Mindfulness Training can improve cheerleading performance
When a cheerleader experiences anxiety in relation to executing a specific skill, there is a tendency to avoid it. This is pretty natural – we all tend to want to avoid something that makes us uncomfortable. The problem with this is that it works – meaning that each time we avoid something, our anxiety diminishes and thus we reinforce that avoidance behavior.
There is a fairly new way of approaching such situations in sports and that is something called Mindfulness Acceptance Commitment (MAC). This approach differs from other sport psychology techniques in the following ways: many common techniques employed by sport psychologists are geared to help athletes suppress unwanted thoughts and feelings which may interfere with optimal performance. Some recent research however suggests that this approach could backfire and may actually increase unwanted cognitive activity!
Mindfulness Acceptance Commitment (MAC) encourages a mindful, non-judging awareness and acceptance of in-the-moment cognitive, emotional, and sensory experiences. These phenomena are seen as occurring naturally…they come and go – the key is not to attach to any particular thought or feeling but rather to simply notice it.
This approach also helps the athlete to see that thoughts and feelings do change from moment to moment. Hence, you might feel exceptionally afraid one moment and not so afraid the next. Nothing is frozen in time…it all changes. Rather than exert effort trying to change a negative feeling, the athlete is encouraged to notice and accept it. In doing so, often the negative feeling diminishes!
Athletes learn that internal experiences do not represent literal truths and realities and hence do not require avoidance, or instant reduction or control. This leads to a sense of new-found freedom!
The term Commitment refers to engaging in behaviors that lead to optimal performance functioning despite experiencing feelings that might induce avoidance or erratic execution.
For example, if a cheerleader makes a mistake during a competition, rather than react to the mistake, the athlete notices it objectively and commits to effective action that is consistent with her values as an athlete.
This doesn’t happen overnight of course but nothing wonderful does. Such an approach will provide benefits beyond cheerleading. It is, like all sport psychology techniques, a valuable life skill.
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Tags: cheerleader, Cheerleading, mindfulness, Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment