Putting it together: skills for pressure performance

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 Planning and preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 Preperformance planning . . . . . . . . . . 335 Timelines and segmentation . . . . . . . . 336 Performance routines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 A five-step strategy to an optimal performance state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 Consistency is key: but consistency in what? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 Self-talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 ‘What were they thinking?’ – the content of self-talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 Why do performers use self-talk? . . . . 343 Negative self-talk, negative performance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 Prevention, cure or enhancement? . . . . . . 344 A focus on process . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Imagery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346 Arousal control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346 Reducing arousal – maintaining composure, regaining control . . . . . . . 346 Breathing and breath control . . . . . . . 347 Gaze control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Optimal visual attention: the quiet eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Effects of pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 Evaluating performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 Performance data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 Performance criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 Video-based evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . 352 Cycle of performance development . . . 352 Bringing it all together: be ‘SAFE’ under pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 Individual specificity: one size does not fit all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

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