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BUILDING THE BUBBLE OF SELF-BELIEF

Sports Psychologist Ian Maynard explains the theory behind achieving 'Self-confidence'

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module you should be able to:

• Define what self-confidence is.

• Outline & explain factors that give and take away your self-confidence in refereeing.

• Outline & explain the principle sources that can help to develop your self-confidence in refereeing.

• Outline & explain specific strategies that can help protect and build your confidence in refereeing.

Introduction

This module 'Building the Bubble of Self-Belief' offers some simple, but effective strategies to help referees build and protect their self-confidence. This module also highlights the factors that tend to erode referees' self-confidence making you aware of the pitfalls. So, if you are a referee that lacks self-confidence (or perhaps suffer a lapse of self-confidence) this module could help you to turn things around and develop strategies to build your self-confidence. If you are a referee that possess a high level of self-confidence this module could help you to develop strategies to protect that self-confidence, particularly during times when you are not refereeing well.

What is Self-Confidence?

Self-confidence is:

• An inner belief. A trust in yourself.

• The feeling that you can do it no matter what the challenge.

• The feeling that keeps you calm and poised when under pressure.

• Being able to make decisions and play your game under pressure.

• The feeling of being in control, not being controlled.

 

Factors That Give Me Self-Confidence When I Referee!

Activity 1 - Highlight below specific factors that give you confidence before you go out to referee a game (activity time - 5 mins).

My confidence in refereeing comes from....

e.g. Having trained well in the build-up to the match

 

Factors That Erode My Self-Confidence When I Referee!

Activity 2 - Highlight below specific factors that erode your confidence when preparing for a game (activity time - 5 mins.).

My confidence in refereeing is eroded by....

e.g. expectations of others (e.g. crowd)

Building Confidence: Performance Accomplishments Strategy 1

Your accomplishments in refereeing are the most valuable source of self-confidence. Reminding yourself of your accomplishments and goals that you have achieved within refereeing can help to build and protect your confidence. This strategy acts as a personal verification of your achievements, strengths and improvements made within refereeing. Watching videos and visualising yourself refereeing well also reinforces the self-belief in your ability to cope.

Activity 3 (p.8) – ‘A Positive Frame of Mind’ (activity - 15 mins.)

To help you develop and maintain a positive frame of mind, by reminding yourself of your achievements in refereeing, fill in the 6 items that follow (try to describe specific events or behaviours):

• Strengths – highlight 3 statements describing your strengths, attributes or positive qualities in refereeing e.g." I have good concentration during training and matches".

• Improvements – highlight 3 statements describing your improvements during the last 6 months e.g. "I am getting better at communicating with the players …"

• Achievements – highlight 3 statements describing your accomplishments / best performances e.g."joining the select group of referees .......".

• Preparation – highlight 3 statements relating to your preparation that have gone well recently e.g. " My training was well organised and planned". • Edge – highlight 3 statements (where possible) relating to an advantage you may possess over your counterparts e.g. "I have better coaching and support than my counterparts".

• My Goals - e.g. "What I aim (implies achievable but challenging) to do (directs referee to required behavior not outcome) is…be well prepared (control the controllables); give 100% throughout the match".

Keep the ‘A Positive Frame of Mind’ sheet somewhere where you will see it on a regular basis (e.g. kit bag) - keep it up to date (perhaps get it laminated - waterproofed).

 

Strengths:

 

 

Improvements:

 

 

Achievements:

 

 

Preparation:

 

 

Edge:

 

 

My Goals:

 

Building Confidence: Verbal Persuasion Strategy 2 – ‘Countering’

A third valuable source of self-confidence is verbal persuasion. An effective strategy used by sportspeople for developing and maintaining confidence through verbal persuasion is positive self-talk. Self-talk is a psychological tool that everyone uses in both sport and everyday life, however, not everyone uses self-talk to their advantage. Self-talk can quite simply give confidence or take it away, depending upon the content of your thought processes. Positive self-talk is a skill that if well learned can become an invaluable tool, which helps you stay confident, composed, and positive in any situation you encounter. ‘Countering’ is a strategy that helps to build and protect your confidence by turning negative self-talk into positive self-talk, which could otherwise erode your self-confidence and have a negative impact on your refereeing performance.

Sally Gunnell (Olympic Gold medalist) once stated…

“Negative thoughts lead to a negative performance; the connection is as straightforward as that. The solution is to focus on the race…keep the concentration as unbroken as possible and try to change negative thoughts into positive ones!”

In order to be able to ‘counter’ negative thoughts you need to be aware of any thought processes that are negatively framed. You must get into the habit of identifying negative thoughts, stopping those negative thoughts and re-framing such thoughts by replacing them with positive ones. Thoughts should be instructional and motivational rather than judgmental (e.g. "I just need to focus on my game plan" or "I need to give 100% no matter what", rather than "It's hopeless I'll never get a Cup Final". Similar to the technical aspects of refereeing ‘countering’ is a skill that needs to be worked on regularly. Get into the habit of thinking positively by using this strategy in every day life. When developing your 'countering' skills you need to go through 3 main phases:

1) Identify negative thoughts

2) Use thought stopping strategies

3) Reframe - replace a negative thought with a positive thought

Phase I: Identifying Negative Thoughts

• The first phase of the countering process is the most important because unless you can recognise negative / unproductive thoughts you can't take steps to stop and restructure those cognitions.

• You should analyse the content of your thoughts, identify any negative thoughts and use strategies to stop those thoughts from manifesting.

Activity 4 (p.12) - Record any negative thoughts that you typically experience during training and/or matches (activity time - 10 mins.).

Phase II: Thought Stopping

• When you have identified a negative thought, you need to work on a mechanism or strategy for blocking or 'stopping' them

• Here we use a mental or physical cue or both together to 'stop' the negative thought

• Some athletes use a mental picture of a traffic light or a stop sign as the mental cue to 'stop' the negative thought

• Other sportspeople say "stop" to themselves in their mind to stop the negative thought

• Also the use of a physical cue at the same time as the mental one can help the process

Activity 5 (5 mins.): Identifying Mental & Physical Cues e.g. Squeese your whistle (or slap your leg) to acknowledge that you need to work on staying positive and refocus (or that you have experienced a negative thought)

List mental / physical cues that could be appropriate for you:

• These are cues and strategies that you need to develop, and integrate into your routine during both training and matches if negative thoughts start to creep in.

Phase III - Reframing (Activity 4 / 6)

Take the list of typical negative thoughts that you identified in activity 4. Then make a list countering these negative thoughts with positive statements (Activity - 15 mins.).

You should split them into two categories: Negative Comments / Behaviours and Positive Statements

Negative Opening

Positive Opening

BUILD POSITIVE STATEMENTS INTO YOUR PRE-MATCH ROUTINE Being the Best…

• Are you prepared to prepare?

• How important is it to be the best you can be?

• Are you willing to make sacrifices to be the best?

• If you want to feel like a champion, you had better start training like one!

 

 

Building Confidence – Summary

Build the bubble of self-belief:

Enjoy the Challenge

 

Ian Maynard

Professor of Sport Psychology, PhD., C.Psychol., F.BASES., F.AASP.

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