Focus! Keys to Developing Concentration Skills in Open-skill Sports

Abstract

Sideline shouting to “focus” and “anticipate” can be stressful and counterproductive for athletes, especially when they are novices playing in dynamic sport environments. An alternative aproach is to coach athletes to understand that focusing is a concentration skill that improves with practice. Selective attention, attentional focus style, and attentional shifting are three keys to concentration that have important implications for motor performance and decision making during open-skill sports. In this article, these characteristics are described and associated with practical activities to improve athletes' concentration skills.

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Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance
ISSN: 0730-3084 (Print) 2168-3816 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujrd20
Focus! Keys to Developing Concentration Skills in
Open-skill Sports
Eva Monsma, Melanie Perreault & Robert Doan
To cite this article: Eva Monsma, Melanie Perreault & Robert Doan (2017) Focus! Keys to
Developing Concentration Skills in Open-skill Sports, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation &
Dance, 88:7, 51-55, DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2017.1340207
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2017.1340207
Published online: 29 Aug 2017.
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Eva MonsMa
MElaniE PErrEault
robErt Doan
Focus!
Eva Monsma (eavadocz@mailbox.sc.edu) is a professor in the Department
of Physical Education at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC.
Melanie Perreault is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiol-
ogy, Sport Studies and Physical Education at The College of Brockport,
State University of New York, in Brockport, NY. Robert Doan is an as-
sistant professor in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Southern
Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS.
The idea that successful sport performance is
proportionately more mental than physical has be-
come a cliché, yet developing mental toughness is far
from mainstream within competitive sport programs.
Athletes often hear their coaches and even parents on
the sidelines yell: “Focus!,” “Anticipate!” and “Concentrate!,” but
often these words lack precision and action because athletes do not
know how to focus. Concentration, or attentional focus, is defined
as one’s ability to direct attention toward relevant information in
the environment, sustain that attention over time, and change the
direction of that attention when appropriate (Weinberg & Gould,
2015). Concentration, a fundamental psychological skill, is es-
sential for maintaining mental toughness, especially in open-skill
Keys to Developing
Concentration Skills
in Open-skill Sports
Keys to Developing
Concentration Skills
in Open-skill Sports
JOPERD 51
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52 VOlumE 88 NumbER 7 SEPtEmbER 2017
sports where the environment is fast-paced and constantly chang-
ing. For example, in soccer, oensive strategies such as passing
quickly and moving to open space, the give-and-go, or switching
the attack require players to focus on key features of timing, force
behind a kicked ball, as well as teammate and opponent position-
ing. Likewise, defensive strategies such as the formation of precise
walls, staying between the ball and the goal, and playing the right
angle can hinge on one’s focusing abilities.
The complexity of open-skill sports, wherein the environment is
constantly changing, necessitates a laser-sharp focus to reduce mul-
tiple cues for eective decision-making. Attending to one wrong
thing (i.e., irrelevant cues) at the wrong time can have a negative
eect on a player’s performance, wreck a tactical plan, or waste
valuable opportunities. Concentration training helps athletes an-
ticipate performance-relevant cues in the attentional field. These
cues include everything inside the player (i.e., thoughts, emotions
and physical responses) and everything outside of the player (i.e.,
sensory stimuli in the environment). Like all mental skills, con-
centration improves with practice. Inexperienced athletes are often
challenged by recognizing relevant cues and responding with the
right tactics because they are still in the first (i.e., coordinative/
cognitive) stage of learning and have yet to master physical skills.
Once physical skills become automatic, attention capacity is freed
for shifting, enabling an increase in correct and ecient responses
(Fitts & Posner, 1967).
The following sections highlight three keys to concentration
training grounded in motor-behavior and sport-psychology theory
and research: (1) selective attention, (2) attentional focus style, and
(3) attentional shifting. In addition, corresponding activities are
provided to help sport coaches to implement concentration train-
ing in their own practices.
Key 1: Selective Attention
During game play honing in on specific types of cues while fil-
tering out others is a fundamental aspect of eective concentra-
tion. Cues that surface during gameplay can be (1) relevant (i.e.,
important to make the play) or (2) irrelevant (i.e., distractions that
interfere with thinking, seeing, feeling or moving) and can dier
based on situations, the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, or a
player’s given job (e.g., a bad call, injury, penalty infraction). Selec-
tive attention is necessary for deciphering cue relevance, especially
when the environment is constantly in flux. Moreover, selective
attention directed at body cues can help athletes anticipate. For
example, a study comparing experienced and novice soccer players
found that experienced players were able to anticipate better than
novice players in three-on-three and one-on-one situations. Expe-
rienced players were quicker at searching, fixated for shorter dura-
tions, and fixated longer on the hip regions of opponents’ bodies
(Williams & Davids, 1998). This latter finding indicates that hip
angles telegraph important information about the opponents’ next
moves. Similarly, expert baseball players have been found to use
relevant cues from pitchers’ movement patterns to regulate their
stepping patterns while batting (Ranganathan & Carlton, 2007).
The following activities are oered to help athletes develop selec-
tive attention.
Activity 1. Developing categories for similar cues can facilitate
selective attention. Begin by conducting a task analysis by position,
tactic or game-specific scenario with athletes. Involving players in
generating lists provides them with opportunities to deconstruct
personally meaningful scenarios. For example, a basketball point
guard who is responsible for leading his or her team on assists and
steals, hitting shots outside the three-point line, or in the box, can
study game film with specific instructions to list specific weaknesses
Figure1.
List of jobs or skills requiring selective attention
Basketball
Skill/Job/Scenario 1: Right-handed point guard learning the in-and-out dribble:
1. Focus on making one dribble to the left in front of the body
2. Then “dip” and put weight on the left foot to make the defender think a crossover and movement to the left
will happen
3. The point guard should then roll the right hand over the ball, and bring it back quickly to the right, pushing o the left foot,
going hard around the right side of the opponent
Relevant Cues Irrelevant Cues
Eyes up neutral (not in the direction you want to go) Score of the game
Who is open? Previous steal history on this move
Where is help? Crowd noise
Where are the defenders? (Double team? Leaning?) Coach yelling
Time on shot clock Teammate calling for me when not open
Dominant vs. non-dominant hand of opponent
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JOPERD 53
in defense, strengths in oense, and cues for directing plays. Vol-
leyball setters, soccer midfielders, and football quarterbacks have
similar play-directing roles in their respective sports and should be
encouraged to develop lists of cues they can verbalize on the field
to help teammates focus their attention. Categorizing lists of cues
by position is especially useful for novice athletes learning tactics
or for the expert athlete who may be ready to refine ways to de-
ceive opponents (i.e., executing a no-look pass).
Activity 2. Another way athletes can practice selective atten-
tion is to develop a sequenced list of cues for each game situation
that relates to each player’s job, beginning with their main job.
The purpose of this activity is to present the order of events and
associate relevant and irrelevant cues. The order of cues should
follow the order of events leading to a pass, a shot or a fake, for
example. Once the list is developed, flip the order to narrow the
focus on the most important aspect and filter out the less impor-
tant, earlier ones. Using analogies, such as narrowing a flashlight
beam on the most important cues one at a time, can be especially
helpful with younger players. Lists should also include irrelevant
cues that need to be filtered should they grab a player’s attention
at the wrong time (e.g., crowd noise). Figure1 can be used to help
players develop a list of jobs or skills requiring selective attention.
Cues can be gathered by scanning the court or field or by narrow-
ing in on the opponent’s body (e.g., hip region), angle of running,
running speed, and width of gaze. Be sure to put these in the order
they would occur on the field or court, including the irrelevant cues
that need to be filtered. Include walking through situations in slow
motion that can be mentally practiced by the athletes later, with
particular attention on filtering out a variety of irrelevant cues.
Coaches can recreate this table for dierent skills, jobs or scenarios
typically executed during a game.
Activity 3. Good selective attention skills enable athletes to
quickly anticipate the opponent’s next move because they know
where to look on the field/court or know to narrow their laser-
beam focus on the opponent’s body, which is often telegraphing
the next move. Thus, it is helpful to review lists developed in Ac-
tivity 2 with players and to encourage them to enhance their lists
by including opponent-related cues and then renumber the cue se-
quence order. Anticipation eciency can be developed by using a
mental rehearsal of jobs in the order in which they occur. Have
players use third-person imagery (i.e., as if watching oneself in ac-
tion on television or from the stands) or shift to using first-person
imagery (i.e., visualizing the action by looking out into the field,
searching for cues, selecting those most appropriate). Changing the
speed of imagery is also eective, using a slow speed at first, then
regular speed. More advanced athletes can use fast-forward speed
to increase their reaction time. Make sure to continue having play-
ers practice filtering out the irrelevant cues.
Key 2: Attentional Focus Style
Another aspect of concentration related to selective attention is
attentional focus style, a classic idea developed by Nideer (1976).
Attentional focus style is a preference for paying attention to cer-
tain cues. There are four styles of attentional focus shown in Fig-
ure2 that range from internal to external, and broad to narrow:
(1) broad-external focusing is required when assessing the whole
situation, where there are several external and internal cues occur-
ring at one time; (2) broad-internal focusing involves analyzing the
situation in order to develop a plan of action; (3) narrow-external
focusing is used during a response and involves filtering out irrel-
evant cues, focusing the attention lens on one or two relevant cues
necessary to energize and act upon; and (4) narrow internal focus-
ing is implemented to mentally rehearse performance. This style is
also important for rehearsing emotional control (e.g., recovering
after rough play unseen by the referee; staying calm when being
targeted with trash talk or pinching). Every athlete has a dominant
attention style that aects all aspects of performance (Nideer,
1976). When under pressure, an athlete’s dominant style surfaces
most noticeably. Accordingly, it is important for athletes to know
the dierent styles and to practice shifting. Remember, there is no
one attentional focus style that is better than the other; shifting is
of utmost importance, especially when it is necessary for filtering
out irrelevant cues. Practice makes permanent, and mentally re-
hearsing shifts can enhance attentional-focus abilities on the field
or court.
Activity 4. Expanding on his attentional-focus style model, Ni-
deer’s (1976) Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) is
one option for evaluating an athlete’s attentional tendencies, and
there are sport-specific versions for tennis, baseball/softball and
basketball. The TAIS assesses athletes’ self-perceptions of three
beneficial attentional styles — broad external (i.e., the capability
of attending to many stimuli at one time), broad internal (i.e., the
ability to analyze and integrate several pieces of information from
memory or physiological responses), and narrow focus (i.e., the
ability to narrow attention and focus when necessary) — as well
as three detrimental attentional styles — overload external (i.e.,
mistakes associated with the inability to cope with stimuli), over-
load internal (i.e., becoming distracted and confused when having
to think about and analyze too many things at the same time), and
reduced focus (i.e., errors associated with narrowing attention).
Managing an attentional-focus style is essential in pressure or
competitive situations. Athletes under pressure tend to revert to a
Figure2.
Attentional focus styles during a
basketball free throw
Width of Focus
Narrow Broad
Direction of Focus
Internal
Visualizing
proper execution
of the free throw
Rehearsing game
strategy if free
throw is missed
External
Fixating on the
rim of the basket
prior to executing
the free throw
Scanning crowd,
opponents and
teammates while
standing at the
line
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style that is detrimental to performance. For example, if an athlete
performs best with an external style, being inwardly focused when
the pressure is on would necessitate a shift to an external, relevant
cue (e.g., hip position of the opponent). Thinking too much about
possible plans while running the play may restrict the attention
field, narrowing on something that is irrelevant. When an atten-
tional focus style is not working under pressure, players must be-
come aware of shifting possibilities to relevant cues.
Activity 5. One way to help athletes manage their attentional
focus style is to have them identify and categorize examples of in-
ternal and external thoughts and feelings as relevant or irrelevant.
Considering situation-specific possibilities can help athletes men-
tally prepare or anticipate whether or not the thoughts and feelings
deserve attention. To do this, ask athletes to reflect on their typical
position responsibilities during specific game situations and brain-
storm a list of feelings and thoughts that happen in high-stakes sit-
uations. These can be internal (e.g., heart rate) and external (e.g.,
action on the field, positioning); the list should include relevant
and irrelevant cues. It is important to be aware that athletes may
not want to reveal to their coach that they are thinking about ir-
relevant information; thus, they may need to be prompted that it
is safe to do this. Then have players code each thought with R, for
relevant, or IR, for irrelevant. The list can then be coded in order
of occurrence or importance and used as a reference for imaging
the situation with the goal of blocking out irrelevant cues. Athletes
with well-developed, selective attention abilities are able to filter
out the irrelevant cues and focus on relevant cues with narrowed
precision for just the right amount of time before knowing when to
shift focus onto the next play-related relevant cue.
Several studies have compared the benefits of internal and ex-
ternal frames of reference when focusing on cues with a particular
emphasis on what terms should be used when developing instruc-
tions and feedback to improve motor skills (see Wulf, 2013 for a
review). This line of research has shown that an external focus
(i.e., attending to the eects of a movement) rather than an internal
focus (i.e., attending to the movement itself) is better for motor
learning and performance. Wulf and colleagues (e.g., McNevin,
Shea, & Wulf, 2003) suggested that these eects are due to a dis-
ruption in motor-skill automaticity when using an internal focus.
This eect has been demonstrated across a variety of skills, set-
tings, experience levels and ages. Recently, Perreault and French
(2015) demonstrated a significant learning advantage in basketball
free-throw shooting among nine- to 11-year-old children provided
with external-focused feedback (e.g., “balance the ball on your
hand like a waiter balances a tray,” “focus on the spot just above
the rim,” “shoot the ball as if it is going over a volleyball net,” and
“try to make the ball spin backwards when you release it”) com-
pared to those provided with internal-focus feedback (e.g., “make
an L-shape with your arm and rest the ball on your finger pads,”
“line up your hand and eye with the basket,” “extend your knees
and arms together as you shoot the ball,” and “snap your wrist
forward when releasing the ball”).
Activity 6. Coaches can help athletes use an external focus by
phrasing cues to reflect the eect of the movement rather than the
movement itself. For example, focus a soccer player’s attention on
his or her shoelaces (i.e., external) instead of instep (i.e., internal)
when he or she is passing the ball.
Key 3: Attentional Shifting
Another important feature of concentration is knowing when
and how to shift attention during game play. Research has shown
that soccer players who could shift attention through the four styles
increased shot execution and accuracy (Ziegler, 1994). However,
athletes who spent too much time in one type of attentional focus
or those who were unable to narrow or widen their focusing lens
missed cues that were relevant to executing
plays and scoring. For example, being stuck
in the narrow-internal style — also known
as being “stuck in your head” — when an-
gry, disappointed or scared that the team
will lose can be self-defeating. A keeper/
goalie recalling images of the last time the
opposing center forward scored can oc-
cupy too much attentional space, disabling
the ability to read movement cues during a
critical play. Recognition and eort to shift
to targets outside of the body will help ath-
letes to stay focused. However, holding fo-
cus on relevant cues is essential for success
at times. In a recent study, college students
who learned how to maintain focus on a rel-
evant target cue when taking a penalty kick
in soccer, and especially those with high per-
ceived focusing abilities, were more accurate
in their shots than those who did not think
they were good at focusing (Wood & Wil-
son, 2012).
Activity 7. Athletes can practice shift-
ing their focus by holding their focus on an
internal thought (e.g., mentally rehearsing
a shot on goal repeatedly) or feeling (e.g.,
cadence of breath) for a long period of time
(e.g., one minute), then being cued to focus
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JOPERD 55
outward by scanning for a specified visual target in their surround-
ings (e.g., “Shift your attention to the second hand of the clock
on the wall”). In contrast, shifting from external to internal cues
can also be prompted (e.g., “Focus on the back of the net for one
minute. Now shift your attention to mentally practicing a shot that
hits the back of net. Repeat this three times”).
Automatizing attention shifts is important in open-skill sports.
Under pressure situations our capacity to intake signals from our
environment and within our bodies can be taxed to the point of
overload. This can interfere with the automaticity of well-learned
skills leading to ‘choking’ — making mental and/or physical mis-
takes on mastered skills (Weinberg & Gould, 2015). This is espe-
cially true for skilled performers. Players can interpret responses
to stress as being negative, inadvertently narrowing attention onto
irrelevant physical cues (e.g., shortness of breath, racing heart) and
becoming distracted from the play on the field or court. However,
physiological readiness (e.g., increases in heart rate, breathing
rate, body temperature) activated by physical activity such as short
sprints or repetitive vertical jumping before taking the field, can
enhance attentional shifting speed and accuracy. In one study, ex-
pert soccer players were faster at zooming out their attentional fo-
cus compared to non-athletes (Pesce, Tessitore, Casella, Pirritano,
& Capranica, 2007). Interestingly, the physiological activation
of exercise increased the mental activation necessary for shifting
general attentional focus in the non-athletes. In contrast, among
expert soccer players, exercise enhanced their focusing ability, es-
pecially toward job-related cues. In another study, soccer players
focusing on external cues (i.e., crowd noise, ball, opponent posi-
tioning) while performing under pressure performed better than
those focusing on internal cues (i.e., body signals, thoughts and
feelings; Reeves, 2006).
Activity 8. Coaches can help athletes shift attention appropri-
ately by implementing some of the following ideas:
1. Imagine narrowing a flashlight lens onto an open space on
the court, the angle of an opponent’s shoe, or in the direction of
their eye gaze, comparing them to angles of their feet and shoul-
ders to anticipate a fake.
2. Filter irrelevant cues by flushing them down the toilet or
erase images of them with a white-board eraser.
3. Scan visual targets on the field to shift focus away from
thoughts and emotions (internal cues).
4. Mentally sing a song (e.g., “Row Your Boat”) to immedi-
ately quite the mind, directing away from negative thoughts and
experiences.
5. Use positive self-talk but refrain from “I” statements. Rather,
use the third person (i.e., “Eva, you really powered through those
defenders. Next time, run faster taking a narrower angle, point
your hips to the basket and the shot will go in”). These types of
statements can instill confidence and buer negative thoughts and
emotions.
6. Explore other personally meaningful examples with team-
mates. Discover what others use to shift, refocus and improve an-
ticipation.
Conclusion
Understanding and implementing the three keys of selective
attention, attentional focus style, and attentional shifting can
develop concentration skills in athletes. Ultimately, concentra-
tion skills enable athletes to focus on their position-, tactical- and
situation-specific responsibilities. While exposure to these keys is
a starting point, regular integration requires commitment from
the coach, athletes and organization, as illustrated by Diment
(2014), who recently integrated concentration training as part of
a mental-skills training program over an 18-month period. After
the training, soccer coaches representing nine clubs reported that
the drill-based nature of the program was practical and relevant
to young players’ development. Results also indicated that the
ecacy of the program was contingent on factors such as the
clubs’ willingness and capacity to adopt new concepts, the pre-
sentation of sport psychology in soccer language, and other time
constraints.
Learning ways to integrate concentration skills into dynamic
sport environments does not have to be a dicult process; activi-
ties targeting selective attention, attentional focus styles, and at-
tentional shifting get easier with practice. By keeping these keys in
mind when planning practices, coaches can train the mind as well
as the body. The keys to concentration skills presented here can be
adapted for a variety of sports with careful reflection and openness
to hear ideas from the coaching sta, players and even parents.
Sharing team- and position-specific examples of concentration and
other mental training skills, and encouraging open discussions and
players’ mental practice of details, can make sideline yelling of cli-
chés a more tangible mental-toughness reality.
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