Overcoming Nervousness?

from:
http://www.badmintonsecrets.blogspot.com/


If there is one thing that people say to me causes the most problems with their badminton, it's nervousness.

You might be playing really well in practice, and your confidence levels going into an important match of tournament might be really high.

But then on the day, you start worrying about what's going to happen, your palms get sweaty and the mere prospect of going on court starts you wishing you were somewhere else!

Well fear not, for I have a simple tip that I hope will help with this.

Now, think for a mintue about what happens when you get nervous.

You might get the sweaty hands, the 'butterflies in the stomach' that we all (even the very best players) get from time to time.

But THEN what happens?

You think 'oh no, I'm so nervous, I'm never going to be able to win this game' and you try to relax and stop feeling nervous.

Which makes a lot of sense.

It's only natural that the first thing we think of when we get nervous is how we can stop getting nervous!!

But it isn't the being nervous that causes the problems, but the worrying about what being nervous might lead to.

And so what we need to do is to cut off the step from being nervous to worrying about being nervous, and we will as a result stop the negative things that are happening, such as not playing as well as we could do.

But how does this happen?

Simply by changing the thoughts that you get when you feel the first signs of nervousness.

The 'butterflies' in the stomach happen, and normally that would be seen as a bad thing. But there is no reason to do this - the butterflies (and all other means of being nervous!) are there to protect you, to warn your body that what is going to happen is something that is out of your 'comfort zone'.

It is when we decide to ignore them or try to stop them that the trouble begins.

If you simply acknowledge that they are there, be thankful that they are there to protect you, and view them as a good thing, you will be well on the way to combatting the nervousness.

Because nervousness is OK.

I like to think of nervousness as a sign that you are really living your life (and more importantly your game!).

Your badminton isn't going to improve if you're not going to put yourself into situations that scare you, that make you nervous and give you the butterflies.

So if that is happening, it means you are doing just what you need to do to take your badminton to the next level.

And that HAS to be a good thing!

So, whenever you next get nervous when you are playing badminton, remember that it is simply your body reminding you that you are doing just what you need to do to get better!

Next time we look at turning this nervous energy into a positive, badminton-improving energy that will take your game even higher.

Overuse Injuries in Children and Adolescents

John P. DiFiori, MD
THE PHYSICIAN AND SPORTSMEDICINE - VOL 27 - NO. 1 - JANUARY 1999


In Brief: With the growth of youth sports programs, overuse injuries in young people have become common. Making the diagnosis can be challenging, but often the real hurdles are in identifying the causes of injury. Growth-related factors require special considerations in injury management. A directed history assessing these and other causative factors and a systematic exam help formulate a comprehensive rehabilitation program. Recommendations for a successful return to activity and prevention of reinjury include avoiding heavy training loads and early sport-specific training, taking adequate rest periods, and ensuring proper supervision.

The benefits of regular exercise are not limited to adults. Youth athletic programs provide opportunities to improve self-esteem, acquire leadership skills and self-discipline, and develop general fitness and motor skills. Peer socialization is another important, though sometimes overlooked, benefit. Participation, however, is not without injury risk. While acute trauma and rare catastrophic injuries draw much attention, overuse injuries are increasingly common.

Diagnostic and treatment efforts should focus on how the injury developed and consider issues that are unique to growing athletes. An understanding of these concepts provides the basis for making specific injury-prevention recommendations.


Kids' Activities Intensify

The true magnitude of youth sport participation in the United States is difficult to measure. Approximately 35 million children and young adults between ages 6 and 21 participate in sports, including 6 to 8 million in school programs (1,2). Over the last three decades participation among young women has increased dramatically (2). Involvement in nonscholastic clubs, in sports such as volleyball, basketball, softball, and gymnastics, also appears to be increasing. Furthermore, parents are hiring "personal" coaches and trainers to furnish specialized training beyond that provided by schools or clubs (3). Between school and club programs, private instruction, and popular summer sports camps, many youngsters are training and competing year-round. Though it is uncertain if more children and young adults are involved in sports, it seems clear that those who participate are doing so in a more extensive way.

Because training has become more sport-specific and nearly continuous, overuse injuries are now common among young athletes (table 1: not shown). Recent data indicate that
30% to 50% of all pediatric sports injuries are due to overuse (4-6). In a study (4) of children (aged 5 to 17) who presented to a sports injury clinic, 49.5% of 394 sports injuries were classified as overuse, with boys and girls displaying a similar frequency. The relative percentage of overuse injuries varies by sport, however. In a 2-year study (5) of 453 young elite athletes, 60% of swimmers' injuries were due to overuse, compared to 15% of soccer players' injuries. Athletes who had overuse injuries lost 54% more time from training and competition than those who had acute injuries.


How Overuse Occurs

Overuse injuries occur when a tissue is injured due to repetitive submaximal loading. The process starts when repetitive activity fatigues a specific structure such as tendon or bone. With sufficient recovery, the tissue adapts to the demand and is able to undergo further loading without injury. Without adequate recovery, microtrauma develops and stimulates the body's inflammatory response, causing the release of vasoactive substances, inflammatory cells, and enzymes that damage local tissue (7). Cumulative microtrauma from further repetitive activity ultimately causes clinical injury. In chronic or recurrent cases, continued loading produces degenerative changes leading to weakness, loss of flexibility, and chronic pain (8). Thus, in overuse injuries the problem is often not acute tissue inflammation, but chronic degeneration (ie, tendinosis instead of tendinitis).


Contributing Factors

An understanding of the risk factors contributing to overuse injuries is the cornerstone of prevention. These risk factors have typically been classified as intrinsic or extrinsic. In children, issues specific to the immature musculoskeletal system deserve special consideration (table 2). (See "Case Report: Knee Pain in a New Runner," below.)

Table 2. Factors Contributing to Overuse Injury

Intrinsic Factors

• Growth (susceptibility of growth cartilage to repetitive stress,
• inflexibility, muscle imbalance)
• Prior injury
• Inadequate conditioning
• Anatomic malalignment
• Menstrual dysfunction
• Psychological factors (maturity level, self-esteem)

Extrinsic Factors

• Too-rapid training progression and/or inadequate rest
• Inappropriateequipment/footwear
• Incorrect sport technique
• Uneven or hard surfaces
• Adult or peer pressure

Growth-related factors. Two factors related to growth are particularly important. First is the susceptibility of growth cartilage to repetitive stress. In children, growth cartilage is present at the articular surface, physes, and apophyses (9).

The articular cartilage appears most vulnerable to injury at the ankle, knee, and elbow. The development of osteochondritis dissecans at these sites is poorly understood and is possibly related to repetitive microtrauma (10).

Apophyseal injuries, including tibial tubercle apophysitis (Osgood-Schlatter disease) and calcaneal apophysitis (Sever's disease), are commonly attributed to overuse (11). They result from traction-induced microtrauma at the tendon-bone attachment. Contributing factors include the weakness of the growth cartilage relative to the tendon, and poor flexibility and increased traction during the adolescent growth spurt.

Physeal injuries may also be caused by repetitive loading. Growth plate injuries have been reported in the proximal humerus in throwers (12) and a badminton player (13) and in the proximal tibia of a runner (14). In gymnastics, repetitive loading of the wrists can injure the distal radial growth plate (15). It appears that metaphyseal ischemia inhibits mineralization within the zone of provisional calcification, prolonging chondrocyte life. This, together with continued division of chondrocytes in the proliferative zone, results in widening of the growth plate (16). Physeal injuries may produce partial or complete growth arrest (17).

The second growth-related factor that contributes to injuries is the rapid change in the relative lengths of the long bones and their adjacent muscle-tendon attachments. Joint tightness can develop when bones lengthen faster than muscle-tendon units, producing inflexibility and dynamic muscle imbalances. The discrepancy may also increase traction on the apophyses and stress at the joint surface (eg, patellofemoral joint).

Other intrinsic risk factors. Patients who have overuse injuries often have a history of previous injury, which may signal repeated errors in training or technique, an inadequately rehabilitated injury, or an unaddressed cause of the original injury. Menstrual dysfunction, often associated with a decrease in bone mineral density, appears to increase the risk of stress fractures in some athletes (18,19).

Alignment abnormalities have been associated with overuse injuries; these include pes planus, pes cavus, hyperpronation, tibial torsion, patellofemoral malalignment, femoral anteversion, and leg-length discrepancy. Although difficult to quantify, excessive ligamentous laxity also may predispose patients to overuse injury. Examples include anterior knee pain in a runner with a hypermobile patella or shoulder pain in a swimmer with glenohumeral instability. Laxity measurements are relatively static and may not accurately represent the dynamic situation (eg, velocity of pronation in a runner). The contributions of alignment problems and joint laxity to overuse injuries remain unclear because prospective studies are few (20). These limitations should be kept in mind when addressing anatomic alignment and joint laxity in individual rehabilitation programs.

The child's level of conditioning is another important consideration. Youngsters will likely benefit from developing general strength and endurance before participating in a training program. Unfit children may lack the proprioceptive skills, and weak and/or inflexible musculoskeletal structures may be unable to withstand the forces of training. Proper preparation and age-appropriate activities may help reduce injury.

Psychological factors should also be considered. Pressures from peers and adults often play a role (see below), but it is important to recognize that the child's level of maturity and self-esteem will influence motivation and the ability to focus on conditioning and safety.

Extrinsic risk factors. Changes in the components of the training program are frequently associated with overuse injury. Though variations in the frequency, intensity, and duration of training are necessary to improve performance, another important training element is often overlooked: rest. Gradual training progression accompanied by scheduled recovery periods is often well tolerated by young athletes. Abrupt increases in any facet of training and/or inadequate rest intervals often lead to overuse injury. An example is a young tennis player who enters a summer camp to work on his serve. Accustomed to practicing 2 hours per day, 5 days per week with the high school team, the athlete now spends 4 to 6 hours each day emphasizing the serve and quickly develops a rotator cuff tendinopathy. Parents and coaches should be aware that training programs designed for adults are not appropriate for young athletes. In fact, because of the great variation in physical and emotional maturity among children and adolescents, individualization of training schedules is encouraged.

Faulty equipment is another risk factor. Footwear should be well-fitted and suited to the demands of the activity. Running shoes should be replaced at regular intervals because they can lose more than 40% of their shock-absorbing capacity after 250 to 500 miles (21). Other examples include the grip size and string tension of a tennis racquet and the fit of a bicycle. Equipment changes may also result in injury. A well-conditioned track athlete who switches from training flats to spikes for interval workouts may develop lower-extremity problems from changes in running mechanics.

Poor technique can also produce injury. In tennis, for example, flexing the wrist at ball impact during the backhand stroke commonly causes lateral epicondylitis. Instruction in proper technique helps treat and prevent overuse injury. Finally, changes in training surfaces may lead to injury. Rapidly introducing hill running, running on a beach or other tilted surface, and running on uneven or hard surfaces can trigger injury.

Pressure from others--especially adults--may play a role in the development of overuse injury. Parents and coaches who promote excessive intensity or who encourage a "no pain, no gain" or win-at-all-costs attitude may well contribute to injury. Assessing a
child's motivation can be helpful: Is he or she genuinely interested in playing, or doing so only because of others' expectations? Children who have uncharacteristic symptoms or fail to progress as expected with treatment may be expressing their lack of interest in the sport.


Clinical Evaluation

History. A thorough history cannot be overemphasized. A detective-like approach will not only help establish the diagnosis, but will also suggest the severity of the injury and reveal many potential predisposing factors. Have patients describe when they first recognized the injury. Once this is determined, ask detailed questions about training in the several weeks before the first signs of injury:

• Was there a change in training intensity, frequency, or duration?
• Was a new technique or piece of equipment introduced?
• Is the athlete involved in other activities such as resistance training or physical education classes that could have contributed to the injury?
• When was the last athletic shoe purchase?
• Has there been a similar injury in the past, and does the patient have a history of other overuse injuries?
• How were past injuries treated?

In adolescent girls, document age of menarche and whether cycles are regular or irregular. Menstrual dysfunction should be evaluated concurrently.

Recording a patient's age and reviewing the growth curve can determine if he or she is in a rapid growth period. The mean onset of the adolescent growth spurt is approximately 10 years for girls and 12 years for boys. Peak height velocity is reached, on average, at age 12 for girls and age 14 for boys. Injuries that occur without obvious training changes or contributing factors may simply be related to the musculoskeletal changes associated with accelerated growth.

Next, have the patient describe the location and quality of the pain and when it occurs during activity. Pain that occurs at the end of an activity and resolves before the next training session signals a relatively mild injury; pain during activity that impairs performance is more severe. One must always consider the possibility of occult tumors or rheumatologic conditions in young athletes who have chronic pain symptoms.

Observe patient-parent interaction in the exam room:

• Do the parents attempt to control the physician's encounter with the child?
• Does the child seem enthusiastic about the sport?
• Do parents place an inappropriate emphasis on competition?
• What are the athlete's and parents' hopes regarding future participation? Are there aspirations for national-level competition or college scholarships?

Identify how the athlete, parents, or coaches have attempted to treat the injury. Those who have been to several physicians may have unrealistic expectations that should be addressed.

Physical examination. The examiner should localize the complaint, identify injured tissue, and assess all structures that dissipate force in the involved extremity. For a patient who has anterior knee pain, for example, the exam should proceed from the ground up, beginning with foot and ankle alignment and continuing proximally. This method can identify underlying malalignment, inflexibility, muscle imbalance, joint laxity, or restriction of motion. The examiner also should compare flexor-extensor muscle groups and the injured extremity to the uninjured.
Careful palpation of the painful area will often reveal the exact injury site. Recreating the loading pattern can help reproduce symptoms. Simple methods include having the patient run or hop in place or applying pressure over a musculotendinous structure while applying resistance at various joint angles. When provocative maneuvers are unsuccessful, examining the child immediately after the sports activity may be useful.

Occasionally, symptoms are difficult to localize. Poorly localized symptoms are not unusual for some overuse injuries, such as back pain in a dancer who has a stress reaction of the pars interarticularis. In other situations, the sport may be unmasking an underlying problem. Vague knee pain, for example, may be the presenting complaint of a patient who has osteochondritis dissecans, a hip disorder, or an osteosarcoma.

Imaging studies may be helpful in some situations. Radiographs can identify osteochondral lesions (figure 1), stress fractures, tumors, and growth-plate widening. Additional studies, such as bone scans or magnetic resonance imaging, may be useful if plain radiographs are unrevealing (figure 2). The specifics of each case guide the decision to obtain radiologic studies, and which to choose.


Treatment

The fundamental goal of treatment is to develop strong, flexible tissue that absorbs the forces of the sport. The principal measures: [Figure 2]

Relative rest. The initial phase of treatment involves protecting the injured site from a level of impact loading that perpetuates overuse by reducing training volume and using alternative activities to maintain aerobic conditioning and morale. The patient's clinical history provides a guide to the amount of rest needed from sport-specific training (table 3: not shown). Less severe injuries such as mild patellofemoral pain warrant a 25% to 75% decrease in training load; a more severe injury, such as a stress fracture, initially requires complete rest from the offending activity. Examples of alternate activities include pool running with or without a flotation vest, bicycling, rowing, and swimming. Patients may continue sports activities that do not stress the injured area.

Ice. Ice, an effective modality that should be used throughout treatment, reduces swelling and pain by causing vasoconstriction, slowing nerve conduction, and reducing cellular metabolism (22). It should be applied lightly over a cloth or bandage for 10 to 20 minutes several times a day for the first 48 to 72 hours and after rehabilitation exercises. Ice massage, rubbing the ice in a circular motion over the injury, is another option.

Other modalities. Topical heat (ie, moist heat packs) may help increase collagen extensibility and reduce stiffness. Other modalities such as ultrasound, iontophoresis, and electrical stimulation may be useful adjuncts. The clinical benefits of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have not been clearly demonstrated (23). When rest and ice have not relieved patients' pain, a short NSAID course may reduce pain and allow rehabilitation to proceed.

Rehabilitation. Once pain has been controlled, supervised rehabilitation can begin. The objectives of rehabilitation are to restore range of motion, strength, flexibility, and
proprioception. Returning to the sport before reaching these endpoints increases the risk of reinjury.

As range of motion is restored, pain-free resistance exercises are begun. Isometrics and limited isotonics are often part of this stage; these activities should be supervised to guard against improper technique and equipment misuse. Soft-tissue techniques can be used to reduce adhesions and loosen tight structures.

Gentle flexibility exercises are added when strength and range of motion improve. Overstretching should be avoided. Strengthening and flexibility exercises should also address adjacent uninjured structures. Aerobic conditioning is also initiated to prepare patients for their return to sport. The level of pain during activity and symptoms and findings the following day guide the progression. Significant improvement signals the time to add eccentric and isokinetic exercises, which require close supervision to ensure correct technique. Simultaneous increases in exercise resistance and velocity should be avoided.

After range of motion, strength, and flexibility improve, gradually adding sport-specific activities allows patients to regain proprioception and reacquaint themselves with the biomechanics of the sport. Patients can resume training and competition when they have recovered their muscular and aerobic endurance and can perform sport-specific activities without pain.


Avoiding Reinjury

Athletes who complete a thorough rehabilitation may suffer reinjury if the risk factors that led to the problem are not addressed. Athletes, parents, and coaches should be educated about training errors that may have occurred, the importance of scheduled rest periods, and the need to avoid excessive training volumes, especially during the adolescent growth spurt. To correct poor technique, the coach or trainer often must instruct athletes and provide reminders about possible relapses.

Patients may benefit from advice on appropriate footwear and equipment. Over-the-counter shoe inserts can help modify biomechanical malalignment. In some situations, such as marked pes planus in a patient who has refractory plantar fasciitis, custom orthoses may be needed.


Preventing Overuse

The American College of Sports Medicine estimates that 50% of overuse injuries in children and adolescents are preventable (24). Preparticipation screening, required by most schools, should be encouraged for all children involved in organized athletics. This is an excellent opportunity to identify sport-specific injury risk factors and to assess young people's maturity, skill level, and motivation for the sport. Parents should ensure that their children will receive proper supervision and coaching. They can lobby local organizations to sponsor coaches' attendance at coaching and safety seminars.

Training programs should accentuate general fitness and avoid excessive volume. All programs for youngsters should include conditioning and flexibility. Early sport specialization should be eschewed. Adults may seize on an example of a child who began exclusive training for a sport and became a local or national success, but the daily repetition required to perfect sport-specific skills too often leads to injuries. Experimentation with different sports allows children to develop fitness and motor skills, enjoy the social aspects of sport, and choose the sports they prefer. Parents can be reassured that there are many examples of outstanding athletes who did not become involved in their sports until a relatively late age. Bill Rodgers, four-time winner of the Boston and New York marathons, started running cross-country at age 15. After Phoebe Mills won a bronze medal in gymnastics in the 1988 Olympics, she took up diving and competed in national competitions from 1990 to 1994. Michael Jordan didn't make his high school's varsity team until he was in 11th grade.

Because children rarely suffer overuse injuries when they control the intensity level, coaches and other adults should avoid setting rigid expectations about training intensity. Despite scarce data about training progression and injury, gradual progression should be stressed. A general guide is the "10% rule": Total training (intensity, frequency, duration, or any combination of these) should increase no more than 10% at a time (6,24). Thus, a young runner who runs 20 miles per week would run 22 miles the next week, without changing pace. The rule is a useful starting point, but must be adjusted for each athlete.

Periodization may also help to reduce overuse injuries and prevent overtraining. This technique involves the systematic cycling of training loads over set periods of time with well-defined rest periods. Finally, training should be carefully monitored during the adolescent growth spurt. Because growth-related factors can predispose patients to injury, it may be appropriate to temporarily modify training during this period.


Return to Safe Play

A diligent search for contributing factors and an understanding of the issues that are unique to children are essential to injury management. Incorporating these elements into a comprehensive rehabilitation program usually results in a successful return to participation. Attention to preventive measures such as training progression and appropriate supervision will allow youngsters to continue to enjoy the many benefits of organized play.


References

1. Landry GL: Sports injuries in childhood. Pediatr Ann 1992;21(3):165-168
2. Stanitiski CL: Common injuries in preadolescent and adolescent athletes: recommendations for prevention. Sports Med 1989;7(1):32-41
3. Dohrmann G, Henson S: A new ballgame for high school athletes. Los Angeles Times 1997, June 19:C1
4. Watkins J, Peabody P: Sports injuries in children and adolescents treated at a sports injury clinic. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1996;36(1):43-48
5. Baxter-Jones A, Maffulli N, Helms P: Low injury rates in elite athletes. Arch Dis Child 1993;68(1):130-132
6. Dalton SE: Overuse injuries in adolescent athletes. Sports Med 1992;13(1):58-70
7. Herring SA, Nilson KL: Introduction to overuse injuries. Clin Sports Med 1987;6(2):225-239
8. Nirschl RP: Elbow tendinosis/tennis elbow. Clin Sports Med 1992;11(4):851-870
9. Micheli LJ: Overuse injuries in children's sports: the growth factor. Orthop Clin North Am 1983;14(2):337-360
10. Pappas AM: Osteochondroses: diseases of growth centers. Phys Sportsmed 1989;17(6):51-62
11. Peck DM: Apophyseal injuries in the young athlete. Am Fam Physician 1995;51(8):1887-1888,1891-1895
12. Gross ML, Flynn M, Sonzogni JJ: Overworked shoulders: managing injury of the proximal humeral physis. Phys Sportsmed 1994;22(3):81-86
13. Boyd KT, Batt ME: Stress fracture of the proximal humeral epiphysis in an elite junior badminton player. Br J Sports Med 1997;31(3):252-253
14. Cahill BR: Stress fracture of the proximal tibial epiphysis: a case report. Am J Sports Med 1977;5(5):186-187
15. Caine D, Roy S, Singer KM, et al: Stress changes of the distal radial growth plate: a radiographic survey and review of the literature. Am J Sports Med 1992;20(3):290-298
16. Jaramillo D, Laor T, Zaleske DJ: Indirect trauma to the growth plate: results of MR imaging after epiphyseal and metaphyseal injury in rabbits. Radiology 1993;187(1):171-178
17. Albanese SA, Palmer AK, Kerr DR, et al: Wrist pain and distal growth plate closure of the radius in gymnasts. J Pediatr Orthop 1989;9(1):23-28
18. Drinkwater BL, Nilson K, Chesnut CH III, et al: Bone mineral content of amenorrheic and eumenorrheic athletes. N Engl J Med 1984;311(5):277-281
19. Myburgh KH, Hutchins J, Fataar AB, et al: Low bone density is an etiologic factor for stress fractures in athletes. Ann Intern Med 1990;113(10):754-759
20. Ilahi OA, Kohl HW III: Lower extremity morphology and alignment and risk of overuse injury. Clin J Sport Med 1998;8(1):38-42
21. Cook SD, Brinker MR, Poche M: Running shoes: their relationship to running injuries. Sports Med 1990;10(1):1-8
22. Gieck JH, Saliba EN: Application of modalities in overuse syndromes. Clin Sports Med 1987;6(2):427-466
23. Leadbetter WB: Anti-inflammatory therapy in sports injury: the role of nonsteroidal drugs and corticosteroid injection. Clin Sports Med 1995;14(2):353-410
24. Current comment from the American College of Sports Medicine: The prevention of sport injuries of children and adolescents. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1993;25(suppl 8):1-7

Case Report: Knee Pain in a New Runner

A 13-year-old girl presented with a 2-week history of left anterior knee pain. She was a swimmer, but she had begun training with the school's track program 3 weeks earlier, and running was a new sport for her. She had been running 8 to 10 miles per week (up to 2 miles per session) and said pain onset was gradual. At presentation, she reported pain with initiation of running such that she could no longer complete 1 mile. The patient said her pain was more noticeable when she walked up and down stairs and that her knee felt a bit stiff when she was sitting in class.

History. The patient did not recall any prior knee injury, and there was no history of locking, catching, swelling, or instability. She reported no other sports-related injuries and had not been strength training. The majority of the running was done on either the road or a dirt track. She had iced the knee the first few days she had pain, but had not done so recently. Instead, she purchased a neoprene knee sleeve, which did not provide much relief. She denied any pain when sleeping at night, and had no other joint complaints. Her medical and surgical histories were otherwise unremarkable. She had not yet begun menses.

The patient was accompanied by her mother. The interaction between mother and child appeared appropriate. The patient provided most information without prompting or much qualification from her mother. She stated that her participation in track stemmed from her own interest.

Physical examination. Height and weight were in the 35th and 20th percentiles for her age respectively. Her growth history was not available for review. Examination of the lower extremities revealed normal-appearing arch heights and mild genu valgum. Tubercle sulcus angles (seated Q angles) were slightly increased bilaterally. No pelvic obliquity was observed. No knee effusion was noted, and the patient demonstrated full pain-free range of motion without crepitus. Patellar inhibition testing was positive on the left, but negative on the right. Patellar tilting and medial glide were normal. The medial and lateral facets were nontender, and a nontender medial plica was noted. Hamstring flexibility was decreased bilaterally. Quadriceps tone was poor. The ligaments were stable. The patient's running shoes were moderately worn cross-trainers.

Diagnosis. A working diagnosis of patellofemoral pain syndrome was established.
Treatment. The patient's running was reduced to one quarter mile every other day, preferably on grass. Ice massage was recommended three to four times daily, and swimming was selected as an alternative activity for conditioning. She was instructed to begin daily isometric (open- and closed-chain) exercises for the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gastroc-soleus complex with an emphasis on the vastus medialis obliquus. A lower-extremity flexibility program was also started, focusing on the hamstrings. Proper running shoes were recommended. If symptoms were improving, she was allowed to run 1 1/2 miles total the second week and 2 miles the third week.

By the time of her follow-up visit 3 weeks later, the pain had resolved, and she was running 1/2 mile four times per week. Isotonic strengthening was begun to build lower-extremity strength. Running mileage was slowly increased.

At her final visit, 6 weeks after follow-up, she had been running with her team without limitation for 1 week. The patellar inhibition test was negative and knee flexibility and muscle tone had improved. She was advised to maintain strength and flexibility exercises and avoid rapid training changes.

Discussion. The patient's pain was clearly related to the onset of her running program along with several other contributors. Intrinsic factors were growth, poor hamstring flexibility, inadequate conditioning, and anatomic malalignment (mild genu valgum and increased tubercle-sulcus angles). Extrinsic factors were rapid training progression, inappropriate footwear, and hard running surface (road).


Dr DiFiori is an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine Division of Sports Medicine and assistant team physician in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of California, Los Angeles. Address correspondence to John P. DiFiori, MD, UCLA Department of Family Medicine, 200 UCLA Medical Plaza Building, Suite 220, Los Angeles, CA 90095; e-mail to jdifiori@ucla.edu

What Makes a Champion?

Champions share many characteristics, none of which are determined by their talents. Here are some of those characteristics. How many of these statements also describe you and your life?

• A champion has the courage to risk failure, knowing that setbacks are lessons to learn from.
• A champion uses an event to gain greater self-knowledge as well as feedback on physical improvement.
• A champion trains their thought processes as well as their body to produce a total approach to performance.
• A champion understands their athletic weaknesses and trains to strengthen them.
• A champion actively creates a life of balance, moderation and simplicity - values that help improve running and life.
• A champion views competetors as partners who provide challenge and the chance to improve.

• A champion enjoys sport for the simple pleasures it provides.
• A champion has vision. A champion dreams of things that haven't been and believes they are possible. A champion says "I can."

Seputar Bulutangkis
bulutangkisindonesia.blogspot.com

Badminton Psychology

(from badmintonsecrets.com)


The Basics

Any Sports Psychologist will tell you that the basics of controlling your mind in sport are the 5 C's:

Commitment | Composure | Concentration | Confidence | Consistency

I certainly found that looking at these areas had a big effect on the way I played...

Commitment

Not only is commitment a vital part of being successful in badminton, but having high levels of commitment makes it a lot easier to get there as well.

One of the fundamental, core attributes of a successful player is that they have made a decision.

They have made the decision to put everything into achieving their goal.

Everything worth achieving in life is going to come with a price; the price of sacrificing free time, the price of hard work, the price of frustration when it all goes wrong.

But with a solid commitment to yourself that you are going to stay with it, the bad times just won't stand a chance.

Composure

Can there be a more frustrating game than badminton?

How many times have you just completely lost it on court due to a bad shot or miss, and then never been able to get it back again?

Composure is vital if you are to play your best game - keeping in that optimum mental state with no distractions or stresses affecting you.

I certainly found that lots of the exercises that you will see later made keeping composure during a game that much easier.

In fact at one point I was appearing so calm on court that one of the other players thought that I didn't care about winning!

Concentration

I certainly found that concentration was one of the hardest things to control, but also one that got a lot better with practice.

It is focusing on each point as it comes, and stopping the distractions from previous points, bad calls and future worries that are the fundamentals to good concentration.

Once you have high levels of concentration, you will find that your game flows a lot smoother.

The blocks that are subconsciously causing you to make mistakes won't affect you as much and playing will seem almost effortless.

Confidence

We all know that when we are winning we are confident, and when we are losing we're not so confident.

Why is that?

Confidence is merely a state of mind, so why shouldn't we be able to summon it at will, regardless of what is going on around us?

The answer to that question is the reason that confidence is my favorite of the 5 C's - because you CAN control it, and it's often a lot easier than people imagine.

Once you realize that confidence doesn't have to be a factor of what is happening outside you, you are set free to concentrate on trying to always be in a confident state.

When you are confident, certain things are happening in your brain and your body.

And the ability to change that can have a big difference in your badminton, more specifically affect your...

Consistency

Looking at your badminton game as a whole, there are few things that will make more of a difference to how successful you are than consistency.

Consistency means maintaining a high level of play over a long period of time.

Much of that comes with preparation (which we will be looking at a lot!), and much comes from concentration too.

I certainly found this to be an important factor to how good my results were if nothing else.

I would put my everything into the start of a game and play absolutely brilliantly, but then get complacent, lose that consistency, and thus lose the game.

When I realized that it was more important to keep a consistently good level of play going throughout the game, rather than trying flat out to win the first few points, I found it easier to win games.

After all, you can only win one point at a time!

Knowing Your Goal

I never really started to see results in my badminton until I realized the importance of having goals.

Unconscious direction | Setting goals correctly

The only problem with goal-setting is that it always seems like such a chore, and because the results are so gradual it never seems like it is doing any good.

But I was concerned with what was going to make long-term differences to my success in badminton, and am glad that I attended to this basic principle quite early on.

You must have goals.

Unconscious direction

Goals give your mind something to focus on, but more importantly it gives you unconscious direction.

Let me explain.

The vast majority of everything that you do on court is governed by your subconscious.

The subconscious is the part of your brain that you do not have direct access to, but it is the part that you need to influence to make real change in your game.

How do you do that?

By repetition, which is where having a well-defined goal comes in.

Anything that seeps into your subconscious has to go through the conscious mind, and it has to go and knock on the conscious mind's door a number of times before it gets in!

So by defining your goal, writing it down, you are getting a consistent message to your conscious mind, and because it is consistent, that message will eventually seep down into your subconscious.

And when it is down there, without you knowing it, your actions will lead you towards that goal.

Because if goal-setting only worked on the conscious level, we would all set a goal and then go out and achieve it.

But of course it doesn't quite happen that way!

Setting goals correctly

In the Badminton Secrets Newsletter we look at how to set goals, what they should (and shouldn't) contain, and how I used them to measure how well I was doing.

Once I knew that I didn't just 'want to play a bit better', but that I wanted to be the best player in the club by a specific date, all of my energies were then focused on achieving that.

And, though it seemed quite impossible at the time, I did reach that particular goal - as I'm sure that you will reach yours.

4 Stages of Learning

This seems like a good place to introduce another basic of using psychology to improve your badminton; the 4 stages of learning.

Unconscious Incompetence | Conscious Incompetence | Conscious Competence |

Unconscious Competence

This basically means that whenever you learn how to do something, whether it's play a new shot in badminton or do something a different way, you go through these 4 stages...

Unconscious Incompetence

Unconscious incompetence is when you don't know that you can't do something.

It's like the exercises that you are going to learn from me that you haven't read about yet - you don't know what they are, so you can't do them!

Conscious Incompetence

But then if I tell you that I worked out how I could serve nearly every single serve exactly where I wanted it, we get into conscious incompetence.

You are consciously aware that you can't do that (let's assume you can't!), and you feel a drop in confidence when you realize that there is something that you can't do.

Don't worry! This is all part of going through the 4 stages, and will work out because you will get to step 3 which is...

Conscious Competence

Conscious competence comes when, basically, you learn how to do something.

You will put them into practice, and hopefully they will make you serve better than you ever have (well, they did for me at least).

You will be able to serve brilliantly, but you will still have to think about it while you do it. You have conscious competence.

Unconscious Competence

Then imagine a few days/weeks down the road, and you are automatically using the principles and your serve is magnificent.

You don't have to think about what you are doing when you go up to serve; it just seems to 'come naturally'.

What has happened there is that you have reached the fourth and final stage, that of unconscious competence.

You have mastered whatever it is that you were learning (in our case how to serve perfectly), and can move onto the next learning task.

One of the main benefits of knowing about the 4 steps is that it keeps you from giving up when the going gets tough.

We are very programmed to view failure in a harsh light, whereas in fact, as we have just learned, it is a vital part of learning a new skill and developing our abilities.

We take a look at failure in our next session...

Why Failing Is Good

What! Surely I'm not encouraging you to fail, am I?

Not at all, but there is something that you need to know about failure that can really change the way you look at your badminton.

I found it made me a much better player, able to keep going and improve a lot quicker than the way I regarded failure before ever let me.

I was always the kind of person who was good at most things, and not necessarily used to failure.
So when I tried something new, there was a good chance that I would have some modicum of success with it.

But if any kind of failure occurred, I would give up, saying it wasn't for me.

To relate this to badminton, I found that I would start the game in a very good state of mind, and this state of mind would continue until I made a mistake, whether in the first point or the fifteenth (that didn't happen very often!).

On the first mistake, my confidence would take a little battering, but I would continue.

And what I found when I started to analyze my game more was that each mistake, each shot that went out, or into the net, was eroding my play a little bit, because I was regarding them as failures.
It was as though I had a 'full tank' of ability at the start of the game, and each mistake drained that tank in my mind just a little, making me play a little bit worse.

It was only when I changed my attitude towards failure that I managed to keep that 100% play up all the way during a game (and that makes a REAL difference!).

My attitude to failure became:

"Failure is natural; failure is not evidence that you are no good, rather it is an excellent chance for you to learn from what is going wrong and move on. The more you fail, the more you succeed!"

Again, we go into this in much more detail later on, but I will say this here.

Say you hit a smash into the net. Most of us would view that as bad, and move onto the next point in a worse state than before.

But if you can view that bad smash as a good thing, a chance for you to realize what is going wrong, you will go into the next point in a positive way, and keep that positive attitude throughout the game.

Can you see what a difference to your badminton THAT would make?

Seems a good time to introduce...

Positive Thinking

Positive thinking has had a bad rap in recent times, as many powerful things do.

Maybe when you think of positive thinking you think of people thoughtlessly shouting out 'yeah! Go for it!', and have maybe tried that and nothing happened.

Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) is a phrase that has been bandied about a lot, and is often just seen as blind optimism.

Well, I would like to tell you how to use positive thinking to good effect in your badminton.
Everything that happens in your game enters your thinking, and it is then up to you how you represent that to yourself.

You can represent it as a negative thing, and start a train of thought that goes off in a negative direction.

Or you can represent it as a positive thing, and start a completely different kind of train of thought (I don't need to tell you that this is the better train of thought to have!).

Before you start to think this all sounds a bit woolly, let me explain how I see positive thinking.
To me, positive thinking is not just making myself think good thoughts about what is going to happen - "yes I am going to win this match".

Because when you don't win the match, you go even more negative than you were before, because you have been lying to yourself!

Rather, I see positive thinking as a much more passive activity.

By that I mean, everything that comes to me is interpreted through a positive thinking 'gauze' if you like, sifting and sorting it into a form that serves me rather than just makes me depressed.

I'll repeat that:

"Your thoughts, whatever they are, should serve you."

So if the thought that you are 0-14 down and are going to lose makes you really scared, that thought is not serving you.

But if you use that thought to say something along the lines of 'here's a fabulous chance to see how many points I can get back', you are reframing that negative situation into a positive thought, and ultimately you will gain the benefit.

It sounds twee, but who cares if it works!

And it DOES work - like anything it takes work and repetition, but if you can develop a positive thinking habit, your badminton will seem so much easier!

The Power of Habits

Which habits? | Identifying habits

It may not sound like something that has much power, but the habits that you have basically determine what kind of badminton player you are.

It was when I determined to improve my habits that things really started to change in my badminton.

Which habits?

Specifically, some habits are more important than others, such as the habits of self-discipline, self-control, perseverance, attention to detail and so on (and we look at these things in detail in the
Badminton Secrets Newsletter).

But it is the habit of improving your habits (!) that I want to concentrate on in this article.

To a greater or lesser degree, we all have habits - they may change a little sometimes, but they generally stay the same unless forced to be altered.

For example, you may have the habit of getting nervous when you have match point.
You may not even know that you have the habit; because it is so ingrained deep down that it happens without you knowing it.

But once you ARE aware of it, you can then go about changing the habit (we will reveal how in the Newsletter) - and, as in this example, NOT get nervous on match points any more.

But it is that first step of making a resolution that you will get into the habit of improving your habits that you have to make before you can go on to identify and then improve them.

Identifying habits

So take a moment now and write down any bad habits that you can think of in your badminton, whether on court or off.
To give you some help, here were some of mine:

If I do a bad backhand clear, my next backhand clear will be even worse because I am thinking about the last one.

If my opponent is standing right on the service line to receive my serve, I lose confidence and serve badly.

• I always arrive late to training.
• I got into the habit of not warming up enough before playing.
• I also got into the habit of always going for the tramlines with doubles smashes.
• I had no idea that I was doing most of these things, and I certainly hadn't taken any steps to prevent them happening.

But as soon as I resolved to get into the habit of improving my habits, I started to beat them all relatively easily.

So take the list that you have made, don't worry about curing them at this stage, but just resolve that you will get into the habit of improving each and every one.

And once these destructive habits are conquered of course, your game and your whole attitude will come on in leaps and bounds.



Seputar Bulutangkis
bulutangkisindonesia.blogspot.com

Olahraga Bukan Tujuan Hidup Akhir Kehidupan

Oleh AGUS MAHENDRA, MA.

ISU kepindahan atlet dari satu daerah ke daerah lain menjelang PON diangkat oleh Menpora pada acara Raparnas KONI Pusat di Samarinda. Dikatakannya, hal itu merupakan kesalahan daerah dalam menangkap makna PON, sehingga banyak daerah yang melakukan jalan pintas membeli atlet berprestasi, tanpa mau bersusah payah melakukan pembinaan.

Tema yang diangkat Menpora bukanlah hal baru, sebenarnya. Sudah banyak pihak yang berusaha mengangkat persoalan tersebut sejak jauh-jauh hari, mengingat dampaknya kepada pembinaan secara keseluruhan. Bahkan ada pihak yang menyatakan bahwa PON lebih banyak mudorotnya dan sebaiknya dihapuskan sama sekali.

Pemerintah dan KONI pun (baik KONI Pusat maupun KONIDA) bukan tidak menyadari fenomena demikian yang sudah sangat menggejala di banyak daerah. Namun mengherankan, pemerintah dan KONI pun bisanya cuma bungkam. Bahkan, usulan untuk melakukan studi atas penyelenggaraan PON dan berbagai dampaknya dari sudut pandang falsafah dan sosiologi olahraga pun tidak pernah mendapat perhatian pemerintah serta KONI.

Adapun daerah-daerah propinsi yang terkena langsung dampaknya juga lebih memilih menerapkan standar ganda. Ketika daerahnya dirugikan, ia berteriak-teriak penuh amarah ketika atletnya diketahui dibujuk dan pindah ke daerah lain. Tetapi pada saat yang lain, daerah itu berusaha mati-matian membantu kepindahan atlet ke daerahnya, sekalipun dengan memanipulasi data serta prosedur yang ditetapkan.

Dilihat dari kasus-kasus yang selama ini terjadi, maka dapat disimpulkan bahwa kepindahan atlet melibatkan dua belah pihak yang satu sama lain saling berkaitan. Di satu sisi ada atlet yang bersedia pindah, apapun alasannya; baik karena ia memang oportunis bonus maupun karena sebab-sebab lain yang lebih rasional seperti pindah tugas kerja atau studi. Di pihak lain, ada daerah yang membutuhkan karena mengharapkan daya dongkrak atlet yang baru pindah tersebut bagi kepentingan daerahnya.

Penelusuran sederhana pada kasus kepindahan atlet menunjuk pada beberapa sebab. Pertama, dan mungkin ini yang menjadi pemicu utama, adalah diterapkannya kebiasaan pemberian bonus pada atlet yang berprestasi. Semula bonus ini hanya diberikan kepada para atlet yang biasanya berhasil membela nama bangsa di events internasional seperti Olimpiade, Asian Games, dan SEA Games.

Berikutnya, kebiasaan ini menular pada beberapa daerah propinsi makmur, yang juga memberi bonus pada atletnya yang berprestasi di PON. Entah bagaimana, mungkin akibat ekspose besar-besaran dari media massa, propinsi-propinsi makmur ini seolah bersaing jor-joran memberikan sebesar-besarnya bonus, sehingga seolah terjadi ‘perang bonus’. Akhirnya, pemberian bonus inipun seolah menjadi trend utama di semua tingkat event olahraga, yang juga mengembus ke propinsi-propinsi lain.

Itulah akhirnya yang membuat semua atlet memandang bahwa bonus adalah tujuan utama keterlibatannya dalam olahraga prestasi. Tanpa bonus, tidak ada prestasi. Jika daerah asal tidak memberi bonus layak, mengapa tidak mencari daerah lain yang bisa, demi memperbaiki nasib hidupnya. Para ahli psikologi olahraga memandang gejala ini sebagai, turning play into work.

Kedua, kepindahan atlet bisa juga dipicu oleh sakit hati. Banyak atlet yang pindah ke daerah lain didorong sakit hati karena merasa tidak diperhatikan daerah dan para pembinanya. Ini menunjukkan bahwa pembinaan belum menjadi kata kunci keberhasilan olahraga Indonesia.

Banyak daerah yang baru aktif melakukan pembinaan serta memperhatikan atletnya di sekitar pelaksanaan event bergengsi, dalam bentuk pemberian uang transport, uang saku, uang kesehatan, serta peralatan latihan. Tetapi, setelah event itu berlalu, biasanya daerah itupun kembali kepada rutin semula, yaitu tidak melakukan apa-apa.

Atlet yang semula merasa dibutuhkan, tiba-tiba menyadari bahwa dirinya tidak dibutuhkan lagi. Di situ terjadi semacam perasaan “habis manis sepah dibuang.” Apalagi bagi atlet yang tadinya merasa dijanjikan macam-macam, seperti pekerjaan, kemudahan tertentu, atau bentuk janji lain.

Dapatkah kecenderungan kepindahan atlet dieliminir oleh sebuah ketentuan payung hukum seperti dikemukakan Menpora? Menurut hemat penulis, amat sulit. Bagaimana ketatnya pun payung hukum yang diberlakukan, selalu ada celah untuk dicari kelemahannya.

Minimal ada dua hal yang harus diupayakan, yaitu mencoba mengubah paradigma kemajuan daerah dalam olahraga, dan kedua mengubah paradigma tentang olahraga sebagai gantungan hidup.

Makna PON bagi daerah propinsi sebagai adu kekuatan memang sudah tidak tepat lagi. Sudah saatnya PON dikembalikan maknanya menjadi Pesta Olahraga Nasional, yang tidak perlu selalu dikaitkan dengan medali. Sedangkan kemajuan daerah bisa diukur oleh sesuatu yang lain, misalnya oleh SDI (Sport Development Index) yang diusulkan oleh Ditjen Olahraga, misalnya.

Dalam SDI ala Indonesia dinyatakan bahwa kemajuan olahraga suatu daerah diukur oleh kualitas dan kuantitas empat komponen, yaitu kebugaran jasmani penduduknya, jumlah fasilitas olahraga yang dimiliki daerah, jumlah SDM keolahragaan, serta jumlah partisipasi penduduknya dalam olahraga. Inilah yang harus dijadikan sasaran daerah.

Sedangkan dalam hal cara pandang kita terhadap olahraga, inipun sudah saatnya diubah. Selama ini kita memandang olahraga sebagai sebuah terminal dari perjalanan hidup atlet atau individu yang terlibat. Akibatnya, banyak orang tua dan atlet yang kecewa bahwa ternyata olahraga tidak bisa memberikan apa-apa bagi karir dan kehidupannya.

Seharusnya olahraga dipandang sebagai sebuah tahapan, yang jika dilalui akan memberi makna dan sumbangan yang baik bagi perkembangan seseorang. Mari kita simak ungkapan Udolf Ogi, seorang penasehat khusus Sekjen PBB dalam Olahraga bagi Pembangunan dan Perdamaian, yang juga mantan Presiden dari negara Swiss.

Bagi Mr. Ogi, olahraga adalah sekolah terbaik bagi kehidupan, yang mengajarkan kecakapan hidup dan membantunya menjadi warganegara yang baik. Ketika makna ini dipahami secara bernas, maka siapapun akan menerima bahwa olahraga bukan tujuan akhir yang harus dijadikan tumpuan untuk memberikan nafkah atau penghasilan. Ia hanya menjadi sarana yang mengantarkan seseorang untuk sukses dalam kehidupan dan karir yang dipilihnya. *** (Penulis: Dosen FPOK UPI).


Seputar Bulutangkis
bulutangkisindonesia.blogspot.com

Psikologi Olahraga dan Psikologi Latihan

Monty P.Satiadarma
Fakultas Psikologi Universitas Tarumanagara

Sekalipun Weinberg dan Gould (1995) memberikan pandangan yang hampir serupa atas psikologi olahraga dan psikologi latihan (exercise psychology), karena banyak kesamaan dalam pendekatannya, beberapa peneliti lain (Anshel, 1997; Seraganian, 1993; Willis & Campbell, 1992) secara lebih tegas membedakan psikologi olahraga dengan psikologi latihan. Weinberg dan Gould, (1995) mengemukakan bahwa psikologi olahraga dan psikologi latihan memiliki dua tujuan dasar:

1. mempelajari bagaimana faktor psikologi mempengaruhi performance fisik individu
2. memahami bagaimana partisipasi dalam olahraga dan latihan mempengaruhi perkembangan individu termasuk kesehatan dan kesejahteraan hidupnya

Di samping itu, mereka mengemukakan bahwa psikologi olahraga secara spesifik diarahkan untuk:

1. membantu para professional dalam membantu atlet bintang mencapai prestasi puncak
2. membantu anak-anak, penderita cacat dan orang tua untuk bisa hidup lebih bugar
3. meneliti faktor psikologis dalam kegiatan latihan dan
4. memanfaatkan kegiatan latihan sebagai alat terapi, misalnya untuk terapi depressi (Weinberg & Gould, 1995).

Sekalipun belum begitu jelas letak perbedaannya, Weiberg dan Gould (1995)telah berupaya untuk menjelaskan bahwa psikologi olahraga tidak sama dengan psikologi latihan. Namun dalam prakteknya biasanya memang terjadi saling mengisi, dan kaitan keduanya demikian eratnya sehingga menjadi sulit untuk dipisahkan. Tetapi Seraganian (1993) serta Willis dan Campbell (1992) secara lebih tegas mengemukakan bahwa secara tradisional penelitian dan praktik psikologi olahraga diarahkan pada hubungan psikofisiologis misalnya responsi somatik mempengaruhi kognisi, emosi dan performance. Sedangkan psikologi latihan diarahkan pada aspek kognitif, situasional dan psikofisiologis yang mempengaruhi perilaku pelakunya, bukan mengkaji performance olahraga seorang atlet. Adapun topik dalam psikologi latihan misalnya mencakup dampak aktivitas fisik terhadap emosi pelaku serta kecenderungan (disposisi) psikologi, alasan untuk ikut serta atau menghentikan kegiatan latihan olahraga, perubahan pribadi sebagai dampak perbaikan kondisi tubuh atas hasil latihan olahraga dan lain sebagainya (Anshel, 1997).

Jelaslah kini bahwa psikologi olahraga lebih diarahkan para kemampuan prestatif pelakunya yang bersifat kompetitif; artinya, pelaku olahraga, khususnya atlet, mengarahkan kegiatannya olahraganya untuk mencapai prestasi tertentu dalam berkompetisi, misalnya untuk menang. Sedangkan psikologi laithan lebih terarah pada upaya membahas masalah-masalah dampak aktivitas latihan olahraga terhadap kehidupan pribadi pelakunya. Dengan kata lain, psikologi olahraga lebih terarah pada aspek sosial dengan keberadaan lawan tanding, sedangkan psikologi latihan lebih terarah pada aspek individual dalam upaya memperbaiki kesejahteraan psikofisik pelakunya.

Sekalipun demikian, kedua bidang ini demikian sulit untuk dipisahkan, karena individu berada di dalam konteks sosial dan sosial terbentuk karena adanya individu-individu. Di samping itu kedua bidang ini melibatkan aspek psikofisik dengan aktivitas aktivitas yang serupa, dan mungkin hanya berbeda intensitasnya saja karena adanya faktor kompetisi dalam olahraga.

Sejarah Psikologi Olahraga di Indonesia

Jadi, di satu pihak seorang praktisi psikolog yang memiliki ijin praktik belum tentu memiliki cukup pengetahuan ilmu keolahragaan, di lain pihak, pakar keolahragaan tidak dibekali pendidikan khusus psikoterapi dan konseling. Akibatnya, sampai saat ini masih terjadi kerancuan akan siapa sesungguhnya yang berhak memberikan pelayanan sosial dalam bidang psikologi olahraga. Idealnya adalah seorang konsultan atau psikoterapis memperoleh pelatihan khusus dalam bidang keolahragaan; sehingga sebagai seorang praktisi ia tetap berada di atas landasan professinya dengan mengikuti panduan etika yang berlaku, dan di samping itu pengetahuan keolahragaannya juga cukup mendukung latar belakang pendidikan formalnya.

Dalam upaya mengatasi masalah ini IPO sebagai asosiasi psikologi olahraga nasional tengah berupaya menyusun ketentuan tugas dan tanggung jawab anggotanya. Di samping itu, IPO juga tengah berupaya menyusun kurikulum tambahan untuk program sertifikasi bagi para psikolog praktisi yang ingin memberikan pelayanan sosial dalam bidang psikologi olahraga. Kurikulum tersebut merupakan bentuk spesialisasi psikologi olahraga yang meliputi: 1) Prinsip psikologi olahraga, 2) Peningkatan performance dalam olahraga, 3) Psikologi olahraga terapan, 4) Psikologi senam.

Masalah lain yang juga kerapkali timbul dalam penanganan aspek psikologi olahraga adalah dalam menentukan klien utama. Sebagai contoh misalnya pengguna jasa psikolog dapat seorang atlet, pelatih, atau pengurus. Kepada siapa psikolog harus memberikan pelayanan utama jika terjadi kesenjangan misalnya antara atlet dan pengurus, padahal psikolog dipekerjakan oleh pengurus untuk menangani atlet, dan atlet pada saat tersebut adalah pengguna jasa psikologi. Di satu pihak psikolog perlu menjaga kerahasiaan atlet, di lain pihak pengurus mungkin mendesak psikolog untuk menjabarkan kepribadian atlet secara terbuka demi kepentingan organisasi. Sachs (1993) menawarkan berbagai kemungkinan seperti misalnya menerapkan perjanjian tertulis untuk memberikan keterangan; namun demikian, jika atlet mengetahui bahwa pribadinya akan dijadikan bahan pertimbangan organisasi, ia mungkin cenderung akan berperilaku defensif, sehingga upaya untuk memperoleh informasi tentang dirinya akan mengalami kegagalan. Karenanya, seorang psikolog harus dapat bertindak secara bijaksana dalam menangani masalah ini, demikian pula, hendaknya seorang pelatih yang kerapkali bertindak selaku konsultan bagi atletnya kerap kali harus mampu melakukan pertimbangan untuk menghadapi masalah yang serupa.

Atlet, Pelatih, & Lingkungan

Atlet, pelatih dan lingkungan merupakan tiga aspek yang berkaitan satu sama lain dalam membicarakan psikologi olahraga dan psikologi senam. Istilah atlet tidak terbatas pada individu yang berprofesi sebagai olahragawan, tetapi juga mencakup individu secara umum yang melakukan kegiatan olahraga. Pelatih harus dibedakan dari sekedar instruktur, karena pelatih tidak hanya mengajarkan atlet bagaimana melakukan gerakan-gerakan olahraga tertentu, tetapi juga mendidik atlet untuk memberikan respon yang tepat dalam bertingkah laku di dalam dan di luar gelanggang olahraga. Lingkungan tidak terbatas pada lingkungan fisik semata-mata tetapi juga lingkungan sosial masyarakat, termasuk di dalamnya lingkungan kehidupan tempat atlet tinggal.

Atlet, pelatih dan lingkungan adalah tiga aspek yang merupakan suatu kesatuan yang menentukan athletic performance. Istilah atlethic performance agak sulit untuk diterjemahkan karena merupakan suatu istilah spesifik yang tidak bisa disamakan artinya dengan misalnya perilaku atletik.

Atlet

Seorang atlet adalah individu yang memiliki keunikan tersendiri. Ia memiliki bakat tersendiri, pola perilaku dan kepribadian tersendiri serta latar belakang kehidupan yang mempengaruhi secara spesifik pada dirinya. Sekalipun dalam beberapa cabang olahraga atlet harus melakukannya secara berkelompok atau beregu, pertimbangan bahwa seorang atlet sebagai individu yang unik perlu tetap dijadikan landasan pemikiran. Karena, misalnya di dalam olahraga beregu, kemampuan adaptif individu untuk melakukan kerjasama kelompok sangat menentukan perannya kelak di dalam kelompoknya.

Adalah sesuatui hal yang mustahil untuk menyamaratakan kemampuan atlet satu dengan lainnya, karena setiap individu memiliki bakat masing-masing. Bakat yang dimiliki atlet secara individual ini lah yang sesungguhnya layak untuk memperoleh perhatian secara khusus agar ia dapat memanfaatkan potensi-potensinya yang ada secara maksimum.

Namun demikian, keunikan individu seorang atlet seringkali disalahartikan sebagai perilaku menyimpang (Anshel, 1997). Sebagai contoh petenis John McEnroe menggunakan perilaku marahnya untuk membangkitkan semangatnya. Namun bagi mereka yang tidak memahami hal ini menganggap McEnroe memiliki kecenderungan pemarah. Masalahnya adalah mungkin perilaku marahnya dapat mengganggu lawan tandingnya sehingga hal ini dirasakan sebagai sesuatu yang kurang sportif untuk menjatuhkan mental lawan tandingnya. Demikian pula Monica Seles sering ditegur karena lenguhannya yang keras pada saat memukul bola, namun sesungguhnya hal ini merupakan keunikan perilakunya, dan karena tidak adanya aturan khusus untuk melarang hal tersebut, sebenarnya memang Seles tidak melakukan pelanggaran apapun. Adalah juga keliru menganggap bahwa setiap atlet membutuhkan masukan dari pelatihnya pada saat menjelang pertandingan. Karena ada atlet-atlet yang lebih cendeung memilih untuk berada sendiri daripada ditemani oleh orang lain. Jadi, setiap atlet memiliki ciri khas masing-masing, dan tidak bisa dilakukan penyamarataan dalam melakukan pendekatan terhadap atlet. Hal-hal seperti inilah yang perlu difahami oleh para pembina dalam membina para atletnya. Karena justru keunikan merekalah yang membuat mereka mampu berprestasi puncak. Sedangkan mereka yang tergolong "normal" memang hanya memiliki prestasi normal-normal (biasa-biasa) saja.

Pelatih

Pelatih, seperti telah disinggung di atas, bukan sekedar instruktur olahraga yang memberitahukan atlet cara-cara untuk melakukan gerakan tertentu dala olahraga. Pelatih juga merupakan tokoh panutan, guru, pembimbing, pendidik, pemimpin, bahkan tak jarang menjadi tokoh model bagi atletnya. Pelatih sendiri juga mungkin meniru gaya pelatih lain atau pelatih senior yang melatih dirinya. Ada pepatah asing yang mengatakan "monkey see, monkey do", artinya apa yang dilihat, itulah yang dikerjakan. Demikianlah hal yang harus disadari oleh pelatih bahwa apa yang dilakukannya kelak akan dijadikan contoh oleh atletnya. Dengan kata lain atlet cenderung untuk meniru hal-hal yang dikerjakan oleh pelatihnya. Pelatih harus waspada akan hal-hal yang disampaikan pada atletnya, karena atlet cenderung akan mencamkan yang diutarakan oleh pelatihnya. Hal yang diutarakan pelatih pada atlet dipandang sebagai prinsip oleh atlet, dan atlet cendrung berupaya untuk mentaatinya. Demikian pula ekspressi emosi pelatih terhadap atletnya akan banyak berpengaruh terhadap perilaku atlet (Anshel, 1997). Kecemasan pelatih menjelang pertandingan dapat mempengaruhi atlet untuk menjadi makin cemas dalam bertanding. Lontaran ucapan pelatih yang kurang layak dapat dirasakan sangat menyakitkan oleh atlet sehingga dapat memberikan pengaruh negatif pada atlet dalam berlatih maupun bertanding. Demikian pula penerapan disiplin yang tidak jelas, terlebih disertai dengan penguatan yang kurang tepat akan memberikan dampak buruk bagi penampilan atlet. Adalah tugas pelatih untuk memainkan peran penting dalam masalah-masalah psikologis seperti di bawah ini :

• Memotivasi atlet sebelum, selama, dan setelah periode latihan maupun pertandingan
• Memberikan pengaruh positif terhadap pembentukan sikap atlet
• Memperbaiki citra diri dan keyakinan diri atlet
• Menjadi pimpinan yang baik untuk meningkatkan moral atlet
• Memahami dan memnuhi kebutuhan atlet
• Mengidentifikasi potensi dan mempromosikan perkembangan atlet
• Mempertahankan konsistensi performance atlet
• Membantu atlet mengatasi tekanan mental, kekecewaan, dan berbagai permasalahan yang berpotensi mengganggu performancenya kelak
• Mempersiapkan atlet dengan memberikan bekal keterampilan dan strategi bertanding.

Lingkungan

Lingkungan mencakup situasi, kondisi, interaksi atlet dengan atlet lain, dengan pelatih, dengan lawan tanding, penonton, peliput olahraga, serta juga terkait dengan kondisi fisik perlengkapan, fasilitas dan lain-lain. Dalam berbagai jenis olahraga, lingkungan juga terkait dengan masalah cuaca dan medan pertandingan. Di samping itu, lingkungan juga mencakup keutuhan kelompok, kebersamaan kelompok, sifat saling membantu di antara anggota kelompok, perasaan bangga dan lain-lain. Lingkungan memiliki aspek cakupan yang demikian luasnya, karenanya sejumlah aspek yang menentukan seringkali luput dari pengamatan.

Adalah penting untuk ditelaah besarnya peran lingkungan terhadap performance atlet, dan tangguh serta tanggapnya atlet terhadap kondisi lingkungan. Atlet yang kurang tanggap terhadap kondisi lingkungan bisa kehilangan kewaspadaan, atlet yang kurang tangguh bisa mudah terpengaruh oleh kondisi lingkungan. Selanjutnya, dukungan lingkungan yang besar mungkin dapat memberi dampak positif bagi performance atlet; sebaliknya kondisi lingkungan yang terlalu menekan cenderung memberi dampak negatif pada atlet.

Ketiga aspek yang tidak terpisahkan ini (atlet, pelatih dan lingkungan) memiliki hubungan interaksi yang demikian kompleks sehingga memang tidak terlalu mudah untuk mengkajinya. Namun demikian berbagai upaya harus terus dilakukan sebagai usaha untuk terus mengembangkan potensi atlet secara maksimal. Kompleksitas hubungan interaktif ketiga aspek ini seringkali kurang memperoleh perhatian serius; sebaliknya sejumlah upaya yang dilakukan juga sering melupakan atau memperkecil peran satu aspek dibandingkan aspek lainnya. Padahal, hambatan yang terjadi pada salah satu aspek tertentu, betapapun kecil tampaknya bisa memberi pengaruh yang besar pada performance atlet.

Kepustakaan

Anshel, M. H. (1997). Sport psychology: From theory to practice (3^rd ed.). Scottsdale, AZ: Gorsuch Scarisbrick.

Clarke, K. S. (1984). The USOC sports psychology registry: A clarification. Journal of Sport Psychology, 6, 365-366.

Sachs, M. L. (1993). Professional ethics in sport psychology. In R. N. Singer, M. Murphey, & L. K. Tennant (Ed.), Handbook of research in sport psychology (pp. 921-932). New York: Maacmillan.

Seraganian, P. (Ed.). (1993). Exercise psychology: The influence of physical exercise on psychological processes. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Singer, R. N. (1993). Ethical issues in clinical services. Quest, 45, 88-105

Triplett, N. (1898). The dynamogenic factors in pacemaking and competition. American Journal of Psychology, 9, 507-553.

Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. (1995). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics

Wiffins, D. K. (1984). The history of sport psychology in North America. In J. M. Silva & R. S. Weinberg (Eds.), Psychological foundations of sport (pp.9-22). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Willis, J. D., & Campbell, L. F. (1992). Exercise psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetic.

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Transcript/translation of Gade Live Chat

Written by Mag
Thursday, 10 June 2004

So, due to public demand, here is a transcript/translation of the Gade live chat last week. Or rather, it is an edited transcript: it was quite long, so took the liberty of leaving out the daftest or least relevant questions. A lot of questions were in Danish, but questions that were originally asked and answered in English have been included here -- if I found them interesting enough. As always in these situations, the most interesting questions were never answered...

Oh, I might add that the chronology is "top down": the first question is at the top, the last at the bottom (in the chat it was "bottom down").

Anyway, here goes:

---

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
A: Hard to say now, but I am already working on some ideas and projects that probably will be launched while I am still actively playing badminton. But hopefully I will have a job where I can work with the things I like.

Q: Do you get very nervous just before an important match? If so, how you handle this...?
A: The most important thing for me, before a big match, is to remember what i like so much about badminton - if I can get that good feeling, then im playing at my best. But sometimes it?s good to be a little nervous - these are the situations you'll remember when you look back on your career.

Q: For a relatively small country, Denmark has managed to produce one world class player after another. Having been through the process -- what is the key to the success?
A: I think it's a matter of tradition. We have had good coaches and good players to look up to - that means something when you?re young. Also the system in Denmark has been good.

Q: Which was your betch match ever?
A: Probably the 2000 Thomas Cup semifinal against Hendrawan.

Q: Have you ever considered moving abroad?
A: Yes, but i have always made my mind up about staying in Denmark - i like being around my friends and family.

Q: If this comeback fails and you get injured again, will that end your career?
A: I don?t know. At the moment I believe to a 100% that I will recover.

Q: Becoming a famous badminton player, was there any change in your life?
A: It?s obvious, that when people start to know about you, you?ll have to change some things, but for me it's been a natural development trough the last 5 years- but especially the last 2 years has meant a few changes. But you have to keep doing most of the things you?ve always done and I do.

Q: I know you football, have you ever thought of playing football instead of badminton?
A: Yes, when i was little, football was bigger for me than badminton, but as you know it changed during the years. Since i stopped playing football, I have missed it.

Q: Are you following a special diet, or can you pretty much eat what you want?
A: I eat normal food, but during tournaments I stick to certain things, such as rice, pasta, vegetables and fuits. I drink both water, juices, sport drinks and sodas.

Q: Which is your most important win?
A: That would be winning over Hendrawan in the 2000 Thomas Cup. To bring my own country to a lead over Indonesia in that fashion is something I will never forget.

Q: You have one of the hardest string tensions in the sport. What are the benefits?
A: My precision and power increases. I feel comfortable with high tensions.

Q: Do you play tennis?
A: I can certainly enjoy it, but I usually only have time to do it maybe once or twice during summer.

Q: Do you have any ideas on how to make badminton more popular in the US?
A: We need some good players in USA and Canada - that would be very good for the sport.

Q: Who is your favourite player?
A: I have a lot of respect for players like Sun Jun, Heryanto Arbi and Hendrawan.

Q: When did you start playing badminton?
A: At the age of 6.

Q: Which country is your favourite to visit?
A: I have been 10 times in Malaysia, and I always enjoy coming back there.

Q: At your level, when you receive good advice from the coach during games, how much use is that? Or is it just pep-talk?
A: Having played at a high level during a number of years under a number of different coaches., one learns to take the best from them all. Now I have probably reached the point where I am mainly my own coach. But the coach is extremely important when it comes to motivation.

Q: What is your future in your club, GBK?
A: I view GBK as my home club and I can?t see myself playing anywhere else. But the future doesn?t look so good, as GBK doesn?t have the same financial means at the other clubs in the elite division. I am helping out a lot with the junior activities, and there the club is doing great.

Q: Were you always a good player, even as a child?
A: I have been top 3 all my career.

Q: Do you work actively with mental training? Do you have your own sports psychologist? Do you employ so-called "motivation tapes" or similar methods?
A: Mental training is a very important part of being a professional badminton player, and something that all players should make use of.

Q: Since Forza is a Danish brand, have you ever played with it? If so, how did you like it?
A: I used to play with Forza a few years ago when I was younger. It's a good brand.

Q: Are you coming to Canada anytime soon?
A: I hope so - I have never been in Canada, but I?ve heard many great things about it.

Q: When playing in Asia, isn?t it hard to get used to the fast shuttles (due to the heat)?
A: Not for me, I like playing with fast shuttles. The problem in Denmark is that we usually play with too slow shuttles. Young players adjust to that, so they run into trouble when they play in Asia.

Q: Do you have any advice to young players nowadays?
A: Yes: badminton is a great sport, which develops your skills in many areas, both on the court and off. But it?s hard work and if you can do it with a smile and enjoy it - then it?s really good.

Q: What are the biggest tournaments for you?
A: It must e Olympics, World Championships and the Thomas Cup Finals.

Q: What is your motto before starting a singles match?
A: Go out there and do two things: play with all your heart and enjoy it!

Q: What is your favourite point system, 3x15, 5x7 or maybe 5x9?
A: My opinion is that 5x9 is the best solution. It would be a shame to go back to 3x15.

Q: What is the biggest difference between Men's singles and Women's?
A: Mainly strength and physique.

Q: Do you still use the Slim-10?
A: Yes, I still ues the Slim-10, but I am trying a lot of different racquets out to find a new one for me.

Q: How much did you practise when you were 15?
A: I think I practised about 12-14 hours per week.

Q: Can Yonex control your choice of equipment?
A: We have a good cooperation around most of the products.

Q: How important were the trainers and coaches around you when you were about 16?
A: When you're 16 your coach and parents are the most important persons in your life. They can motivate you to do the things that make you happy.

Q: What trick shot is your favourite?
A: That must be the one I made recently in the Cirkus arena (Note: that would be the match point against Gopichand in the Danish Open finals.)

Q: When you practised 12-15 hours weekly, didn't you get problems at school?
A: No, but when I got older I had to choose some subjects to focus on. The school was very important for my parents and I was good in school. It took some time before they accepted that badminton was what I wanted.

Q: Don't you ever get tired of being the best and living up to people?s expectations on and off the court?
A: That?s part of the challenge - I don't think much about that, but I accept that I have a responsibility to a lot of young people.

Q: How many push-ups can you take without stopping?
A: I would say 50-60.

Q: Who will win the Thomas Cup this year?
A: I think that Korea and China must be the favourites. But Indonesia will always be well prepared.

Q: Can you see yourself as a national badminton coach?
A: Not while the Danish Badminton Association works like it does now.

Q: I heard that you played with a soft-ball in your room?
A: That's right - I played with plastic table tennis bat and a small soft ball. I played against a wall or a door for 2-3 hours a day.

Q: What keeps you going on the bad days?
A: Life is great - it's a gift - we HAVE to enjoy it while we can - but I have bad days too... :-)

Q: What three things would you bring to a desert island?
A: A good friend (or girlfriend), music, and a football.

Q: Did you ever regret choosing to play professional badminton instead of a more academic career?
A: Never! I love my life and I am enjoying it more than ever.


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