Gymnastics is one of the hardest sports in the world. It involves being mentally tough and being beyond physically fit. Very few sports require the power and grace, strength and beauty, speed and flexibility, that gymnastics has (Cogan & Vidmar, 2000). This sport requires the whole body and being judged on how perfect the gymnastics is performed, by each movement. Gymnastics is ten percent physical and ninety percent metal, and without knowing techniques of handling the mental process, the gymnast isn’t going to be able to handle the sport for very long. I will attempt to explain the psychological game of gymnastics and tips to improve psychological performance by summarizing my research related to sports psychology.
Psychological Involvement
Psychology is a major part of gymnastics. In gymnastics it is called mental toughness, very similar to the survival of the fittest. If athlete wants success in gymnastics they must be mentally tough. “Many gymnasts can learn the physical skills, but those who also can play the mental side of the game will be the most successful” (Cogan & Vidmar, 2000, p.4). Some common situations that may occur; are continuing to perform after a mistake or fall, one is required to go to practice when sick or injured, family or friend conflicts that may affect their performance, adjusting to new equipment at competitions, and difficulty with a particular skill ( Waples, 2003). In the 1996 Olympics the women’s gymnastics team needed one more stick on vault in order to win and it was all up to Kerri Strug. She fell on her first vault, and got a minor foot injury. She continued with her next vault and stuck the landing, but broke her foot in the process (Congan & Vidmar, 2000). Kerri Strug showed how mentally tough the athlete has to be in this competitive sport, by pushing though an injury when under pressure and suffering from physical exhaustion.
Concerns
Every gymnast will have to deal with fear, the negatives and positives of getting a new skill, and pressure of being a great representative of your competitive team. In higher level gymnastics the stress of media or publicity, and jet-lag from traveling are involved (Lefkovits, McDuff, & Morgan, 1996). Not everyone reacts to these things in the same way. “These athletes’ work through anxiety and nerves during competitions because the excitement of achieving goals or learning a new skill can be so intense” (Cogan & Vidmar, 2000, p. 4). Gymnastics is a very stressful sport and requires you to learn and master the mental game. In Cogan and Vidmar’s (2000, p.4) research some thoughts of Olympic gold medalist Amanda Borden were: “Gymnastics is a sport that requires a lot of mental toughness. Every elite athlete trains hard. It comes down to [who] is mentally the toughest [and] who can handle the pressure”
Cognitive Triangle
The cognitive triangle is used in our everyday life and is a big part of the mental process of gymnastics. The cognitive triangle are the steps taken before expressing behavior. These steps are thoughts, feelings, then behavior. When the athlete skips or uses these steps in a negative way it increases your mental distractions and decreases overall performances. For example if you are learning a new skill on beam and the gymnasts thoughts are “What if I hurt myself?”, the gymnast may be feeling scared or nervous, therefore the total behavior or performance of the skill is going to be expressed in a negative way. But if the gymnast is positive about the new skill they are performing then the performance is going to turn out positive. Understanding this thought process can lead to success.
Self-Assessment
Common situations in this sport are mental blocks, fear and discomfort. In these situations you have to have strategies to be able to get the athlete through these rough times. If you do not approach or recognize the athletes’ needs they can lose the love for the sport and stop trying. When starting to work with an athletes’ thought process, a self-assessment is needed. An example of a self- assessment is listed below.
Ex.
For each question you are going to rate yourself from 1-5.
- How often do you say negative things to yourself about your gymnastics?
- How often do you get so frustrated with your performance that your practice becomes unproductive?
- How easily do you block out distractions in the gym so you can concentrate on your routines?
- How easily can you visualize or imagine yourself performing your routines flawlessly?
- How successfully do you handle competitive anxiety and pressure?
- How excited are you about going to gym every day?
- How willing are you to keep working when you are physically tired?
- How well do you communicate with your coaches?
- How much do you allow a bad performance of one skill on event, pull you down for the next skill or event?
- How often do you set goals to achieve what you want in gymnastics?
(Cogan & Vidmar, 2000, p.6)
Goal Setting
“Goal setting results in a higher level of performance and provides focus, facilitates effort and leads to new skills” (Lefkovits, McDuff, & Morgan, 1996, p. 9). When setting goals it is important to be specific, challenging, and always be evaluating your overall progress. When writing goals they should have sort term and long term goals. Goals normally focus on improving a skill, such as “ I will learn a giant on bars this year” or “ I will qualify to state this year”. This is commonly used technique in sports psychology (Lefkovits, McDuff, & Morgan, 1996). Some other good components to express while setting goals are specific strength element to improve on, changing eating habits, career goals, career dreams and small changes at home to help improve athletic performance.
Self-Confidence
“Self-confidence is the belief that you can successfully perform a desired task or behavior. Confident athletes believe in themselves and in their ability to acquire the necessary skills and competencies (both physical and mental) to reach their potential” (Australian Sports Commission, 2008). In gymnastics the phrase “be positive” is used often during practice and competitions. It can help to take a piece of paper and fold it in half. On one side have the athlete write the positive things they may say to there self and on the other side write the negative things that might be said during practice or competitions (Cogan & Vidmar, 2000). They may notice that more negative things are said rather than positive. This can bring down their esteem and highest peak of performance level. “It can help to build their self confidence by using personal pep talk. This is when you have the athlete write a list of things that coaches, team mates, or friends may have said to them that was positive or meaningful to the athlete. When needed they should repeat those words to themselves and keep adding to their list” (Lefkovits, McDuff, & Morgan, 1996).
Visualization
Visualization has been proven to increase improvement on athletic performance. Visualization is a powerful tool because it can put reality into a cognitive form before developing into real life situations. “By visualizing, we experience events without them occurring anywhere other than in our minds. If we are able to focus on one single event that we wish for ourselves and we focus on it intensely, we begin to experience the emotions and begin to feel what we would feel if the event were to actually transpire. In a way, we are living that moment without it yet being a reality” (Hudson, 2013). Some athletes find that cue words help them focus while visualizing. These cue words could be “tight” or “block”. It might help to experiment with different wording (Cogan & Vidmar, 2000). Cue words are useful while performing your routines, and individual skill, or practicing visualization.
Anxiety
A lot of times these athlete have a very hard time dealing with anxiety. This can manifest itself during competitions and practices. Some strategies that might help are meditation or Progressive Muscle Relaxation, also known as PMR. Meditation is very commonly used in gymnastics. It involves being in a quiet space and having a sound, positive word or mantra to repeat to themselves. Have the athlete start by relaxing and focusing on their breathing. With each exhale have them repeat their mantra. Repeat for fifteen or twenty minutes. PMR is a very useful for an athlete that’s muscles tense up with anxiety. PMR is useful in this situation and starts by, having the athlete lay down with their eyes closed and with every exhale releasing tension. Have them focus on tensing up their muscles in their right arm for 5 seconds then relaxing or 45 seconds, then repeat. This process should be continued throughout all major muscle groups of the body.
Conclusion
Mental toughness is a very important aspect in any sport, but gymnastics can not be performed successfully without it. Gymnastics is ninety percent mental and ten percent physical. This sport all comes down to who is mentally the toughest. Gymnastics is one of the very few sports that involve so much physical and mental game that may need improvement throughout their career. Knowing all these tip and improving the gymnasts’ mental game will make their career in gymnastics very successful.
References
Australian Sport Commission (2008). Self -confidence. Retrieved from http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/223493/Self- confidence_Brainwaves_Fact_Sheet.pdf
Cogan, K.D, & Vidmar, P. (2000, January 1). Sport psychology library: Gymnastics. (pp.3-54). West Virginia: Fitness Information Technology
Hudson, Paul. (2013, May 7). The power of Visualization in Manifesting your Success. Retrieved from http://elitedaily.com/money/entrepreneurship/the-power-of-visualization-in- manifesting-your-success/
Lefkovits, J., McDuff, D.R., & Morgan, J. (1996). Mental Toughness Training Manual for Gymnastics. (pp.2-9). Retrieved from http://www.mdsports.net/docs/mentaltoughnessgymnastics.pdf
Waples, Steven B. (2003, December). Psychological Characteristics of Elite and Non-elite Level Gymnastics. (pp.6). Retrieved from http://repository.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/1634/etd-tamu-2003C-PHED- Waples-1.pdf
Written by Brooke Roquebrune