If you are an Olympic athlete, there is one thing you will know for sure going into the event. “Since the event is only held once every four years, every other athlete attending the Games will be extremely well prepared, just like yourself,” explains Van de Pol. Which is why, he says, psychological factors are increasingly important. “Nearly all sports are quaternities, consisting of a technical aspect, a tactical aspect, a physiological aspect and a psychological aspect. All four are important, and they all have to be aligned. Because many athletes will already be at the peak of their technical, tactical and physiological ability, it is precisely the psychological aspect that may be the deciding factor. Because during the match or competition, your mental state will affect your technical execution, the tactical choices you make and your body’s physiological response to things such as the pressure inherent in a competition.”
Different types of focus
When it comes to that psychological aspect, athletes and coaches will often use the term ‘focus’. But what exactly IS focus? “Focus is the ability to direct your mental effort at the action that is most important in a particular situation,” says Van de Pol. “High-performance sport is about applying your skills when they matter. However, the smallest disruption may negatively, and potentially even disastrously, affect a performance. But when everything does go well, focus may well be the key to success.”
Van de Pol distinguishes between several different types of focus. “First of all, there is the distinction between broad and narrow focus. A broad focus allows one to experience multiple events simultaneously. Take, for instance, an ice hockey player moving across the ice with the puck on their stick while simultaneously scanning the different passing options and opponents.
By contrast, a narrow focus means the ice hockey player pays more attention to stick control and therefore misses the passing opportunities.
In addition, there is a distinction between external and internal focus. With an external focus, attention is directed at external factors, such as the puck and the opponent. And if your focus is internal, the emphasis will be more on the feelings and thoughts you will experience while playing your sport.”
According to Van de Pol, the ideal type of focus depends on the situation. “Take a biathlete, for instance, who is often able to gradually shift focus during the race. While cross-country skiing, the focus is more broad and external: attention is directed at the conditions, such as course characteristics like elevation changes, track, turns, and snow conditions. Then the biathlete arrives at the transition to the shooting stage; the focus shifts more toward narrow and internal: regulating breathing and aiming the rifle to shoot. The art is being able to apply this shift in focus even under pressure.”
Functional alertness
Van de Pol agrees that pressure can be an important factor in focus. “But this does involve the athlete’s own perception of pressure,” he emphasises. “In addition to the pressure put on them by fans, family and the media, many athletes also set the bar high for themselves. The latter doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing: it is often precisely because of this high bar that they’ve made it this far. Every athlete has a functional physiological alertness, also known as ‘arousal’. If they become more alert, it may benefit their performance. But if, on the other hand, the pressure increases and turns into performance anxiety, on top of excessive arousal, an athlete may ‘choke’, and will then no longer be able to perform as well as they would like to. This may trigger physiological stress responses, such as an increased heart rate and excessive perspiration, but may also result in tunnel vision.”
The latter can have two effects that may distract the athlete. “For instance, first of all, there is a risk that, during a match or competition, an athlete will worry too much about the outcome and consequences of the result, instead of focusing on how to perform the task at hand. They will then basically waste their limited ability to focus on aspects that are irrelevant to the task at hand. It may also have another effect, which is that the athlete will actually focus too much on the motor skills involved in the performance of the task at hand. Take, for instance, a speed skater who during a race thinks too much about the technique—such as the push-off movement—thereby disrupting automatic processes and possibly also the timing and execution of the stroke, and consequently the performance.”
Attention circles
So while there will always be distractions, Van de Pol says there are also ways in which athletes can train their focus and learn to retain it, especially in the face of high pressure and tension. “One way to do that is with the so-called attention circles, an auxiliary model developed by German sports psychologist Hans Eberspächer,” he explains. “Visualise a dartboard, consisting of six concentric circles. The smallest circle in the middle, the bullseye, is circle 1 and forms the core: ‘Me and my task’. This is the most important circle, as focus on the proper performance of your task is crucial. The further you allow your attention to veer from the central circle, the more likely you are to see your performance deteriorate. For instance, in circle 2, your attention will have shifted to distracting environhmental factors, such as the crowd, the referee and your opponent. In circle 3 you will be too preoccupied with how things should be going, in circle 4 you will no longer be focusing on the process but rather on the potential result, in circle 5 you will be focusing on the consequences of that potential result, and in circle 6 you will have completely lost focus and ask yourself: What the hell am I doing here?”
Van de Pol refers to techniques such as internal monologues, which you can use to direct your thoughts back to the smallest circle. “In such cases you will tell yourself that your greatest priority is to focus on the main task at hand. You will do so by using short cue words, such as ‘Focus on the puck’ in ice hockey. Once you’re back in the smallest circle, you can gradually broaden your focus and also start focusing on tactical aspects, among other things. Ideally, you will then end up in a flow: your ability and the nature of the challenge will be completely balanced, everything will seem to happen of its own accord, and you’ll feel like you’re completely in control of your task. Take Irene Schouten’s golden Olympic race in the mass start at the 2022 Winter Games, for instance: a competition marked by a fluctuating pace and crucial positioning choices. In that race, the technical, tactical, physiological and mental aspects came together perfectly. Focus played a key role, with attention staying close to the core: “me and my task.”
What will Van de Pol be paying attention to during these Olympic Winter Games? “You see it across all sports, but in speed skating in particular I always find it fascinating that top athletes such as Femke Kok and Jenning de Boo wave to the crowd in a show-like manner just before the start of the 500 metres, and immediately afterwards become fully focused. As if they switch an imaginary button to ‘me and my task’, but it’s not actually that simple.”
Photo: Natalya Karpeka via Unsplash