Visualization – A powerful tool you already use – but do you use it well?

Visualization – Mental Rehearsal – Guided Imagery

No matter what you call it this is a tool that athletes use quite often; but most often without realizing that they do, or how to use it most effectively.

Here is a short clip on effective visualization preparation.

This skill allows athletes to prepare more effectively for practice, games and competition. Trained Imagery and Visualization  increases an athletes ability to focus on specific tasks, react to distractions more effectively, handle set backs and to pursue process goals more relentlessly. This leads to a heightened and more consistently high level of performance.

For the swimmer who walks around the pool prior to performance taking in the environment to the soccer team walking the field before a game looking at the stadium, or checking out the turf; visualization is the process (whether trained or untrained) of creating a mental “intention” for upcoming performance.

The more detailed the “intention” the greater the chance of achieving that intent during sporting performance. In order to be most effective, athletes are encouraged to mentally rehearse performances using images as well as kinesthetic (how the body feels) and auditory (sounds like the crowd) stimuli.

Effective visualization can increase an athletes physical and psychological readiness for performance, leading to more effective performance outcomes.

In a world where technical, tactical and physical similarities exist, it is mental toughness that can be an athletes defining factor.