Sport And Exercise Psychology: A Critical Introduction

Specifying performance goals

In Chapter 2, we explained the theory and practice of goal-setting. As you may recall,
sport psychologists (e.g., Weinberg, 2002) distinguish between result goals (e.g., the
outcomes of sporting contests) and performance goals (or specific actions lying within
the athlete’s control). Using this distinction, some researchers (e.g., Winter and Martin,
1991) have proposed that specifying performance goals can improve athletes’
concentration skills. According to this theory, tennis players could improve their
concentration on court by focusing solely on such performance goals as seeking 100 per
cent accuracy on their first serves. This suggestion seems plausible theoretically because
performance goals encourage athletes to focus on task-relevant information and on
controllable actions. Additional support for this idea springs from studies on the
correlates of people’s best and worst athletic performances. Thus Jackson and Roberts
(1992) found that collegiate athletes performed worst when they were preoccupied by
result goals. Conversely, their best displays coincided with an explicit focus on
performance goals. Similarly, Kingston and Hardy (1997) discovered that golfers who
focused on specific action goals improved both their performance and their concentration.
In summary, there seems to be some support for the idea that performance goals can
facilitate concentration skills in athletes.

Using pre-performance routines

Most top-class athletes display characteristic sequences of preparatory actions before they
perform key skills. For example, tennis players tend to bounce the ball a preferred
number of times before serving. Similarly, rugby place-kickers like to go through a
systematic series of steps before striking the ball (see Figure 4.5).
These preferred action sequences and/or repetitive behaviours are called “pre-
performance routines” and are typically conducted prior to the execution of self-paced
skills (i.e., actions that are carried out largely at one’s own speed and without interference
from other people). According to Harle and Vickers (2001), such routines are used to
improve concentration and performance.
At least three types of routines are common in sport. First, pre-event routines are
preferred sequences of actions in the run up to competitive events. Included here are
stable preferences for what to do on the night before, and on the morning of, the
competition itself. Second, pre-performance routines are characteristic sequences of
thoughts and actions which athletes adhere to prior to skill-execution—as in the case of
tennis players bouncing the ball before serving. Finally, post-mistake routines are action
sequences which may help performers to leave their errors in the past so that they can re-
focus on the task at hand. For example, a golfer may “shadow” the correct swing of a
shot that had led to an error.
Support for the value of pre-performance routines as concentration techniques comes
from both theoretical and empirical sources. Theoretically, pre-performance routines may
improve concentration for several reasons. First, they are intended to encourage athletes
to develop an appropriate mental set for skill-execution by helping them to focus on task-
relevant information. For example, many soccer goal-keepers follow pre-kick routines in
an effort to block out any jeering that is directed at them by supporters of opposing
teams. Second, such routines may enable athletes to concentrate on the present moment

Staying focused in sport: concentration in sport performers 115