A lot of fans seemed surprised that Wests Tigers hammered the Newcastle Knights 46-4 at the weekend. We weren't surprised by the result at all.
To perform well, athletes need to be in the zone. How could the Knights be in the zone when the club had announced that week that coach Nathan Brown wouldn't be in charge next season?
The players' thoughts would have been scattered. Their minds would have been on the future and the past. What will happen next season? Who will the new coach be? Have I done enough this season to be in the team next season? Could we have done more to prevent the coach's departure?
To be in the zone, players' attention needs to be fully absorbed in the present moment. We couldn't think of a better way to remove player focus than by announcing to the footy world that the coach is standing down.
In one study, sports psychologist James Loehr examined the "ideal performance state" of more than 300 athletes. He asked them to describe their "finest hour" in sport.
He pinpointed 12 categories that reflected the ideal mindset for performing optimally. These categories were: physically relaxed, mentally calm, low anxiety, energised, optimistic, enjoyment, effortless, automatic, alert, mentally focused, self-confident and in control.
Being in the zone in sport is also known as being in the flow.
Psychology Professor Mihaly Cskszentmihlyi coined the term flow. He also wrote a book called, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
He applied his theory to sport, but also to work, education, music and spirituality.
Cskszentmihlyi identified nine components of the state of flow. They included: concentration on the task at hand with laser-beam focus; being completely absorbed in an activity with tunnel vision that shuts out everything else; clear goals; unambiguous feedback; loss of self-consciousness [not constantly self-aware of your success] and loving what you do.
Cskszentmihlyi wrote that the concept of flow, or optimal experience, was obtained "when all the contents of consciousness are in harmony with each other, and with the goals that define the person's self".
Another relevant study, published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, is titled Factors influencing the occurrence of flow state in elite athletes.
"Some of the more salient factors influencing whether or not flow occurred included preparation, both physical and mental, confidence, focus, how the performance felt and progressed, and optimal motivation and arousal level," the study found.
Some fans might say, "these guys are well-paid athletes - they should be able to deal with these things".
And that's fair enough to an extent. Athletes who can block everything else out and remain focused on the task at hand will be more likely to be in the zone. But let's get some perspective. Knights players are humans, not robots.
Mind you, sometimes their public comments can seem robotic. This was evident when Knights captain Mitchell Pearce rejected suggestions that the drama of Brown's pending departure affected the team's performance.
Players are conditioned against making excuses. Excuses don't wash in the sporting landscape. But if you look to the research, Brown's pending departure was an obvious justification for the poor performance.
Delightful Sign
This from reader Jim, who noticed a closed sign at Bakers Delight at Marketown in Newcastle West on Monday.
"Bakers Delight really care about their customers' wellbeing if this sign is any indication," Jim said.
Whale Protest
Are whales on a mission to get rid of shark nets?
We were recently perusing the NSW government's shark net program, which it refers to as the "Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program".
The report told us that on September 26 last year, the shark net at Catherine Hill Bay was "torn in half".
A whale was believed to be responsible.
Then on October 26, the shark net at Blacksmiths beach suffered "significant whale damage". That same day, a whale again tore the net in half at Catho.
