. Finally many auto racers say that playing video games can help improve their overall level of concentration.
During this off-season time, in addition to working on the race car, maybe it is time to tune-up the driver's concentration. Pick a couple of the above activities (e.g., breathing, visual imagery, practicing while blindfolded) to work on your concentration. Also make an effort to live your day to day life more mindful, when you feel your concentration starting to wander, be in control of it by pulling your brain back into focus. When you need to relax, tell your brain it can wander and relax, but then work on having the ability to control your consciousness. By using this off-season to work on some concentration skills you will not only improve your auto racing abilities, but you may also find that you are a bit more successful with your career and your relationships as well.
I have summarized the literature on attention and concentration with the following acronym:
- F=Fuel your desire—Know your motivation and goals—keep up the passion
- O=Optimal energy—Know appropriate arousal/relaxation levels for best performance
- C=Consistency—Know the importance of practice and routines
- U=Understand your natural strengths and areas of improvement
- S=Shift Gears—Know when you need to mentally shift gears and work on controlling your attention.
"Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."
-Buddha
References:
Moran, A. (1996), The psychology of concentration in sport performance. Hove,UK: Psychology Press.
Nideffer, R.M, & Sagal, M.S. (2001). Concentration and Attention Control Training. In Applied Sport Psychology 4th edition J.M. Williams (Ed.) Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company.
Sugarman, K. (1999). Winning The Mental Way. Burlington, CA: Step Up Publishing.
Vealey, R.S. (in press). Coaching the mental game. Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology. (Chapter 12 Attentional Focus).
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* Article by TAMI EGGLESTON. Visit http://RacingSsecrets.com for more "how-to" info on driving and more.
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