How To Improve Selective Attention In Sports

How To Improve Selective Attention In Sports

In the controlled chaos of most sports, you have to sift out which elements demand full your attention and which need to blocked out. While selective attention or "focus" may seem to be a cliche spouted by athletes and coaches in postgame interviews, the ability to screen out irrelevant stimuli in fact may be among the most important to highlevel performance in sports. Your mind is programmed to focus to novel stimuli, part of the orienting response needed by our ancestors in the wild. But for sports contests, a different approach better serves you.

Step 3

Pay selective attention to relevant cues so you can anticipate your opponent's move. In racket sports, look for the opponent's shoulder and trunk movements and racket position, recommends University of Idaho sports psychology professor Damon Burton in "Sport Psychology for Coaches." In hockey, focus more on the shooter's stick than the puck itself. In baseball or softball, watch the batter's feet. In basketball and football, watch the passer's eyes, and in soccer, watch the midsection of the dribbler. It should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. LIVESTRONG is a registered trademark of the LIVESTRONG Foundation. Moreover, we do not select every advertiser or advertisement that appears on the web sitemany of the advertisements are served by third party advertising companies.