PSK4U
Introductory Kinesiology
Unit 4: Physiology
Activity 6: Factors Affecting Performance in Physical Activity
Assignment 1: What Would You Do?
The concerns about pollution and disease heading into the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil created a dilemma for athletes. For some, the lifetime dream of competing on the world’s biggest sporting stage was enough to block out all the medical advice to "stay away."
For others, the difficult decision was made to withdraw from competition citing concerns of potential long term health-related issues. Imagine you had to make the choice right now as to whether or not to go and compete in similar circumstances. What would you do?
Intrinsic Factors that can Affect Performance - "Why do we compete?"
For many, the hardest step is the first step out the door. Every individual who laces up their skates, straps on their snowboard, or presses "start" on the treadmill has their own reasons for doing what they’re doing. We are constantly influenced by our past experiences, the images we see in our daily lives, and the thoughts in our minds of what may happen. Once that internal voice of reason speaks, we are faced with entirely new sets of challenges from the physical world around us.
"It’s all in your head..."
When someone says that it’s all in your head, what do they really mean? Are all the answers to all the questions we will face in any given situation stored away in the bony vault of our skulls? The amount and quality of intense physical training leading to a performance task, like a race or a recital, will mean nothing if the person performing the task has not approached the psychological side of preparation with the same focus as their training.
Athletes - young and old, big and small - have crumbled under the psychological pressures faced on the field of play. And yet, many athletes have been able to "control the nerves" and find themselves performing skills without conscious thought, a term some call being "in the zone." There are several techniques that an athlete may use to get into this ideal performance state and they all fall under the umbrella of psychological skills training (PST).
Assignment 2: Training Your Mind (PST)
As you read about the following tools that psychologists and athletes use when undergoing Psychological Skills Training (PST), create a chart or a mind map that lists the tools and summarizes each one:
- Self-talk
- Relaxation/Arousal Regulation
- Imagery/Visualization
- Goal Setting
In your chart or on your mind map:
- summarize each tool from the information provided;
- state why each has proven to be successful;
- find an example of an athlete using each tool.
Save your chart to your Portfolio
Resources
- Psychology Today: Make Your Self-Talk Work For You
- Psychology Campus: Aspects of PST
- faqs.org: Visualization In Sport
- believePerform.com Goal Setting
Did You Know?
So how strong is your mind when it comes to believing something? The power the mind has over the performance of a task is incredible. If you were to go to a doctor with some ailment and the doctor gave you medicine, research says that there is a greater likelihood of you feeling better just because someone you trusted (the doctor) told you that the medicine would work. That's the concept behind the placebo effect. The placebo effect occurs when we assume that certain suggestions, treatments, and other behaviors lead to better outcomes.
You can learn more about the placebo effect by reading this article and watching this short news report. As you learn about the placebo effect, consider whether or not you have ever been impacted by the placebo effect.
Extrinsic Factors That Can Affect Performance - "It’s out of your hands"
When it comes down to human performance in physical activity so much can happen. Sometimes, no matter how well the athlete has trained and prepared for their performance, something, that is for the most part out of their control, ends up playing a role in the outcome.
These are referred to as "extrinsic" factors. Here is a collection of some of the major extrinsic factors that can affect human performance:
- Environment:
- the weather can affect your performance either positively or negatively. For example a good wind will improve a sailor’s performance but may impair a tennis player’s performance.
- Equipment:
- better equipment will help your performance, but even then sometimes equipment can go wrong.
- Technology:
- the use of technology in sport is increasing with the use of better equipment and video and computer technology for technique analysis.
- Other players:
- an opponent’s or teammate’s performance can have an effect on our own. For example a team mate performing well may inspire us to do the same.
- Officials:
- a poor decision from an umpire or referee can either spur us on to perform better or make us think there is no point trying.
Assignment 3: Motivated To Find Out More?
Select 2 of the 5 extrinsic factors that you would like to learn more about.
Research each of your selected factors to find out more about them.
Select or create an image that is the central organizing feature around which you will place the following information (much like the hand above):
- A brief description of each factor;
- Potential positive effects on performance;
- Potential negative effects on performance;
- Real life examples of the influence of the factors (these examples could be in the form of articles, videos, still pictures, interviews, etc.);
- A connection you can make to the factors in your experiences or someone you know;
- A question you still have about extrinsic factors that can affect performance.
Image courtesy of Taivassalo, 2016.
Assignment 4: Motivation
After examining the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can influence performance, it’s time for you to capture the essence of your learning in this activity by creating a visual representation of what motivates you.
Find a quotation that you feel motivates or “speaks” to you with respect to your mindset on performing.
Couple this quotation with an image of either something personal to you or one you may find online that supports the quotation.
Recall the 5th fundamental principle of HPE: School, Family and community Support:
Save the your image, quote and reflection to your Portfolio.
Introduction
Learning Goals and Success Criteria
Learning Skills
Rubric 1