In a typical season most teams play 50% or more games “away” from home or on the road. And yet, very few teams actually prepare for the differences between competing at home and away. The sheer number of away competitions that athletes can expect to experience demonstrates the importance of mentally preparing athletes to compete on the road.
One of the most effective mental performance strategies to help athletes adjust to discomfort and dysregulation that comes with playing away is for athletes to develop a pre-competition routine. A pre-competition routine or systematic ritual serves to increase athlete confidence and improve concentration (Vernacchia, McGuire, & Cook, 1996). To mentally prepare athletes for away competition, it can also be helpful to ask questions such as: What do you miss the most when you are competing away from home (Gardner & Moore, 2004)?
Traveling to compete in environments that athletes are unfamiliar with and have not had the opportunity to train or familiarize themselves with extensively is an integral part of competition in sports. The “home court advantage” offers athletes access to familiar training and competition facilities, pre-game meals, more sleep (depending on the time zone differential of the competition site) and typically increased spectator support. Away games and travel tournaments require traveling outside of an athlete’s comfort zone causing disruption to conscious and unconscious competition routines. The result of these unavoidable travel disruptions often result in disrupted pre-game routines, decreased warm-up times, and competition jitters, all of which ultimately reduce an athlete’s ability to perform optimally.
To combat these distractions and disruption to competition preparation, it is highly recommended that athletes engage pre-competition routines when traveling to compete. Sport specific mindfulness strategies can include controlled breathing techniques, mindfulness of nonathletic task execution, body-scanning, mindful pre-performance stretching, and mindful sport related warm-up drills (Gardner & Moore, 2004).
Other pre-competition routines can be a simple as traveling with your favorite pillow or blanket, consistent pre-game snacks and meals, or warm-up music that you know and love. All the above-mentioned strategies can be executed on the road in nearly any environment that an athlete can expect to play.
I would love to get more ideas on how to help athletes adjust and mentally prepare while playing on the road. What strategies and techniques do you use to help athletes cope with the discomfort of travel and playing away?
How to Use Routines to Mentally Prepare for Competition
Want to learn more about how to use routines to mentally prepare for competition? Check out these two videos from Dr. Kenneth Ravizza, Ph.D – an internationally acclaimed sport psychology consultant.
The Research
Based upon previous research studies including Gardner and Moore (2004), Lutkenhouse (2007), Wolanin (2005), Hasker (2010), and Schwanhausser (2009), there exists substantial empirical research evidence that mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions improve athlete performance (Gardner & Moore, 2004). The research study performed by Wolanin (2005) indicated a 37% increase athlete performance based upon coach ratings (Gardner & Moore, 2012). The 2007 research study conducted by Lutkenhouse, Gardner, and Moore resulted in a 20% athlete performance improved of at least 32% of the athletes (Gardner & Moore, 2012). And the research study by Schwanhausser (2009) produced findings of increased athlete mindful awareness, attention, flow and competitive drive among athletes (Gardner & Moore, 2012). In addition to improved performance results in athletes, research studies also indicated that mindfulness reduces anxiety and worry (Roemer & Orsillo, 2002), decreases levels of verbal-linguistic activity in the left-hemisphere of the brain (Crews & Landers, 1993), and increased self-awareness (Roemer & Orsillo, 2002), reduces depression (Hoffmann, Sawyer, Witt, & Oh, 2020), enhances well-being (Chiesa & Serretti, 2009).
References
Burton, Damon & Raedeke, Thomas, D. (2008). Sport Psychology for Coaches. Human Kinetics.
Gardner, F. L., & Moore, Z. E. (2004). A Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment-Based Approach to Athletic Performance Enhancement: Theoretical Considerations. Behavior Therapy, 35(4), 707–723.
Gardner, F. L., & Moore, Z. E. (2012). Mindfulness and acceptance models in sport psychology: A decade of basic and applied scientific advancements. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 53(4), 309–318. https://doi-org.uws.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/a0030220
Stewart Cotterill, Neil Weston, & Gavin Breslin. (2017). Sport and Exercise Psychology: Practitioner Case Studies. Wiley-Blackwell.
Vernacchia, Ralph, McGuire, Rick, & Cook, David. (1996) Coaching Mental Excellence. Warde Publishers, Inc.