Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.5E Grade 8 CPI 1

 

Standard: 2.5 - Motor Skills

 

Strand: E -  Sports Psychology

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 1 - The student will use specific strategies, including visualization and positive self-talk, to prepare for physical activity and assess their effectiveness.

 

Grade: 8

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        SEEING IS BELIEVING - Explain that visualization is the ability to create an experience in your mind. Show students videotapes of athletes in the process of using visualization before a performance. Through visualization, the ski jumper “sees” and “feels” the perfect jump; the diver, the perfect dive. Brainstorm opportunities for visualization, and then provide several experiences that require students to visualize before performing a simple task. Discuss these activities and the merits of visualization prior to performance.

 

·        THINK POSITIVE - Ask students to recall a time when they did not perform well (perhaps it was a spelling bee in third grade, a baseball game at age 11 or a dance recital at age 13). Each student describes, in writing, the situation and how he/she felt at the time. Students close their eyes and try to imagine the same event. This time, provide encouragement and promote positive self-talk while imaging the event. Ask: “Did the images become more positive? Why?” Discuss the merits of positive self-talk, refocusing, and visualization in achieving positive performance outcomes. Students describe several examples of each.

 

      Variation: Provide students with examples of situations where mental training techniques might enhance performance. Students discuss the situations, determine the appropriate strategies to prepare for the activity, and report to the class.