BONUS ONLINE-ONLY COVERAGE // // SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY This is England: Building Toughness in the English Game By John Coumbe Lilley, Learn2Peak S = Success. Give interesting and challenging tasks that can be complet-
introduce sports psychology to all club players in the future and we met at England’s only curling rink (Fenton’s Rink near Tonbridge, south of Lon- don, in Kent) to discuss different aspects of sport psychology for individuals and teams. Despite England’s small size, there is seemingly no lack of enthusiasm for
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improving the quality of curling, coaching and infrastructure. England’s future is in its youth development efforts, including increasing grass roots participation, expanding engagement opportunities and developing one or two more rinks. Currently, England’s youth teams train periodically with British Olympic Association coaches, veteran Scottish curlers and experi- enced domestic coaches like Hinds. Te English Curling Association re- ceives no government funding and is 100 percent run on donations and volunteer effort. From a sport psychology perspective the English game is developing a
mental toughness program for delivery at the youth level. Obviously Scot- land dominates curling in the United Kingdom but developing a competi- tive mindset is seen as an important aspect to develop for the success of future England teams. Being the underdog (as England is in cross border matches) means having to do things differently and to grow strengths that maximize the qualities of English teams. Fortunately for the England youth players, mental toughness can be
learned just as shooting and sweeping can. One way to do this is to use a strong coaching and sport psychology approach that guides the young curler through a three-step process. Step 1. Education: inform and instruct the player using interactive ap-
proaches like workshop, small group or individual discussion. Provide online and easy to administer and understand materials. For the best ap- proach to learning use a PRICELESS model of delivery: P = Participation. Get every curler participating R = Relevance. Make every point relevant to the needs of the curler I = Inclusion. Make sure everyone is engaged in discussion; has the same
access and opportunity to learn as everyone else. C = Climate. Make sure everyone feels safe and accepted. E = Esteem. Create opportunities for curlers to feel good about what they
do. L = Learner-Centered. Make sure you focus on satisfying the learner’s
needs first. E = Enjoyment. Make sure everyone has a laugh during the educational settings. Grins are good.
ver Christmas I met up with top England Coach Stephen Hinds and his wife, Vicky, who are planning to build England’s second curling rink, northwest of London. Stephen and Vicky want to
ed. S = Self-Reflection. Give curlers and opportunity to reflect on what they
learned. Step 2. Acquire: Put the curlers on the ice and use a variety of mental
tools (see my previous articles; check out
www.learn2peak.wordpress.com or pick up a book like mental toughness in ten minutes). For coaches teach- ing mental toughness do not do ‘chalk talk’ do what coach Rodger Schmidt does and get on the ice and develop your players. Use a combination of the following coaching strategies combined with mental skills training: 1. Set up championship ends. What does this mean? Use past final shots
from World, European, Olympic or National competitions and recreate the moment and have your curlers respond. Why do this? It’s innovative. It rec- reates the idea of playing like the top players and it brings the game from the top level to any level of curler. It provides an opportunity for the coach and team to discuss strategy and execution against what actually happened. 2. Play ends in half the time. Why do this? By limiting ‘thinking time’
and speeding up ‘doing time’ curlers play in the moment. Te experience is different. Te curlers learn to play in different rhythms. Alternatively play all the shots slow, quick, slow quick or quick, quick, slow, slow etc. Te point is to learn to play with variety and cope with changes of pace and length of concentration. 3. Recreate a series of recent match shots. What does this mean? Recreate
the strategic choices of a recent match and play the game again (Of course the ice conditions will be different). Why do this? Have the team execute its strategy. Te purpose of the above strategies is to learn toughness doing team ac-
tivities. It is important the team and coach collaborate and communicate easily and openly with each other. Step 3. Perform: Curlers need to play and compete. Choose an event
where three matches are guaranteed. Before the event set performance goals for the event and then specific goals for improvement for each game. Record the following information for each game: ice conditions, strategy choices of opposing skip, key curling moments in the game, turns used and shot locations (Curlstat is great for helping with this). Determine how the post match debrief will be done and do it. Have the curlers play and treat the event as a learning opportunity. Aſter my visit I learned England had key people in place and a road map
for where they were going and how they were going to develop the ‘English Way’ to success. Teir future will be one to watch as they work to emerge from the second tier of European curling nations. I recommend any curler visiting the London area in England to visit Fen- ton’s Rink. You will receive a warm welcome and tasty soup. n
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