The psychological preparation of top judo players : examples of good practice (?)

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Geraldine Poole
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1 1 The psychological preparation of top judo players : examples of good practice (?) 1. Introduction Raf Tits JudoLabo July 2011 December 2010 I got in contact with Milos Stefanovsky, a Phd in physical education and sport at the Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovak Republic). Mr. Stefanovsky is a judo teacher for future judo coaches at the Comenius University and a coach at the judo club Slavia STU Bratislava, one of the leading clubs in the Slovak Republic. We decided to exchange information, ideas and experiences about judo coaching, training en teaching. Mr. Stefanovsky is particularly interested in the psychological preparation for contest of top judo players. He asked for my experiences by means of the following questions: How do you train psychological factors, or did you ever train somehow these factors? How to teach the top players to step on the mat without fear and stress which can rope your hands and lead to poor performance? What are you doing to teach your top players to fight their stress/fear situations before the competition fight? I mean a situation like you are fighting your first match on the Paris Open and your first opponent is the world champ from Japan. How and when are you using mental training and visualization? In this paper I will try to describe the methods I used to mentally prepare the top level judokas I coached. Because I retired as a top level competition coach in July 2008 this paper will be for me in this matter as a kind of debriefing. The way I worked with the competitors can or can t be an example of good practice. It is to the reader to decide and to eventually adopt elements in his own coaching. Still it remains a fact that the judokas I coached believed in the methods and recognize their share in their successes. First I will give my general vision on the psychological preparation for contest. Then I will elaborate a few topics starting with the description of a specific kind of judo session: the last judo session before the contest, the Mental Preparation Training Session (MPTS). Because in judo training everything is related to everything (as it is also in a judo contest) I will often have to refer to other articles I wrote (see - mostly in Flemish/Dutch). 2. My vision on the mental preparation of top judo players My vision has grown out of my own specific situation. This means being a non-professional free time, personal (not federal) judo (not soccer ) coach of at the same time one to seven young (15 to 26 years) mostly female (inter)national athletes. So one must be careful to simply copy the methods I used. I have doubts about the efficiency of some methods when used by federal coaches, mainly because of the level of trust between athlete and coach, but also because of the span of command of a federal coach. Often a federal coach is responsible for too many athletes to give them the right amount of (mental) attention. In the preparation on a top level competition three aspects must be trained: the physical aspect, the technical-tactical aspect, the mental aspect. At the day of the competition all three aspects must be at their peak level and they must function together at a peak level. It is my conviction and I stated this in different other articles that although one can train the aspects separately in the first periods of the preparation, the closer once comes to the competition day, the more the aspects must me

2 2 mixed and trained together. This because of the specific nature of the training. In a contest everything (physical, technical-tactical and mental aspect) is interrelated, so it must also be in the last faze training that prepares for such a contest. I speak of the three dimensions of the podium. He who wants to climb the podium at the highest stage can t neglect any of the dimensions in his preparation nor the interaction between them. Likewise the podium, the preparation and the training necessary to climb the podium, have three interrelated dimensions. When creating (mental) training programs a coach must always be explicitly aware of his own opinion about competition sport, about the nature of an athlete, about the nature of the relationship between coach and athlete and about his own ethical position in questions like: is sport a kind of war? Is an athlete a pawn on the play board of the coach? Can an athlete make his own decisions? Etc. I have an emancipating vision on athletes. Athletes are persons who can think for themselves and are responsible for their behavior. Sport is not war, but sport gives a person the opportunity to grow as a human being. A coach in an individual sport like judo has a service position and task (unless a coach in a team sport like soccer etc., see my article in Dutch De judobondscoach is geen meesterbrein : individuele sport versus ploegsport en de macht van de bondscoach, essay). In my coaching I draw a clear ethical line: results must be obtained with respect for the total integrity of the own athlete and of the opponent. For instance, I evidently try to influence the athlete I coach, but I refuse to manipulate or to motivate by dehumanizing the opponent (for instance: to motivate your athlete by describing the opponent as an ugly animal ). If an athlete has a different opinion in these matters, he can t expect me to be his coach. (It is my privilege as a personal coach to chose the athletes I want to work with.) This leads to another statement. To guide an athlete in an individual sport (and to make a mental training program) I believe that coach and athlete must share for a great deal the same ethical vision. Daily work for the same shared objectives creates a close bond between athlete and personal coach. This is a fortiori the case by mental training. It is de responsibility of the coach to protect the integrity of the working relationship between himself and the athlete, the more when coaching athletes of the opposite gender. (In the later years of my coach career I had the habit of showing my female athletes that I loved my wife and that we had a good en strong relationship; this unconsciously created an understanding that the athlete nor the coach wanted anything more than striving together after the judo top.) I believe that a judo coach with interest in the matter can play an important role in the psychological preparation of an athlete. Because I believe in the three dimensions of the podium I think that the personal coach is best placed to plan and coach the daily mental training. A coach whose main capacities lay in another field though, can delegate the mental training to an educated sport psychologist. Of course only if the athlete has confidence in such a cooperation and in the personality of the psychologist. For an optimal output of the mental training the athlete must be prepared to open up, what leaves him vulnerable. I experienced that athletes often don t have that kind of confidence in a federal coach who has the authority to make selections.

3 3 I find it evident that mental training has the sole purpose to optimize the performance of the athlete. Pathological problems are not the working area of a judo coach. It is important to make athletes accessible to mental training from an early age. This can be done by subjecting them to mental exercises, for instance visualization, as a part of the total training. Mental training has nothing to do with pampering the athlete. Just like in the technical-tactical training and the physical training it has to do with giving the athlete obstacles and challenges to overcome and problems to solve. In my coaching practice I implied aspects of mental training in every period of preparation. 3.1 What is MPTS? 3. The Mental Preparation Training Session (MPTS), the last judo session before the contest In the planning of the training process I use different kinds of training session on the tatami, each with his own purpose and content. The Mental Preparation Training Session is the very last training session before the competition day. We do the training session two days before the top competition day (European, world or national championship, world cup tournament) or if I can t accompany the athlete abroad - the day before the athlete must travel with the federal team and the federal coach. I published articles about two other kinds of training session: the Hybridical Anaerobic Training session (HAT) and the competition training session. See Model voor hybridische anaerobe training op de judomat (2005) and Competitietraining, periodisering van de judotraining in de laatste fase van een piekperiode (2003) Why MPTS: the purpose? A few days before the competition everything must be trained, physical condition must be at a top level and technical and tactical skills must be sharpened. Although, if some of these qualities are not at their top level, than it is useless and counterproductive to mentally weaken the athlete by emphasizing this gap. Better is to strengthen the athletes self confidence so he will use the maximum of his actual capacities. Therefore the MPTS has no physical or technical goals; the sole purpose is to give the judoka the self confidence he needs, the assurance that his preparation and training were good and the conviction that he has the necessary skills to strive for a maximum result. So what are the sub goals of the MPTS? To remove the possible mental obstacles To rehears the individual warming up To oil the automatism of the personal technical complex To rehears the personal technical and tactical points of attention To prepare the fights against difficult opponents 3.3 How to organize the MPTS so the goals can be reached: the protocol? When talking about technical and tactical aspects I follow the time dimension of a judo action in competition: first contact, kumi kata, moving, nage waza, follow to ground action,

4 4 ne waza, last minute of the fight, golden score. In this way the judoka feels that what he does is focused on the upcoming contest and he has a frame to place the points of attention. No technical improvements are made any more; the focus is on doing and striving. No thinking any more while performing judo techniques, but acting on automate pilot. Before every move there is first visualization of the action. Every nage waza exercise starts with the two judoka at the 4 meter position and hajime/matte (as in a contest). Every exercise lasts only shortly (no fatigue, no physical goals!). The athlete must be acquainted in advance with every used exercise. The protocol of the MPTS is made to prepare one or at most a few athletes with one or a few sparring partners. 3.4 Always the same? It is evident that the protocol and the content must be adapted to the needs of the individual judoka that must be prepared and to the specific time and place, with always in mind the ultimate mental goal. 3.5 Content of the MPTS: successive, chronological parts In some way the MPTS summarizes everything trained in the previous training periods. 1. State explicitly the purpose of the training session. After an athlete performed this kind of training session several times it becomes a kind of ceremony to state the purpose of the training session. The athlete realizes that all efforts are made to give him the greatest possible change to perform at his maximum capacity and that the circle of his preparation is complete. 2. Coaching conversation about fears and doubts. In a conversation the athlete reveals his fears and doubts; there always are! Mostly the coach already knows these things, but these fears must be brought in to the open. In that way they can t poison the mental state of the athlete. Whatever the fear, I always responded with an action. So the athlete realizes that there are solutions for his doubts and fears. 3. Visualisation of one or more past successful contest situations. In this way the athlete experiences success and realizes (again) that he is capable of solving problems and coping with difficult situations in a contest. 4. Personal warming up and points of attention. A warming up during a contest day must prepare the athlete for the upcoming contest: warm up the muscles and the cardio vascular system and produce the right focus. My athletes always had a personal warming up scheme adapted at their personal profile, with variations in the course of their career and adaptations per contest. What s a good warming up for a contest is not an easy question to answer and so this article isn t the place to do it. As an outcome of the technical and tactical preparation the athlete has a few points of attention. (See further in this article.) These points of attention always get a place in the personal warming up. 5. Kumi kata wanted and not wanted. First the athlete drills his tokui waza kumi kata and how to take it by opponents with different kumi kata styles. Then the athlete drills his defense against kumi kata styles he

5 5 must avoid. Of course this is only a short rehearsal of techniques extensively drilled during the preparation period. 6. Kumi kata dominating. In a few (3 to 5) short randori moments starting at the 4 meter position and hajime/matte (as in a contest) the athlete tries to take his tokui waza kumi kata by a resisting and defending opponent. The sparring partner must be well chosen and must play his role well. Of course out of a mental point of view the athlete must be able to succeed. 7. Nage komi half marathon. Half marathon means in my judo language 21 times. So in 21 throws the athlete rehearses all the techniques of his individual technique complex. No problem if a technique is not perfectly executed; it is important that the athlete perseveres in the throwing, the kake. 8. Chain KMKTK dominant. A judo throw is not an isolated movement. It is embedded in a preparation action. The athlete rehearses his tokui waza throws in the chain: taking of the Kumi kata followed by the right Movement with Kuzushi, Tsukuri and a focus on the Kake. Every opponent will try to avoid the fall by turning out of it. So tori must always focus on steering uke to the mat so that the back of uke will touch the tatami. 9. Chain KMKTK ju, following the partner. The sparring partner makes the KMKTK chain with hostile techniques, kumi kata en movements. At a certain place in the chain tori will take over the initiative and throw the sparring partner. 10. Yako soku geiko ju blind. In yako soku geiko the sparring partner leads, dominates and attacks and the athlete follows and uses the movements of his opponent to score. Due to the focus in the technique training on dominating and imposing, an athlete often forgets in a contest to use the opportunities provided by the movements of the opponent. That is why I consider this exercise as important. 11. Nage komi last 30 cm. The athlete makes a few nage komi on a soft mat and puts all his strength and speed in the last 30 cm of his throw. Why? In every throw their must be a full determination till the end. 12. Kake training. This exercise is the opposite of the previous one. The goal is to turn out of different throws. See the article Niet-valtraining (2002) Ne waza own technical complex. Rehearsal of the tokui waza ne waza. 14. Study the major opponents. On the internet you can mostly find the list of the participants per contest. Every coach should have a databank with a technical-tactical description of all major opponents. 15. Coach conversation about the remaining time before the competition. What will the athlete do at what time? What problems can occur and how to handle them? This reassures the athlete and prohibits that sudden problems will disturb the concentration of the athletes. Of course not everything can be foreseen. The coach must see to it that the athlete develops a problem solving attitude. Almost every situation What if can be prepared by visualization exercises. See the article Mentale verbeelding als judotrainingvorm (2002)

6 6 3.6 Conclusion The MPTS was designed for the judoka s that were trained en coached following my methods. In these circumstances the MPTS was a good last training session. For athletes that are prepared following other training models and methods the content of the MPTS probably must be adapted. Though the main goal must remain to give the judoka the self confidence he needs, the assurance that his preparation and training were good and the conviction that he has the necessary skills to strive for a maximum result. (Soon to be continued.)

PERIODISATION OF RANDORI TYPES

PERIODISATION OF RANDORI TYPES Paper 1/5 in the series Ideas for the Youth Judo Coach RAF TITS 5 TH DAN tibra@worldonline.be March 2002 TABLE OF CONTENT 1. What is randori? 2. Periodisation 3. Forms of