Concentration - maintaining focus on the task at hand

The ability to 'turn on' and 'turn off' during a game is an important skill to have. When playing, your attention needs to shift from broad and external (looking for weaknesses in a defensive alignment) to internal and narrow (carrying the ball to the try line). Anxiety or choking under pressure is caused by focusing on task irrelevant thoughts at critical moments in a game. As a result you can become distracted by how you feel and your muscles tighten, timing and co-ordination break down and task-relevant information is missed. Taking deep breaths can slow your heart rate, reduce blood pressure and help reduce anxiety. Trigger words and positive self-talk can help you to re-focus at critical points in a game (for example, when you are tired, when public announcements are being made or when the crowd are chanting).

Confidence - belief in your own and others abilities

It is important that you do not rely solely on winning to get a confidence boost because if you do not win but play well your confidence may be dented unnecessarily. High self-confidence arouses positive emotions, facilitates concentration, increases effort to achieve goals and affects game strategies (playing to win rather than playing not to lose). Sources of self-confidence will be different for each player, some will get confidence from the coach whereas others will get it from recent performances. Knowing what works best for you is the most important point to remember because if you know where it comes from it is possible to tailor your goals to help improve your confidence. Mental rehearsal is also a good way of simulating what you are about to do to increase self confidence before a game. Try picturing in your mind the first time you will carry the ball or the first time you will make a tackle. These videos must be played at full speed and their controllability and vividness are critical to their effectiveness. They should utilise as many senses as possible to make images more realistic (hear the sound of the crowd or smell the freshly cut grass).

Control - maintaining emotional control regardless of distractions

Players may need to be able to increase their level of arousal when making a tackle and reduce it when kicking at goal. Adjusting the way you feel depending on the situation is therefore an important skill to have. The preferred level of arousal will differ from player to player but to be self-aware of how you feel when you are under pressure and how you would like to feel are the starting point of being able to control your state of arousal. Only when you know how you would prefer to feel can you begin to induce those states during a game. Anxiety (butterflies, sweating, worrying) is one source of arousal that can have a detrimental effect on your performance. To relax and reduce your arousal level try tensing all your muscles for 20 seconds and then totally relaxing for 10 seconds. Taking slow, deep breaths can also help.

Commitment – continuing to work towards your goals

Goals are important for managing conflicting interests and taking ownership of your actions. Poorly set goals can have a detrimental effect on your performance so it is important to use SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timed) principles. Achieving our goals increases confidence and as a result we set harder goals and work harder to achieve them. Three types of goals typically set are outcome goals (result focused), performance goals (achieving performance standards) and process goals (specific parts that lead to a good performances). Focusing on outcome goals (winning) before a match can lead to anxiety and poor performance. Performance goals such as percentage of tackles made or process goals like a smooth kicking action are preferable because if set, recorded and monitored correctly confidence will increase irrelevant of the result or outcome (i.e. a loss).

It is impossible to control opposition players or the reactions of the crowd but you can control what you do in response to these and can ultimately stop them from influencing your behaviour.