Visualising the road to glory

Last week, we talked to Cork-based sport psychologist Canice Kennedy about the role of psychology in ensuring that athletes regained peak performance after injury. A number of readers have enquired about the visualisation techniques Canice recommended, with several keen to know how these techniques can be applied to free-taking.

Sports psychologists often describe visualisation as a rather complex five-step process.

1. Internalising: Picture yourself making the perfect kick
2. Externalising: Project these pictures outside of yourself
3. Forecasting: Imagine yourself in a game situation
4. Emotionalising: Feel the energy of a successful kick
5. Verbalising: Describe the process out loud.

Canice Kennedy likes to keep things as simple as possible.

"Basically, visualisation is what we all did as kids. When we pictured ourselves in Croke Park or Wembley scoring the winner, that was visualisation. The problem is, as we move into adulthood, those positive visual images are increasingly replaced by negative ones.

So instead of putting good message into our brain – which is what visualisation is all about – we are sending negative ones. We recall the time we missed that crucial free. We fear letting the team down. All these negative thoughts impair performance.

Let's take the example of a free taker. Closed skills like kicking frees are ideal subjects for visualisation.

Without getting too bogged down in the scientific jargon, the key to successful visualisation is not to picture yourself kicking but to experience the kick in your head.

Go to a quiet place, relax and cut out any distractions. You must carry out the entire process of the kick at game pace.

Carry out your regular routine in your mind. Place the ball as you normally would – picture the logo facing towards you maybe. Take your steps back and begin your run-up as you normally would. Experience the kick itself and watch it sail over. Enjoy the feeling. Keep sending your brain positive messages.

The ideal age to start practising visualisation techniques is in the early teens, when the mind is more open, but athletes of any age can benefit hugely.

Jonny Wilkinson is probably the greatest example of a kicker using visualisation to retain his technique during injury layoffs."

The Coach is compiled by Liam Horan. Questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it GAA knowledge you won't get anywhere else, with www.dvdsales.ie. The best of GAA now on DVD – All-Ireland finals 1973-2007, Classic matches, and the annual highlights, Sam and Liam. GAA DVDs are official GAA products, produced and released by Sideline under licence from the GAA. For further information see www.sideline.ie.

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