The science of choking
With England due into action today I thought this may be an appropriate topic.
I will be watching the England match with great interest. Primarly to see how the England players settle in against the French. Will the weight of expectation weigh on their shoulders, or will the lack of expectation relax them and allow them to perform to their full ability? If the latter happens then that could be quite interesting with England trading at larger odds than normal. If the former occurs then you can see heads sinking.
The former paragraph has relevance because of England’s prior performances as tournaments, it’s not great. They have the players but they never seem to performance on the international stage as a team. It’s actually quite common for players at the highest level sometimes to just mis-fire at critical points. I first discovered this when playing Golf.
Some days I would play wonderfully, other days it was a nightmare, which got worse the harder I tried. In my opinion, at the highest level of sport getting your head right is just as important as the skill you put to use when playing. I figured out that when playing golf if I didn’t think about the shot, I played better. So if I ever found myself thinking too much about a shot I took to reciting a song to stop myself from choking. I thought this was a bit odd, but it turns out I was on the right path.
Have a look at this article I read recently, it summarises the concept much better than I can: –
So, if Roy Hodgson wants to get England to play to their ability it may be better for them to think less, rather than more about what they are doing. This should be a telling match.
Category: Football trading strategies, Psychology
