Dharmabum
Well-Known Member
- Aug 16, 2003
- 8,274
- 12,242
Well, it may not be as easy as they claim here, because in football, too (and I presume at Spurs as well) they're using psychologists to work with - and on - the players, but still there are some good points in this article.
http://tottenhamhotspur.blogspot.no/2014/10/the-answer-to-spurs-problems-is-easy.html
The answer to Spurs problems is easy
We train every aspect of footballers and then leave the most important part out, what's between the ears. Every decision we make, every movement we make is the result of the brain.
There are physios, fitness trainers, medical staff, nutritionist, former players, coaches , managers, an abundance of experts on hand to deal with and optimise every aspect of a player, so why are we not optimising their brain, the most important component of all?
The impossible gets achieved because people believe it's possible, sailing round the world, flying to the moon and closer to home the 4 minute mile. Once you break a mental block it is no longer a block for anyone, they can simply replicate what you did and then work on enhancing it.
Scientists at London's Brunel University believe the game's top talents have mental faculties that are better programmed to anticipate their opponents' moves.
The Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology published research findings that showed experience and thus greater knowledge, played a significant part in improved performance. The research found that of 39 players tested, the more experienced footballers were able to suppress the urge to act instinctively, making them less susceptible to feints or tricks from their opponents.
Now Tottenham have a transfer policy of buy young and improve, which is brilliant if you are going to improve the brain but is a fingers crossed approach otherwise and that fingers crossed approach has flopped massively with none of the 'Summer Seven' from last season being consistently good enough.
Johan Cruyff, regarded as the best player in the world during his time, says that football is a game you play with your brain. If that is the case, and it is, why are we not training the brain?
Dr. Dan Bishop, a lecturer in Sport & Exercise Psychology at Brunel's Centre for Sports Medicine and Human Performance spoke with CNN and told them he could see neuroscientists being employed by top clubs in the future.
"I can see top teams employing neuroscientists in the future. That's because we have the skills and resources to witness very subtle changes in perceptual abilities that may not initially manifest in performance data, because people can change their mind midway through a task and therefore give an erroneous response, when in fact their initial 'preattentive' brain response was the correct one.
"I imagine that this will be most useful at academy level, to assess the development of young players."
It's never too late to learn and daily training for established players to improve their mental thinking process will produce results as will attention to fine detail like the body position or foot position at certain points in a game.
If Tottenham continue to do what they have always done they will continue to get the same results. Effectively all we are doing is employing new coach after new coach to employ a different method of teaching the same thing, while leaving the biggest asset a footballer has, his brain, alone.
Nobody else is doing it, well that's not strictly true, clubs such as AC Milan are starting to listen and incorporate minor elements into youth coaching but should Tottenham wait for someone else to tackle this area and follow like sheep or should we steal a march on the competition?
We are not talking about a massive investment, we are simply in the beginning talking about a change of mindset. We need players with the right mentality, we don't have them, the current lot show that week after week after week. So what are the options, sell them and buy another lot, keeping our fingers crossed again or improving the mentality of those we have?
One is expensive and trusts to luck, one is cheap and doesn't.
"We believe this greater level of neural activity is something that can be developed through high-quality training, so the next step will be to look at how the brain can be trained over time to anticipate the moves of opponents."
What I'm putting here is touching the iceberg, Tottenham need to employ someone to bring research in this area together and then design a daily mental training programme to add to their existing work.
During the season a player has little actual time to prepare between games and improve skills. There is a rest day after games and a light training day before full training on the third day, but Thursday to Sunday football doesn't even provide that. The time available to work on the mental side of the game is there but not being used as it could.
If you can improve a players concentration you can eliminate some of their mistakes, if you'll forgive the pun it's a no-brainer. You improve their concentration by improving their perception of what a big game is and that's easy to do.
Do Spurs players play better against Arsenal? Clearly they do, why?
Every game should be perceived as that big, every game, do that and you get the performances, don't and you get what we have now, mid table mediocrity.
Why then are we neglecting a simple but very key area? It doesn't make sense. Athletes in other sports mentally prepare, a 100 metre runner mentally runs the race before the start, what does a footballer do, have a laugh and a joke and a few late words from a manager that do nothing to change the individuals perceived game importance.
Motivation is not the same as changing a persons perception and it's frustrating that the obvious is blind to the closed minds running the club. This is something that senior management should be taking on board as part of the clubs future.
There are hardly any downsides but the upside is massive especially as we would be seen as world leaders and innovative.
Now that opens up a whole new world of sponsorship opportunities, being world renown for innovation and the transformation of football coaching.
See more at: http://tottenhamhotspur.blogspot.no...rs-problems-is-easy.html#sthash.dglCSsif.dpuf
http://tottenhamhotspur.blogspot.no/2014/10/the-answer-to-spurs-problems-is-easy.html
The answer to Spurs problems is easy
We train every aspect of footballers and then leave the most important part out, what's between the ears. Every decision we make, every movement we make is the result of the brain.
There are physios, fitness trainers, medical staff, nutritionist, former players, coaches , managers, an abundance of experts on hand to deal with and optimise every aspect of a player, so why are we not optimising their brain, the most important component of all?
The impossible gets achieved because people believe it's possible, sailing round the world, flying to the moon and closer to home the 4 minute mile. Once you break a mental block it is no longer a block for anyone, they can simply replicate what you did and then work on enhancing it.
Scientists at London's Brunel University believe the game's top talents have mental faculties that are better programmed to anticipate their opponents' moves.
The Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology published research findings that showed experience and thus greater knowledge, played a significant part in improved performance. The research found that of 39 players tested, the more experienced footballers were able to suppress the urge to act instinctively, making them less susceptible to feints or tricks from their opponents.
Now Tottenham have a transfer policy of buy young and improve, which is brilliant if you are going to improve the brain but is a fingers crossed approach otherwise and that fingers crossed approach has flopped massively with none of the 'Summer Seven' from last season being consistently good enough.
Johan Cruyff, regarded as the best player in the world during his time, says that football is a game you play with your brain. If that is the case, and it is, why are we not training the brain?
Dr. Dan Bishop, a lecturer in Sport & Exercise Psychology at Brunel's Centre for Sports Medicine and Human Performance spoke with CNN and told them he could see neuroscientists being employed by top clubs in the future.
"I can see top teams employing neuroscientists in the future. That's because we have the skills and resources to witness very subtle changes in perceptual abilities that may not initially manifest in performance data, because people can change their mind midway through a task and therefore give an erroneous response, when in fact their initial 'preattentive' brain response was the correct one.
"I imagine that this will be most useful at academy level, to assess the development of young players."
It's never too late to learn and daily training for established players to improve their mental thinking process will produce results as will attention to fine detail like the body position or foot position at certain points in a game.
If Tottenham continue to do what they have always done they will continue to get the same results. Effectively all we are doing is employing new coach after new coach to employ a different method of teaching the same thing, while leaving the biggest asset a footballer has, his brain, alone.
Nobody else is doing it, well that's not strictly true, clubs such as AC Milan are starting to listen and incorporate minor elements into youth coaching but should Tottenham wait for someone else to tackle this area and follow like sheep or should we steal a march on the competition?
We are not talking about a massive investment, we are simply in the beginning talking about a change of mindset. We need players with the right mentality, we don't have them, the current lot show that week after week after week. So what are the options, sell them and buy another lot, keeping our fingers crossed again or improving the mentality of those we have?
One is expensive and trusts to luck, one is cheap and doesn't.
"We believe this greater level of neural activity is something that can be developed through high-quality training, so the next step will be to look at how the brain can be trained over time to anticipate the moves of opponents."
What I'm putting here is touching the iceberg, Tottenham need to employ someone to bring research in this area together and then design a daily mental training programme to add to their existing work.
During the season a player has little actual time to prepare between games and improve skills. There is a rest day after games and a light training day before full training on the third day, but Thursday to Sunday football doesn't even provide that. The time available to work on the mental side of the game is there but not being used as it could.
If you can improve a players concentration you can eliminate some of their mistakes, if you'll forgive the pun it's a no-brainer. You improve their concentration by improving their perception of what a big game is and that's easy to do.
Do Spurs players play better against Arsenal? Clearly they do, why?
Every game should be perceived as that big, every game, do that and you get the performances, don't and you get what we have now, mid table mediocrity.
Why then are we neglecting a simple but very key area? It doesn't make sense. Athletes in other sports mentally prepare, a 100 metre runner mentally runs the race before the start, what does a footballer do, have a laugh and a joke and a few late words from a manager that do nothing to change the individuals perceived game importance.
Motivation is not the same as changing a persons perception and it's frustrating that the obvious is blind to the closed minds running the club. This is something that senior management should be taking on board as part of the clubs future.
There are hardly any downsides but the upside is massive especially as we would be seen as world leaders and innovative.
Now that opens up a whole new world of sponsorship opportunities, being world renown for innovation and the transformation of football coaching.
See more at: http://tottenhamhotspur.blogspot.no...rs-problems-is-easy.html#sthash.dglCSsif.dpuf
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