I've been given Ron's OK to do a detailed study on maintaining a competitive/winning attitude during the SH Transpac. Here is my idea:
There have been several studies done on how singlehanders deal with stress during long races. I have referenced all of these in my book. However, I have not been able to find anything at all on how to maintain a competitive/winning frame of mind during these races. Even the Artemus Institute in England has not properly studied this issue.
We know that sports psychologists specialize in training elite athletes to win. At the top level the difference between 1st and 4th place is purely mental. But there is no other sport in the world that compares to long distance singlehanded races. So I think we have the chance to produce some breakthrough research. I might even send it to a sports psychology journal! I will certainly put the results in the next edition of my book.
My plan is to give every Transpac competitor a binder. Each page will contain a dozen easy, multiple choice questions. I'll ask each sailor to fill out one page, right before the twice daily radio check-in.
The multiple choice questions will be something like:
How aggressive are you feeling right now?
What steps have you taken to improve your ranking?
How much time have you spent reading over the past 12 hours?
etc.
I will correlate the answers to the daily position reports, weather reports and written comments that are sent in.
My goal is not just to determine if racers are feeling competitive, but to arrive at real recommendations for how future racers can improve their results. What techniques did the most competitive racers use?
Of course this will be completely voluntary. I'll send a binder for each racer down to the start in San Fran and have them sent back to me as a group at the end of the race. With enough participation we might arrive at something really valuable to our sport.
Your comments are more than welcome. If any of you is a sports psychologist, I'd love to work on this in detail.
Andy
There have been several studies done on how singlehanders deal with stress during long races. I have referenced all of these in my book. However, I have not been able to find anything at all on how to maintain a competitive/winning frame of mind during these races. Even the Artemus Institute in England has not properly studied this issue.
We know that sports psychologists specialize in training elite athletes to win. At the top level the difference between 1st and 4th place is purely mental. But there is no other sport in the world that compares to long distance singlehanded races. So I think we have the chance to produce some breakthrough research. I might even send it to a sports psychology journal! I will certainly put the results in the next edition of my book.
My plan is to give every Transpac competitor a binder. Each page will contain a dozen easy, multiple choice questions. I'll ask each sailor to fill out one page, right before the twice daily radio check-in.
The multiple choice questions will be something like:
How aggressive are you feeling right now?
What steps have you taken to improve your ranking?
How much time have you spent reading over the past 12 hours?
etc.
I will correlate the answers to the daily position reports, weather reports and written comments that are sent in.
My goal is not just to determine if racers are feeling competitive, but to arrive at real recommendations for how future racers can improve their results. What techniques did the most competitive racers use?
Of course this will be completely voluntary. I'll send a binder for each racer down to the start in San Fran and have them sent back to me as a group at the end of the race. With enough participation we might arrive at something really valuable to our sport.
Your comments are more than welcome. If any of you is a sports psychologist, I'd love to work on this in detail.
Andy
