Padel World Press .- In the sport of paddle we know that verbal and non-verbal communication can be a very relevant factor when it comes to obtaining an optimal performance of the couple, but in this article, we will focus on each player separately, on the individual level of each couple and, specifically, what each of them thinks.
What is going on in the head of padel players in competition?
What messages do these players say to themselves?
Are these automensajes beneficial?
Several years ago I did a study in this sense, in one of the concentrations that the Spanish Federation of Paddle convened before a World Championship. I had the opportunity to investigate this topic and my interest was deposited in knowing and analyzing the thoughts that the players used to have competing, as well as studying the nature of them to see if they really contributed something or not to our athletes.
For this I gave a blank sheet of paper to each player (20 players and 14 players) and asked them to write, at least, five thoughts that they used to have when they competed and the situation that triggered them. This exercise was voluntary and anonymous so that none of the athletes felt self-conscious when developing the task. After the exercise we would collect all the answers and read them at random to, among all / as, analyze the content of them and check whether they bring something positive or not to the player / a.
After reading and analyzing the answers we were able to draw the following conclusions:
- The number of thoughts and verbal manifestations was higher in boys than in girls.
- The number of negative thoughts was higher than the positive ones in both categories (we counted 110 negative thoughts and 51 positive ones), this aspect being much more accentuated in the boys (78 negative for only 31 positive).
- Thoughts and self-messages of an emotional nature, that is, thoughts or messages that express emotions, were also registered in greater numbers in boys. This means that they tend to express their state of mind more than they do (72 emotional manifestations in boys by 38 in girls).
- We also found a curious fact: girls used to have more anticipatory thoughts than boys, and, on the contrary, boys had more retrospective thoughts than girls. What does this mean? It seems that females tend to direct a large part of their thoughts and reflections towards what may happen during the meeting (they anticipate actions or events that may occur) and, however, boys seem to focus their thoughts on past actions that occurred during the encounter. shock. To illustrate this, we could say that girls would have, to a greater extent, type thoughts:
"If we lose the next game we will have it very difficult ..."
While the boys would have, to a greater extent, type thoughts:
"If we had won the previous game we would now be level ..."
Let's not lose sight of the fact that we only base these conclusions on the data obtained in a small sample of players (34) and, therefore, we can not generalize. Of course, it is true that the players interviewed were at that time among the best in Spain and that gave more credit and interest to the data obtained. So we can say that we rely on a 'Pilot Study' with quality dyes rather than quantity.
- Regarding technical-tactical thoughts, let's say they were very scarce in this study in both sexes. Only 4 thoughts of this nature were recorded in girls and 5 in boys, although it is true that there were quite a few verbal manifestations, especially tactics, directed towards the partner at certain moments of the matches. These manifestations were more frequent during the break from the side changes.
- It could also be said that in girls there were a significant number of thoughts referring to what others think of their game, that is, they focused a large part of their attention on the concern that the fact of the external evaluation supposes, which the outsiders can comment on them. As for the boys, we found that a large part of their cognitive and verbal repertoire was based on the expression of their negative emotions and also many thoughts directed towards the performance of the partner.
The thoughts that athletes have can and often have a direct relationship with their performance. That is why it is convenient to work psychologically in this sense so that the cognitive repertoire of the player is as beneficial as possible.
It is proven that those who have a technical - tactical origin are very beneficial for the performance of the couple and not so much those thoughts that evoke emotions. In addition, it is common to agree that the athletes who complain the most or who have the most emotional thoughts tend to have the most difficulties to overcome adverse situations.
Óscar Lorenzo García
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