former ones are intended for use mainly in athletes’ training sessions, the latter are
designed primarily for competitive situations.
Among the plethora of concentration exercises recommended by sport psychologists
are such activities as the “concentration grid” (a visual search task endorsed by Schmid
and Peper, 1998, in which the participant is required to scan as many digits as possible
within a given time limit), watching the oscillation of a pendulum (which is alleged to
show how “mental concentration influences your muscle reactions”, Weinberg, 1988, p.
87) and looking at a clock “and saying ‘Now’ to yourself every alternate 5 and 10
seconds” (Hardy and Fazey, 1990, p. 9). Unfortunately, few of these activities are
supported by either a coherent theoretical rationale or adequate evidence of empirical
validity. For example, take the case of the ubiquitous concentration grid. Surprisingly, no
references were cited by Weinberg and Gould (1999) to support their claim that it was
used “extensively in Eastern Europe as a pre-competition screening device” (p. 347) or
that “this exercise will help you learn to focus your attention and scan the environment
for relevant cues” (ibid.). Despite the absence of such evidence, the grid is recommended
unreservedly by Schmid and Peper (1998) as a “training exercise for practising focusing
ability” (p. 324). Similar criticisms apply to the idea of watching a pendulum in an effort
to enhance one’s concentration. Interestingly, this exercise has a long and controversial
history. Thus according to Spitz (1997), it was a precursor of the Ouija board and has
been used in the past for water divining, diagnosing physical illness and even for
“receiving messages from the great beyond” (p. 56)! In summary, there appears to be
little empirical justification for the use of generic visual search and/or vigilance tasks in
an effort to improve athletes’ concentration skills. Indeed, research suggests that visual
skills training programmes are not effective in enhancing athletes’ performance in sports
such as soccer (Starkes, Helsen and Jack, 2001)—a finding which challenges the validity
of using visual search tasks like the concentration grid as a training tool.
In contrast to the previous concentration exercises, “simulation training” (Orlick,
1990) may have a satisfactory theoretical rationale. This exercise, which is also known as
“dress rehearsal” (Schmid and Peper, 1998), “simulated practice” (Hodge and McKenzie,
1999) and “distraction training” (Maynard, 1998), proposes that athletes can learn to
concentrate more effectively in real-life pressure situations by simulating them in practice
conditions. Interestingly, a number of anecdotal testimonials to the value of this practice
have emerged in recent years. To illustrate, Earl Woods, the father and initial coach of
Tiger Woods, used such methods on him when he was a boy. Indeed, Woods Senior
claimed that “all the strategies and tactics of distraction I’d learned I threw at that kid and
he would just grit his teeth and play ...and if anyone tries pulling a trick on him these
days he just smiles and says ‘my dad used to do that years ago'” (cited in Evening Herald,
2001, p. 61). Similarly, Javier Aguirre, the coach of the Mexican national soccer team,
instructed his players to practise penalty-taking after every friendly match in the year
leading up to the 2002 World Cup in an effort to prepare for the possibility of penalty-
shootouts in that competition. As he explained: “there will always be noise and that is the
best way to practise” (cited in Smith, 2002b, p. S3). Interestingly, Sven-Göran Eriksson is
reported to have required his penalty-takers to practise walking from the centre-circle to
the penalty-area in an effort to simulate match conditions (Winter, 2002a). Some
additional suggestions for the simulation of distractions in team-sports may be found in
Moran (2003a).
Staying focused in sport: concentration in sport performers 113