Concentration And Focus In Sports
Concentration is critical for peak performance in sports, closing out games, competing against top teams, and playing consistently during a long season.
Concentration is your ability to focus on what you need to do in the present moment.
During a game, there will be countless distractions competing for your attention.
Focusing on what’s important is the most powerful tool that an athlete can have in his arsenal and a super key mental skill for athletic performance.
Concentration or focus helps athletes in a number of ways:
- Keeps you in the present moment and in tune to game situations.
- Helps you move past mistakes and quickly get your head back in the game.
- Lessens anxiety and worry about outcomes of a game.
- Helps you block out mental and physical noise.
- Fosters a positive mindset about competing.
- Gives you an edge over the competition.
The Golden State Warriors are an excellent example of the power of concentration.
The Warriors set an NBA record starting the 2015-16 season with 24 consecutive wins.
Players and coaches were constantly asked about “the streak” but the Warriors were committed to focusing one game at a time. Instead of worrying about wins and losses or the “streak,” the Warriors stayed focused on their aggressive, attack style of play.
By the end of the season, the Warriors approached another NBA record, the most wins in a season.
Again, the Warriors were hounded by questions of potentially eclipsing the 72 win total of one of the best NBA teams of all time, the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, by one victory.
Golden State stayed true to its approach of focusing on one game at a time. After their 72nd victory with one game remaining in the season, power forward Draymond Green reiterated the team’s mantra of focusing one game at a time.
GREEN: “We can get to 73. That’s the significance for me of 72.”
After setting the all-time win record by beating Memphis Grizzlies 125-104, guard Clay Thompson was quick to move forward and get focused on their very next game.
THOMPSON: “This record doesn’t mean a thing if we don’t take care of business in the postseason.”
Mental skills, such as focus, are the same as any sports skill.
Practice, more importantly practice in pressure-packed scenarios, helps develop the skill of focusing… but you can’t practice focusing once in a while and expect to be able to concentrate in tough games.
Focus requires mental effort and repetition ahead of time. If you practice focusing until the skill is second nature, you will be able to perform better in crunch time.
Top Strategy for improving concentration during big moments in competitions:
The objective is to stay focused in the present.
Set short periods of time in practice, like warm-up, to solely focus on what you are doing.
Try to let the action unfold without over-thinking it. Get into the feel of what you are doing whether it’s stretching (feeling your muscles lengthening) or light running (feeling your body move forward).
When your mind starts to drift to thoughts such as, “This is going to be a hard practice,” refocus on what you are doing in the moment.
Every athlete becomes distracted. The key is to be aware of your top distractions so you can quickly refocus on the task.
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- Mental Game Keys to Take Your Practice to Competition
- Your Mental Game and Performance Slumps
- Mental Game Tips to Overcome Mistakes
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The Focused Athlete
It’s probably no secret that you have many opportunities to become distracted in sports. Athletes are bombarded with both internal and external distractions everyday in practice and competition. Focused athletes are able to get the most from their skills because they are more efficient with practice and more concentrated in competition. Athletes who lack focus let distractions run wild through their mind and don’t know how to adjust or refocus.
The Focused Athlete was developed for any level coach, parent, or junior to professional athlete who wants to improve performance and gain a competitive edge. It does not matter if you are a fledgling junior athlete; or a seasoned professional, plagued with distractions; or you just wanting to learn how to improve concentration…
“The Focused Athlete” is a complete system to teach you how to focus like a champion and harness the power of a zone focus every time you step on the playing field, court, track, or course in practice and games!