Post 7 Week 6 Training Program Self Talk

How long did the session last?

This session took 1hr 45 Minutes.

Where did the session take place? 
This session took place in Loughborough on Tuesday morning at 9:00am.

Which psychological strategy is being used? 
The psychological strategy that was used in this competition was self talk. We decided as it was the last week of the program we should do a competition and before the competition she should listen to her iPod with all of her own songs on that we agreed for her to listen to before the race to see if it helped to mitigate her. We did this too see if they were the right song and quote choices and if they weren't we would be able to see because she wouldn't be as motivated and she would have low self belief. So if we both agreed that we see that she wasn't motivated then we could change what songs she listened to and sit down and change them about a little bit. Also after the competition we sat down and spoke about what happened before the race and i asked her some questions for example "How she felt" and "Did it feel any different". I did this to try and get her feedback and then we also spoke about during the race whether she felt more self confident etc.

Why did you choose this activity for your sports performer?
I chose this activity for my sports performer because I thought it would be good to see if the songs we had chosen and the quotes we had chosen helped to motivate her and give her the extra oomph before the race. If they did then it is a good sign but if not we could easily change them and do a bit of trial and test to find the right ones.

What specific benefits will this bring to your performer and possibly their team? 
The specific benefits this would bring to the performer would be that if they worked then she would be more motivated therefor she would compete better and had a better chance of coming in the top positions. Also she would have more self belief so this would help her be more confident in herself and not be afraid of anything put in her way before the race during the arc and after the race. She would also feel better after a race if she did well instead of always feeling she has done rubbish when she hasn't anyway.

Post 6 Week 5 Training Program Goal Setting

How long did the session last?

The Session this week lasted 1 hour 45 minutes.

Where did the session take place? 
The session took place in Loughborough on Tuesday morning at 8:30am

Which psychological strategy is being used? 
The psychological strategy that was been used was goal setting. In this session it was a competition she had entered. We agreed for her to enter this competition because we could see if her short term goals she had set have worked and if she has reached them. Because if she had then we could set more goals and increase how hard they are to achieve. Also after the competition we sat down and spoke about how she thought she did and how she felt about the race. We did this so we could give each other feedback and compare things about the race.
Why did you choose this activity for your sports performer?
I chose this activity for my sports performer because I thought it would be good too see if she had achieved her short term goal. It was also good because we could see what other improvements we might need to make to make her become better than she already is. I also chose it because if she did achieve her goal then we could sit down together again and focus and pick more harder goals maybe on different aspects of the race.
What specific benefits will this bring to your performer and possibly their team? 
The specific benefits this will bring to the sports performer would be that she would be able to see herself if she has achieved her goal and if she had then she would think to herself that the hard work paid off and she would focus on her training more often because she knows it will help her to improve. Also another benefit would be if she did achieve her goal then she would be more confident because she knows she can achieve things if she sticks to them and works hard focusing on them.

Post 5 Week 4 Training Program Self Talk

How long did the session last?

This session lasted 1HR 15 Minutes.

Where did the session take place? 
This session took place at my house on Tuesday night at 6pm.

Which psychological strategy is being used? 
In this session the psychological strategy that was being used was Self Talk. In this session we sat down and looked at quotes and songs to be able to read or listen to before a race to motivate her. Once we had picked some quotes and songs we added them to a iTunes library then put them on a little iPod so she could listen to them before a race. We made sure that the songs were motivating so they would get her in the racing spirit as soon as she put her headphones in. We agreed that she should listen to them at least 1hr 30 minutes before she raced so they sunk in and she should listen to them right up until the start of the race. We also agreed on athletes she could look at who inspired her to do well.

Why did you choose this activity for your sports performer?
I chose this activity because I thought that it would be good for her to have her own play list of songs and quotes for before she races. This is good because it will help he improve in her self belief before a race.

What specific benefits will this bring to your performer and possibly their team? 
The benefits she will get from this will be that she will be more motivated before she races this will also improve her self belief because she will be more confident before she races which will help her because she will know how good she is ins tea dog doubting her self all the time and going into her shell. Also having some one to aspire to will help to motivate her and a benefit in her improving her times and positions because she will want to be like them.

Post 4 Week 3 Training Program Goal Setting

How long did the session last?

The session this week was a 1HR 30 Minute session.

Where did the session take place? 
The session took place in the Loughborough university swimming pool on Tuesday night at 6pm.

Which psychological strategy is being used? 
The psychological strategy that was been used was goal setting. In this training session we were focusing on her short term goal which was to improve on her swimming time by 3-5 seconds by the end of the 6 week training plan. We focused on improving her swimming time by focusing on her swimming stroke. We thought this was an important factor in been able to improve her time because the better the swimming stroke the stronger swimmer she will be so this will improve her time. We tried to make it so the stroke looked more smooth with less splash so we looked at how she entered the water with her arms and legs. So first we analysed her stroke by getting her to do a few lengths we did this by videoing the lengths then once she had finished we called her over so she could have a look with us and tell us what she thought then we could give our thoughts. After we had spoke about different techniques we asked her to get back in the pool and do another few strokes and we videoed them to try and see the improvement when we changed the technique. After the session we then agreed on 2 more goals that she could focus on to push her that bit further.

Why did you choose this activity for your sports performer?
I chose this activity for my sports performer because I thought she would benefit from this. It also will help her because she now knows different techniques on how to improve her stroke to help cut back on her times. This will help her over the long run because she will keep getting better and becoming a stronger swimmer to give her a better chance against the other athletes.

What specific benefits will this bring to your performer and possibly their team? 

The specific benefit that this will bring to my performer will be that she will improve on her swimming stroke technique and her times. This will benefit her because she will be becoming quicker in the water which means she will exit the water quicker so she it gives her a head start into the transition area.

Post 3 Week 2 Training Program Self Talk

How long did the session last?

The session I ran this week lasted 1 hour on Tuesday night at 6pm. 

Where did the session take place? 
This session took place at my house in my office at 6pm on Tuesday night.

Which psychological strategy is being used? 
The psychological strategy that was used was self talk. In this session we spoke about what self talk was. I explained to her that self talk was when you have statements to help you convince yourself you are good enough to do things and describing events using positive words rather than negative ones. I told her that you need to have statements to help you convince yourself because it will give you positive attitude and motivate you. Also if you think positively before doing something you will be more focus but if you use negative words and thoughts then you will go in your shell and not perform to your best ability as you are worried.

Why did you choose this activity for your sports performer?
I chose this activity for my sports performer because I think it will be good for her to help her think positively and have statements that she thinks about before she races. Therefore we spoke about positive words that she thinks are good and what she thinks could help motivate her and also i gave my ideas of some of the things she could think to herself to help her when it comes to a competition. For example when she is racing and she is nearly finished but it is getting hard she could think positive things like: the rewards and praise she will get of people she had never spoken to before. this will help her to fight through the pain barrier and get to the finish line.

What specific benefits will this bring to your performer and possibly their team? 
The specific benefits she will be able to achieve by doing this will be that it will motivate her to want to finish and succeed. Also it will benefit her because she is thinking positively instead of negatively which will boost her confidence and self belief and she won't be so shy and in her shell as much. 

Post 2 Week 1 Training Program Goal Setting

How long did the session last?

The session I ran this week lasted 1 hour on Tuesday night at 6pm. 

Where did the session take place? 
The session took place at my house in the office at 6pm on Tuesday night.

Which psychological strategy is being used? 
The psychological strategy that  was used in this session was Goal setting. In this session we sat down and spoke about some of the goals that we both agreed on to be set. We then set one short term goal, one intermediate goal and one long term goal. We also made sure they were SMART goals by making them specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. We made sure they were specific by making sure the fitted in with her sport which is Triathlon, measurable by making sure that we could be realistic for how long the goals were going to take to achieve, achievable by making sure it is something she could achieve instead of exaggerating too much, realistic by making sure they were not too much of a stretch and time bound by giving the goals an exact end point and different time frames of when we will be checking up on the goals too see if she is improving.

Why did you choose this activity for your sports performer?
I chose this activity for my sports performer because I felt that it was good to be able to sit down and talk about what she wants to achieve in the future so therefore I chose to talk about goal setting because we can do activities now to help progress her as an athlete so she can reach those goals. I also chose to do goal setting because this will help to motivate her and want to do things of her own back. This is good because it will make her work harder which will help her benefit in the long term and short term.

What specific benefits will this bring to your performer and possibly their team? 
The specific benefits this will bring to the performer would be that she is more motivated to do things therefore she is going to progress more and reach her goals as it is something she wants to do of her own back. It will also make her want to maybe train in her own time to help her progress quicker so therefore she can reach the goals in a shorter time frame then be able to set her self some more so she can push herself. And also she might want to make them harder because they are too easy she may think so she will want to achieve them quicker so she can get them over and done with so she can set harder ones to push her that little bit further. There will be no specific benefits for her team as it is a individual sport so it is all down to her to get what she wants to achieve only coaches and support can help her but the rest is down to her.

Post 1 Introduction and Meeting

Today I had a meeting with my Client with her parents. We decided that we were going to focus and improve on Motivation levels and the strategies that we are going to use are: Goal Setting and Self Talk.  I did a SWOT analysis on the Client and her Strengths were: Quick Learner, Good Leader and Hard Worker. On the other hand her weaknesses were as follows: Lack of motivation, Time Management and Self belief. Her opportunities are that she competes at a high level and trains 4/5 times a week so this helps me to analyse my client more often and keep a good eye on how she is improving. Some of the threats she may have to face would be fitting education in with training and her competitions, she also has shallow knee caps therefore very intense sessions may cause her to have disruptions that may lead to injury. I think that these improvements would be necessary for my client because if she improves on them then it will help her in the long run as she will be more motivated to train and compete therefore she will do better as it is something she wants to do and doing it off her own back instead of someone else's.