Why are we at our best in sport when we think nothing? How do we stay calm in crucial moments? Interview with sports psychologist Jörg Wetzel in the Neue Züricher Zeitung (NZZ).
NZZ: But the ideal state of an athlete is when they think nothing?
“Yes. We speak of flow: when everything runs automatically – and not controlled, controlled by the head.”
NZZ: Let’s take the Roger Federer example again. Let’s say he’s in the flow, plays two match points – and suddenly his consciousness kicks in.
“Then it becomes dangerous. There are processing models. In the first phase, I have an emotional reaction that I allow: I stomp on the floor, for example. Then comes the distancing phase, a short pause. This is followed by an analysis: What happened? How should I proceed? And then I focus on the next task.
In certain sports I sometimes have several minutes, in ice hockey for example, in tennis it’s ten seconds until the next ball.
I work with the athletes to work out what they can do in the four phases. First a curse, then running away, looking away briefly – have you seen Djokovic? He always looked away, into the corner of his coach, his wife, that’s the distancing phase. Then comes the analysis: “Ah, I need to get closer to the net.” And then comes the focus on it.” NZZ article
Further article on sports psychology:
“When performance counts”, Kent Runke, ZSC ice hockey champion coach (2000) http://unternehmenskommunikation.ch/tools.html
