Justification of my Programme

Why I chose Listening to Music

I chose listening to music as one of the strategies to use in the 6 week programme because, at the beginning of the programme in the first meeting we had my client told me that they found themselves getting nervous before games, this made me think that music could be a good way to calm my performer down before games, also they needed to find songs which did calm them down, however they still needed to get themselves pumped up for the event, therefore music would be the best way to make sure my client is able to feel ready for the game but also wasn't getting too nervous and that is why i used this strategy.   

Why I chose Goal Setting

I decided to choose goal setting as my other strategy as my client felt that they needed to improve on certain aspects of their game, also they felt at the beginning that they weren't motivated enough to be able to get better at these certain  skills. This is why i chose to do goal setting as by setting goals, this will motivate my client to work harder and harder in order for them to firstly achieve these goals and also improve these areas of their game as well. It was vital that we made sure that the goals met the SMART target aims, making sure the goals were specific to football, measurable, achievable, realistic and time based. However there were some disadvantages to using goal setting, it was important that we didn't set goals which were too high for my client and by focusing too much on that side we set goals which were possibly too easy for my client to complete and therefore was a slight disadvantage to the use of goal setting.  

Why I didn't use the Other Strategies

Imagery-

Imagery is where the performer visualizes themselves completing the task and then therefore this will then replay in their head when they do the task which therefore will hopefully lead to them completing the task. I didn't chose this strategy because at the time before the programme they weren't that confident at completing certain tasks, therefore when using imagery if they aren't confident they are going to visualize themselves failing the task which is not what we want my performer doing.  

Self Talk-

Self talk is very similar to imagery as the person has to talk themselves into wanting to complete the challenge and telling themselves that they can do it. Similarly I didn't choose to use this one as the motivation and confident was low in my performer and therefore they would struggle to self talk themselves enough to be able to complete the task.  

Performance Profiling-

This would be a good strategy for my client to use and i was torn to use either performance profiling and goal setting, this is because performance profiling my client could write down the areas and skills they want to improve and then keep a profile on then how they are improving their skills. I chose goal setting over this as with goal setting you can set clear long term and short term goals and keep track of them much more easily, and therefore this will keep you motivated throughout games and training sessions much more than performance profiling.    

Overview of 6 Week PTS Programme

Overview of my 6 Week PTS Programme

In the first week of my programme I had a one-to-one meeting with my client and their parents, this was a meeting which gave me a chance to get to know my client, I was able to find out what type of sports performer they were and also got the chance to see what they wanted to get from the programme. Also I had the chance to see if my client or their parents had any questions for me, so they were able to find out more information about the programme. By having the programme in the first week I was able to get a good understanding of my client before we got into the strategies, there would've been no point having a meeting in week 3 cause the programme would already be half way through. 

In week 2 I started to introduce my client into one of the strategies that I would be using throughout the 6 weeks, I decided to choose goal setting as my first strategy as my client wanted to improve certain aspects of his game, so his passing, shooting and tackling. Therefore it was best to use goal setting as they could target goals on these skills and work towards them. Additionally I chose to use goal setting in my second week as it gives my client enough time to be able to complete the goals which have been set and also have the chance to complete new goals once they've been completed. If I had asked my client too set goals in the 4th week then it would've been too late and they would've had no time to complete these goals. However in the 4th week I asked my client to set more goals on the ones he had already completed and also ones he can continue with once the 6 week programme had finished. 

In week 3 I chose to do listening to music, at this stage me and my client spent time on the computer choosing different songs which would benefit them, by motivating them before the game and also keeping their arousal levels down so they aren't too nervous and do something stupid and get book/sent off. By discussing the different types of playlist we were able to get a good understanding of what each of us are looking for from the programme and how the music can benefit my performer. I chose to do this half way through the programme as at this stage I've got more of understanding of my client and therefore i can show him songs which i think he will enjoy and benefit from. In week 5 my client used the playlist we had created to get himself ready for the game he had at the weekend, I chose to do this at the end as then we could discuss how the playlist helped in our final meeting in week 6.

Finally at the end of the 6 week programme we had another meeting to discuss all that had gone on in the programme and how we both felt the programme had gone ourselves. This meeting was vital for my own benefit as needed to get the feedback from my performer on how the programme had gone, so i could try and improve my programme for the next client to make it even better. Also it gave me a chance to tell my performer how i think they were during the 6 weeks and was able to tell my client what they can do after the 6 weeks. The meeting had to come at the end of the programme, there is no point having a meeting to discuss the 6 week programme, 4 weeks into the programme.  

Week 6 of PTS Programme

End Meeting
Summary of the 6 Week PTS Programme 

In the final week of my 6 week PTS Programme I had a meeting with my performer to discuss what has happened and how they felt at the end of the 6 week programme. This was a meeting which lasted around 1 hour-2 hours long, this is so we could discuss how my felt with the 2 different strategies I used, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the programme. 

I started by asking my client how they felt the listening to music and making their own playlist benefited them going into the game he had at the weekend. My client said that the songs chosen before the game managed to pump my client up, he felt ready for the game, and felt the music was able to block out any other irritating noise which may have made him nervous for the game. By saying that the music managed to block out any nerves which they may have had is a huge benefit of my PTS 6 week programme.

We then moved on to the next strategy which was goal setting, I made it very clear to my performer that in order for him to keep improving he has to make sure he keeps setting these goals and can't stop setting short term goals just because the 6 week programme had finished. My client went on to say that setting short term goals was definitely a positive and kept him motivated throughout the games and also gave him something to work for, however he also said that he would've liked to have pushed himself further and set much harder goals during the 6 week programme, as he felt he managed to reach these goals too easily.

At the end of the meeting myself and my client both fully agreed that the 2 strategies had fully helped their performance could tell that they felt more confident going into the game which occurred over the 6 weeks. It is vital that my performer keeps up with these strategies which can then see even more improvement over the years. 

By using to choose a meeting in my final week I was able to talk to my client face to face, we were both able to give our own feedback on how we thought the 6 week programme went. I was able to give my client feedback on their performance throughout the 6 weeks, identifying different strengths and weakness, furthermore it was a chance for me to be able to find out the different areas in which I can improve my programme, and see what my performer though of the programme.    

Week 5 of PTS Programme

During week 5 me and my performer would get together and discuss the music weve chosen and make it into a playlist for my performer to use this week before during and after my performers game day.

Jog the Day Before

My performer every week, between his last training session and before his game on the weekend, does a jog which lasts around an hour long to keep up his fitness. On  this jog it is good for him to listen to music to keep himself motivated whilst running round, furthermore the music should pump my performer up ready for the game at the weekend. The songs I've chosen for my client are the gym shark work out mix by DJ Russke, I chose this because it involves many different songs which are in the house genre which will pump up my performer up ready for is game, the songs are fast based which lyrics which will keep my client motivated. I also chose the song gonna fly now by Bill Conti, this song is used in Rocky I when he is training for his fight, it is an inspirational tune and whilst my client is running he should feel the song drive him to run harder and faster just like rocky does in the film to get to the top of the stairs.

https://soundcloud.com/russke/djrusske-theworkoutmix-sponsored-by-gymshark

On the way to the Game
For when my client is travelling to the fixture he has at the weekend we have chosen together the song, run boy run by woodkid, the lyrics used in this song are good for my client as they will drive him and motivate him to do well, also the pace and beat of the music is up beat meaning it'll pump him up for the game and not bring him down.

In the Changing Rooms

In the changing rooms I have chosen two songs which my performer chose as they are songs which remind him most about football, the choice of all together now by the farm, and beautiful day by U2 reminded him most about football.This was because beautiful day use to be the theme tune of the football league highlights on itv and the farm all together now was the theme tune of the football league coverage on sky sports. So these songs in the changing room will help him get in the zone ready for the game. Furthermore the songs are quite calm and we don't want him to have too high arousal levels as this was one of his weaknesses which got him booked and sent off.

Half-Time
At half time my client needs to keep themselves pumped up and focused for the second half, a song which can keep their focus and make sure they don't switch off, furthermore it also can't over arouse my performer as we are trying to keep his arousal levels down so he doesn't get booked or sent off. The song i chose was right here right now by fat boy slim, this song can motivate my performer it will keep his focus, especially with the lyrics right here right now and the pace of the song i believe will definitely benefit my performer at half time.

Full-Time
At the end of the game, my performer needs to calm himself down and get himself out of the game mind set, I've got my client at this stage to pick out his favorite band and therefore it is something he listens to regularly and knows it will calm him back down, lower his arousal levels and get himself out of the game mind set.

Week 4 of PTS Programme

Goal Setting

In week four we came back to goal setting again, this part of the programme was a review of my performers targets in previous weeks and also a chance for the client to change their goals if they needed too. I would meet with my performer before his training session to see what goals he has met and which goals he hasn't met in the 2 weeks he'd had to complete the goals. My performer manage to complete 3 of the goals that we set back in week 2, the defending and passing goals he managed to complete with ease as he was comfortable with dealing with these goals that were set. However the goal which he wasn't most comfortable with was again the shooting drill, this means that we didn't change that goal we kept it the same, as there was no point in making the goal harder, we kept it the same so my client was able to keep trying at the goal. This meeting lasted around half an hour just before  one of his training sessions,this is so we were able to look at every goal we had set and we were able to set new short term goals for the future.

We spent the end of the meeting setting new goals for my client for the next couple of weeks, mainly focusing on the goals which he has already completed and making the goals bigger harder to make sure he is constantly improving, and making sure he is fully motivated to complete these goals. We started with the defensive goals as he was most comfortable with them in game situations, having completed the five tackles and five headers won in his last game, my performer wanted to keep the same goals but increasing the amount he wanted to complete, showing he had confidence in his ability and was fully motivated to complete these goals and setting himself much harder an better goals.

I chose to do goal setting at this point as he has been giving 2 weeks to complete his first goals and then more time before the end of the 6 week programme to complete the new goals we have set for him. Also it has given my performer more time to think about their goals and therefore have an increase in motivation, which is what goal setting used for. Motivation is the key for goal setting and this is what i want my performer to get from this, making sure my performer is setting goals constantly keeping themselves motivated and constantly improving their performance. 

Week 3 of PTS Programme

Listening to Music

In week 3 I introduced my client to my second strategy that I would be using which is listening to music. This session was used for me to get an understanding of what kind of music my performer listens to on a regular occasion, and also gave me a chance to introduce my performer to different types of music which i think will definitely benefit my performer. The session lasted around 45 minutes- 1 hour and had a computer to use YouTube to show the different songs they could use.

I started the session by asking what type of music my client listened, they listened regularly to the 1975 and Two Door Cinema Club, I asked them to listen to the songs which they liked and once they had finished listening to these songs I wanted to know how they felt at the end of the song. The performer felt relaxed and chilled as this is what type of music this is. I explained to the performer that the type of music that would be best would be something that would get them pumped up and ready for the game, or for a training session. I played my client some music that I would think they would enjoy and make them feel pumped up and excited, the music needs to make sure my client can be put into different moods which can help their performance. The selection of the song is key, if the song is slow and the lyrics are about sadness for example then this wont be helping my client to get ready for the session and can make them feel like this for the rest of the event and can seriously effect their performance. 

Week 2 of PTS Programme

Goal Setting

Week 2 was the week where the strategies were put into place, the one I decided to choose first was goal setting. As my performer trains twice a week, I went and watch the first session he took part in this week, I watch how the session was set out by the coach and I watch what his body language was like throughout the session, I could see that he was much more comfortable with the passing drill rather than the shooting drill, and felt a lot more comfortable when was asked to defend in a drill and in the final game activity where he was able to tackle and position himself in areas he was familiar with. With it being a 2 hour session it gave me enough time to see all of this from my performer and I spoke to him for around 15 minutes- half an hour at the end of the session about goal setting.

In this discussion we had at the end of the session, I went into more detail on what a goal is and what a SMART goal is and that all the goals we set need to be SMART. 


I also asked my client whether he set himself goals for his performances, he told me that he only set himself long term goals which went on for the season, it was to complete a achieve a certain number of clean sheets in a season, this gave me the chance to tell him what a short goal is and how it can help his performance in the long run. I gave him a target for the training sessions and the game at the weekend. The training goal was to make sure he was having over 80% pass success rate in the passing drills and to try and make him feel more comfortable when shooting was to get at least 2 on target even if its easy for the keeper, the goals for the weekend game was to win at least 5 headers and win 5 tackles during the game, this may sound simple, but we wanted the goal to be SMART at the start so he can achieve it. If he was able to complete these goals in the next session and at the game at the weekend then he can increase these goals for the next week but only by 1 or 2 as my performer shouldn't push himself to early into the programme.   

The reason I chose to do goal setting in week 2 was because we were able to set goals easily and quickly at the end of the training session, it gave my performer something to motivate in the training session and also in the games he had coming up, this gave them motivation for these events and give them something to work towards. I also chose this strategy early so this gave them time to pick goals to target their weaknesses and then can help turn these weaknesses into strength within that time. 

Week 1 of PTS Programme

At the start of the 6 week PTS programme there needs to be an introduction meeting for the client and their parents/carers, this meeting will lay out the strategies the performer will be using, what equipment they may need, how this will benefit them and what will be included in each week of the programme. 

This was a meeting which lasted around an hour long, this meeting had to be an hour in order to fit everything in which needed demonstrating and describing to my performer and also gave time for them or their parent/carers to ask any questions or make an requests about the programme. Furthermore this gave me time to be able to learn more about the performer, I got the chance to talk to them and see how they felt about everything they are going to be doing and what they think they will enjoy from the programme. For example with it being only week 1 we were able to set a simple short term goal which can easily be done, this was to make sure that they turned up to training/matches on time and were fully prepared for the session with full kit and equipment they will be requiring.

This meeting would also give the performer a brief description and understanding about the different strategies which I will be using (listening to music and goal setting). I told my performer that goal setting is used by all elite performing athletes and studies have shown that 90% of athletes who set goals see an improvement on behavior and performance, this gives them confidence in what they will be doing regarding goal setting cause they can see that it has worked for other athletes. The next I would be describing to them how music can benefit a performer before a game, by showing the video below. This shows how this can help the performer and I can explain that any type of music of their choice can be used when doing the 6 week programme. 
I then told the client that I would go into both strategies in much more detail when they needed to use it that week.

Why I chose to do this in the style of a meeting?    

Having this first part of the programme in the style of a meeting is very beneficial to not just the client, but to me as well, I was able to ask various questions to the client so I was able to get a good understanding of the performer personally. I had watch them perform and made a swot analyse however this was different I could go into more detail and ask my client, what he's doing outside of football, how he got into football, why he enjoys and what he finds beneficial from playing the game. Also I got to hear what he thought of my ideas of using music and goal setting and was able to know if they may already use these strategies. So therefore the meeting gave me more of an understanding of my client and I could learn a lot more about them in that hour.  

Post Overview of my Performer

Throughout this blog I will be planning and justifying a 6 week psychological skills training plan for a sports performer, I will be using 2 different psychological strategies which help benefit them and their sports performance, this will be helping and trying to improve on their weaknesses.

The performer which I will be using to use my 6 week psychological skills training programme is a 18 year old male who plays football regularly, he is a centre back and is vice captain for his team, for someone at such a young age to be vice captain is a good achievement. My client plays at the performance level of the continuum and trains twice a week and has a competitive game every weekend. I will be referring to my client as performer A and below their is a SWOT analysis which identifies his key strengths and weaknesses, I will use this to identify which will be the best psychological strategies for me to use to help improve on the weaknesses of the performer.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths A leader confident in their ability good concentration skills always eager to learn thrives off positive feedback	Weaknesses easily wound up nervous before games argues with referee often very aggressive (towards team mates and officials)
Opportunities training twice a week game on the weekends in 2 days a week at college part time job on some weekdays so has the day time	Threats injury suspension  work may need him weather

From the SWOT analysis above i have been able to identify the key areas in which performer A succeeds at during his playing time and also where performer A needs to improve. My performer needs to increase their ability to control their arousal levels, keeping themselves calm before and during games, ensuring that they aren't too nervous and wont be too aggressive for the event. At this moment before the PST programme my performer can be very aggressive, this leads to them receiving yellow/red cards and therefore getting suspended and missing out on keys games and therefore missing out on improving their ability.

The 2 psychological strategies that I have decided to choose, which I believe will help my performer would be setting goals for themselves, both short term and long term and listening to different types of music both before, during and after an upcoming game/event.