Training Programme 6 - COGNITIVE RESTRUCTURING/ATTRIBUTION

Week Number = 7
Date = 1st May 2014
Aim of the Week = To reduce the cognitive anxiety levels that are quite high in you and develop more self-confidence. 

Cognitive Restructuring Technique

Hello X. The 6 week training programme is coming to an end. You did a great job so far and I'm hoping that during the final training programme you'll do the same. In the last week we will look at the cognitive restructuring technique which will hopefully reduce your cognitive anxiety levels and may develop a bit more self-confidence. 

Introduction of the Technique

Cognitive restructuring technique is used to counter negative thoughts and perceptions about training or competition and gain a more positive attentional focus to enhance performance. 

Types of Cognitive Restructuring

Attribution theory relates to the reasons we give for our, or the team, performance. This theory classifies the reasons we give for the performance into 4 distinct categories:

1. Ability - Performance/Skills
2. Task Difficulty - How hard the task is/conditions/who plays
3. Effort - Prepared well/100% into the game/mental + physical/pre-game + during the game
4. Luck - Chance

There is a model which shows the 4 categories under 2 key dimensions:

Success is often attributed to an internal factor such as for example "I played well", "I felt really focused today" or "I put in 100% effort"- This also promotes us. 

Failures tend to be attributed to external factors so that we can protect ourselves and examples of that can be "The ball took a bobble", "The ref had a shocking game" or "It was the strikers fault; he couldn't hit the barn door". 

Exercises for You

I want you to perform two simple exercises. The first exercise you'll do will require a bit of brainstorming from you. I want you to write down, in a table provided, all the negative or irrelevant thoughts that you believe you use in particular football situations. In addition, I want you also to write down in the same table the positive or relevant thoughts. After you have done that I want you to rephrase all the negative statements in a positive way. 

The second exercise I want you to do will require a bit of time. During the next week, after every training session or match you have I want you to sit down and write any feelings that you've experienced during that time. I want you to write everything that you were thinking about when you were going into tackle or miss kicked the ball. Then I want you to decide which of these thoughts are negative and which are positive. For example if you went for a tackle and you thought that you may get hurt whilst doing it, that would count as a negative thought. When you decide which thoughts are negative I want you start the process called thought stopping. Every time you have any negative thoughts during training or competition I want you to, in your head, shout STOP and quickly think of a positive thought to replace that. For example, if you thought that when you go into a tackle you may get hurt, I want you to shout stop and quickly change this thought to something like "I am going to win the ball". This will hopefully make you less worry and you anxiety levels will drop down.

Try both of them exercises this week and get back to me when you've done them. Good luck X!

Athlete's Feedback

After few days I went to meet X to chat about the exercises I gave him to do and also how he found this cognitive restructuring technique. This is what he told me:

"This technique was quite confusing at start. There was much information that seemed quite hard to understand at first. However, after I've read this post a couple of times I understood what to do and what this technique is about. 

In terms of the exercises I must say that they were quite useful and quite good. The first exercise you've asked me to do I had to think a bit about it but I found all the statements and thoughts that usually come into my head. In the positive columns I said that during training I often think to myself that I want to do my best to be picked for the team for the upcoming match. In the pre-competition column  I wrote down that I often think that I am 100% ready for this game. In the during competition column I said that I think about trying hard and don't give up. 
With the negative statements I had some problems because there were quite a few of them. In training I often worry that if I don't put 100% effort and I won't put a good performance my coach may not pick me for the team. You've told me to replace them thoughts so I did. I said to myself that whatever happens I just want to go out and train hard. In the pre-competition section I have often thoughts that I may make a mistake that will cost my team conceding a goal or even loosing a game. I've replaced this thought with thinking that I just want to go out there and do my best and not worry about mistakes because everyone does them. Finally, in the last section I often have thoughts that I won't be able to clear the ball out when heading it. I replaced that with a thought that if I relax I can do anything. 

The second exercise was quite good as well. During the first 2 training sessions this week I wrote down after each session any thoughts that occurred to me. Few of them were negative so during the third training session whenever a negative thought occurred in my head I shouted stop, like you said, and quickly replaced it with a positive thought. For example, I thought that I won't be able to tackle one of our strikers, so I shouted stop and thought that I can do it and I will do it, and guess what..I did! 

Overall, I would like to thank you for those training programmes. I certainly learned a lot from them and they helped me with my self confidence, anxiety or worrying. I feel stronger now and hopefully this exercises I did will stay with me and I will be able to use them in the future whenever I need them. Thank you!"