Mental Preparation for Physical Activities: Goal Setting. Mr. P. Leighton Sports Psychology.

Today’s Session… Understand the importance of goal setting and how it impacts upon performance and the development of a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Look at the 3 different types of goal in sport. Design your own 20 mark question for someone else in the group to answer on the area.

The 4 P’s… What makes you continue in a sport? The 4 P’s are integral to the performer or participants interest in a sport for the long term. PERCEPTION formed by an individual of their own ability to succeed during PERFORMANCE is the major factor in both PARTICIPATION and PERSISTENCE. They also play a big part in an achievement of an overall aim.

Goal Setting… Have you ever set yourself an unattainable goal? How did you feel when you didn’t achieve it? (De-motivated?) Goal setting can develop… Positive self-perception Reduce anxiety Facilitate optimal performance Improve confidence Increase motivation

Some theory then… Lock and Latham (1990) suggested that goal setting influences performance in 4 ways… Increases the effort Applied by the athlete… Participant becomes increasingly Motivated to learn and apply different Approaches to learning to complete a task successfully… Improves persistence When a task becomes Difficult or failure is Experienced… Directs attention of the Performer onto the task Or strategy…

Remember G.C.S.E? How did you set goals at G.C.S.E? S- Specific… M- Measurable… A- Achievable… R- Realistic… T- Time bound…

Goal setting is now SMARTER… SPECIFIC: Relating directly to the task- Netball… Specific VS. Non specific goals? MEASURABLE: Goals should be evaluated and measured against a previous performer or external standard. ACCEPTED: To be effective a goal must be accepted by both the coach and the performer… REALISTIC: Goals should be challenging but also attainable. Attainment breeds challenge and confidence- confidence breeds motivation to aim for the next goal. TIMED: A time limit should be set to achieve the goal. Consideration must be give to whether the goal is Short/Medium/Long. EXCITING: Excitement is generated when a goal provides a challenge. The stimulation of excitement offsets boredom. RECORDED: Achievement of progress towards a target should be logged (ink it, don’t think it) recording achievement can itself be motivational.

Time based goals… Do you have goals? When are they set for? My goals are SHORT/MEDIUM/LONG term… Short: Ensure that this is a good and memorable lesson (key words at end) Medium: Ensure that you all pass this area of the exam this year (mock results) Long: Become Head of Department before I’m 30 (Age and Professional Development)

Short term goals… Give immediate success. Set initially at the level of the performer- why? Goals can become progressively more difficult. Link between performers initial capability and long term goal of achievement- what they want and when they want it? Jervis (2006) stated that the most effective goals (according to research) are SHORT TERM…

Medium term goals… Intermediate goals are closely linked to short term goal setting. They also allow links to long term goals. Intermediate goals endorse the effectiveness of short term goals (medium term goals generally set on the success of the short)

Long term goals… The ultimate aim- Uni/Job/Marriage/Kids etc. Takes an extended period to achieve. Getting selected/signed for a team or changing your lifestyle and H+F are LONG TERM. Major behavioural changes, however cannot be achieved through long term goals alone- why? Long term goals are daunting- why? (Anxiety)

Activity-based goals… Type of GoalExplanation Performance Goals… Based on judgements made of an individual against their previous performances (An athlete may strive for a PB). Performance goals are MEASURABLE i.e. Increase run average in Cricket. Process Goals… Concerned with improving techniques to produce a better performance e.g. improving footwork whilst trying to improve run rate in Cricket. Product Goals… Sometimes called OUTCOME GOALS. Defeating other competitors and concerned with winning outcomes. This type of goal focuses on the end result and is often externally controlled.

Goal types: Negatives of Product goals… Totally focussing on product goals can leave a performer anxious and de-motivated as the athlete is required to win to achieve a goal. Product goals are often controlled by external agencies and therefore are out of a performers control, another cause of anxiety. Winning is often determined by? Luck (performance and injury) Task difficulty (draw or form)

Effective goal setting… It would appear that setting both performance and process goals is the best way to increase motivation, commitment and performance. These goals give more control to the participant and are good indicators of an athlete’s commitment to training and competition. Performance goals are better than Product goals. (Cox,1998)

Effective goal setting continued… Goals of all descriptions are more effective in competitive sport when they are formal and set by a coach. To ensure maximum benefit goals that are dictated should also be negotiated and agreed to suit the athlete, with the athlete. What about non- elite, participation based exercise?

Exercise Adherence… Martin (1984) proposed goals set by the participant should be flexible rather than fixed… Why? Needs to fit in with lifestyle/work balance etc.

What goals can do for you… Goals must be SPECIFIC… “Do your best”= TOO GENERAL (must be objective and measurable) Measurement gives the feedback and degree of success needed to set the next short term goal. “Goals of moderate difficulty” lead to the production of best performance (Kyllo and Landers, 1995)

Goals, Self-efficacy and Attribution… What is self-efficacy? If goals are set correctly then the performer develops a better sense of “Self efficacy” (Bandura, 1977) Also better or more suited goal setting allows a performer to ATTRIBUTE success more to their own skills and talents and not to luck or chance. Linked back to previous work.

Product goals then… Not always detrimental. Obviously, some tasks have an emergent and obvious winner due to the outcome of the sport. Product goals should be part of performance preparation.

Finally… “It is recommended that a combination of goal types should be incorporated into preparation and that for every product (outcome) goal there should be a number of performance and process (technique) goals set for an athlete” (Filby et al, 1999)

Work for you… Using the information from today, design your own 10 mark question on goal setting for the beginning of next week. This will be for someone else to answer so you should create your own mark scheme to back this up and used for feedback and further “goal setting”

Key words from today?