The psychological preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games started about two months after the conclusion of the Athens 2004 Games, when the sport psychologist began working with several elite athletes and their coaches. The athletes were classified into one of the following three categories: new athletes (NA), continuing athletes (CA), and returning athletes (RA). The NA category was composed of athletes who had met the Elite Sport Department's criteria for the first time, and therefore were not familiar with the foundations of the psychological preparation. In Israel, athletes practicing in their local sport clubs in both individual and team sports do not usually consult sport psychology consultants. Only in a few clubs, mainly leading basketball and soccer clubs, are sport psychology consultants an integral part of the team which provides scientific services to the athlete/team. When the athlete makes the national team, he or she begins to be regularly provided with sport psychology consultations and starts using psychological interventions. The CA category included those athletes who took part in the 2004 Olympic Games and had also met the Elite Sport Department's criteria for 2005. These athletes were familiar with the general psychological program as well as with the interventional techniques, since they had devoted a considerable amount of time practicing them during their preparation for the 2004 Games. The RA group consisted of athletes who had participated in the 2000 Games but not in the 2004 Games. However, during 2005 – Year 1 of their preparation for the 2008 Games – they had achieved the Elite Sport Department's criteria, and therefore were eligible for the Department's support. These RAs had gained some experience with several of the psychological interventions during their preparation for the 2000 Games; however they required some time to readjust to the protocols of the psychological program.
The psychological preparation in Year 1 had two objectives. The first objective was to evaluate the contribution of the psychological preparation given to CAs and RAs during the previous year (i.e., the Olympic Year of the previous four-year cycle of preparation). This assessment was undertaken through deep and repeated discussions between the athlete and the sport psychology consultant. It was the aim of the sport psychology consultant to understand how the athletes perceived the contribution of various psychological interventions, such as
imagery and focusing attention, to their actual performance. The information gleaned was used by the sport psychology consultant to develop a psychological program for Year 1 in the new cycle. The second objective was to provide the athletes with the psychological preparation they needed to achieve their athletic goals. For the NAs, the objective was to explain the program's psychological orientation, and to teach them the basic foundations of some of the interventional techniques. For the CAs and RAs, the objective was to refine the psychological skills they had already practiced, and to teach them new techniques.
Three main psychological interventions were used in the psychological program: the Five-Step Approach (Blumenstein & Bar-Eli, 2005), the specific psychological training program (Blumenstein et al., 2005), and the response training program (Blumenstein et al., 2005; Lidor et al., 2007a). Table 1 presents the general framework of the four-year psychological preparation program given to each category of athletes.
Table 1. General Framework of the Four-year Psychological Program
Four-year Preparation Psychological Interventions Year 1
2004-2005 Year 2 2005-2006 Year 3 2006-2007 Year 4 2007-2008 5-SA a) Introduction b) Identification c) Simulation d) Transformation e) Realization Self-regulation test NA, RA NA, CA, RA NA, CA, RA NA, CA, RA NA, CA, RA NA, CA, RA NA NA, RA NA, CA, RA NA, CA, RA NA, CA, RA NA, CA, RA CA, RA CA, RA CA, RA CA, RA CA, RA CA, RA CA, RA CA, RA SPTP
NA, CA, RA NA, CA, RA CA, RA CA, RA RTP NA, CA, RA NA, CA, RA CA, RA CA, RA
NA – new athletes 5-SA – Five-Step Approach
CA – continuing athletes SPTP – specific psychological training program
RA – returning athletes RTP – response training program
During the initial steps of the psychological program, namely during Year 1 of the four- year psychological preparation period, the Five-Step Approach played a major role, and a considerable amount of time was devoted to the acquisition of this technique's basic principles. However, for most of the program – Years 2, 3, and 4, as well as during the athletes' stay in the Olympic Village – the three sub-programs were given an almost equal amount of time.
The Five-Step Approach. The Five-Step Approach is a self-regulation technique incorporating biofeedback (BFB) training. The technique enables athletes to transfer the psycho-regulative skills performed in sterile laboratory settings to real practice and competition settings, using testing and different simulative materials (Blumenstein & Bar-Eli, 2005). The Five-Step Approach is composed of the following stages: (a) introduction – learning various self-regulation techniques (e.g., imagery, focusing attention, and self-talk),
(b) identification (identifying and strengthening the most efficient BFB response modality), (c) simulation (BFB training with simulated competitive stress), (d) transformation (bringing mental preparation from the laboratory to the field), and (e) realization (achieving optimal regulation in competition).
There were three reasons for the selection of the Five-Step Approach as the basic technique of our psychological program. First, this technique was scrutinized in a few empirical investigations (e.g., Bar-Eli & Blumenstein, 2004; see also a review of a series of studies examining the use of the Five-Step Approach in different sports in Blumenstein & Bar-Eli, 2005), and was found to be effective. Second, the application of the program was based on accumulated practical experience by elite Israeli athletes in various top-level events, such as the Olympic Games and European and world championships (Blumenstein, 2001). Third, according to the principles of the Five-Step Approach, it is not always necessary to start with the first step in every psychological session. The athlete, together with his or her sport psychology consultant, defines his or her current psychological state and selects the most appropriate step with which to begin.
The specific psychological training program. The specific psychological training program was composed of mental skill techniques – focusing attention, imagery, self-talk, and relaxation – that had been used by the sport psychology consultant throughout many years of professional practice. Similar techniques have also been used by other sport psychology consultants who work with top-level athletes (e.g., Henschen, 2005; Moran, 2005), and they have been given with empirical support (see Abma, Fry, Yuhua, & Relyea, 2002; Short et al., 2002). When performing focusing attention, imagery, self-talk, and relaxation, the current physical and psychological states of the athlete and the specific phase of the training program were taken into account. For example, at initial parts of the program the techniques were performed in laboratory sessions, namely in controlled and sterile conditions, in order to enable the athletes to acquire the basic foundations of each technique. When progress was made in the laboratory, the techniques were then applied in actual practice sessions where the athletes were exposed to authentic situations, with real-life distractions. In another example, relaxation was performed first for short periods of time (e.g., intervals of 1 to 3 min) to help the athletes recover after early-season practices, and then imagery and focusing attention were used to help the athletes cope with the specific tactical demands of their training program.
The response training program. The main objective of the response training program was to enhance the athletes' (e.g., judokas) responses under real-life settings (e.g., a combat). The program consisted of several reaction-time tasks (Blumenstein et al., 2005). A computer- simulated setting was used and several methods were adopted during training to expose the athletes to competitive situations that better reflected real life. Among these were a video demonstration of actual combats, external distractions such as noise recordings, and competitions between two judokas performing reaction-time tasks at the same time (see Blumenstein et al., 2005 for a description of specific protocols of the response training program as used by Olympic judokas).
Table 2 presents the four-year general psychological preparation for male judokas, and Table 3 presents the specific psychological interventions given to them in Year 1. The psychological preparation started in October 2004, about two months after the end of the 2004 (Athens) Olympics. As can be seen in Table 2, different emphases were made in the NA, CA, and RA categories. For example, in Year 1 the NA began to acquire the fundamentals of basic psychological techniques such as focusing attention and self-talk.
Table 2. Four-Year General Psychological Preparation for Male Judokas October, 2004 November, 2004 December, 2004 January, 2005 February, 2005 March, 2005 April, 2005 May, 2005 June, 2005 July, 2005 August, 2005 September, 2005 Preparation Phase
NA – learn basic techniques (4) CA – improve techniques (2) NA (4) CA (2)
NA (2) CA (2) (two-week training camp abroad) NA (4) CA (4) RA – improve techniques (3) NA (4) CA – improve techniques in special situations (7) RA (4)
Competition Phase
NA (2) CA (4) RA (2) (international competition)
NA (6) CA (6) RA (6) (international competition) – develop individual competition mental plan
NA (3) CA (3) RA (3) (training camp, European Championship, 2005) Transition Phase
NA, CA, RA (2) Preparation Phase
NA, CA, RA (5) (training camp abroad) Competition Phase
NA (4) CA (7) RA (7) (international competition) – improve individual competition mental plan NA (6) CA (6) RA (7) (World Championship, 2005) October, 2006 November, 2006 December, 2006 January, 2007 February, 2007 March, 2007 April, 2007 May, 2007 June, 2007 July, 2007 August, 2007 September, 2007 Preparation Phase improve psychological techniques (2) improve psychological techniques (4) improve psychological techniques (4)
improve techniques under different conditions (4) (training camp abroad) (7) (international competitions)
Competition Phase (7) (training camp abroad) (7) (international competitions)
(7) (training camp abroad; European Championship, 2007) Transition Phase
(2)
(5) (training camp abroad) Preparation Phase (7) (international competitions)
Competition Phase (7) (World Championship, 2007)
(#) – psychological session (NA) – new athletes (CA) – continuing athletes (RA) – returning athletes
Table 3. Specific Psychological Interventions for Male Judokas in Year 1
Month Main Psychological
Intervention Procedure Competition Event
October,
2004 Psychological analysis + relaxation
1-2 times (30-40 min each); Laboratory sessions November,
2004
5-SA (steps a-c)
4-6 times (50-60 min each); Laboratory sessions December,
2004
5-SA (steps c-e)
4-6 times (50-60 min each); Practice sessions
January, 2005
Self-regulation techniques: imagery, self-talk, focusing
attention
4-5 times (50-60 min each); Laboratory sessions February,
2005 SPTP
4-8 times (50-60 min each); Laboratory sessions
International tournaments
March, 2005 RTP
4-5 times (50-60 min each); Laboratory sessions + practice
sessions + home assignments
International tournaments
April, 2005 Self-regulation techniques + RTP
6-8 times (50-60 min each); Laboratory sessions + practice
sessions + home assignments
International tournaments
May, 2005 Self-regulation techniques + RTP
3-4 times (50-60 min each); Practice sessions + home assignments
European championship
June, 2005 RTP, 5-SA (steps b-c), SPTP
2-3 times (50-60 min each); Laboratory sessions + home
assignments International tournaments July, 2005 Self-regulation techniques + RTP
4-6 times (50-60 min each); Laboratory sessions + home
assignments
August, 2005 RTP 6-8 times (50-60 min each); Practice sessions
International tournaments September,
2005 SPTP
7-8 times (50-60 min each); Practice
sessions World championship
5-SA – Five-Step Approach
SPTP – specific psychological training program RTP – response training program
These techniques were practiced in sterile settings, mainly in the office of the sport psychology consultant. Detailed information was given to the athletes about the objectives of each technique. In addition, the techniques were associated with sport-specific activities. For example, the judokas were taught to focus attention while imagining themselves practicing combat maneuvers. The CAs, who had already performed the aforementioned formative techniques, were not required to re-learn the psychological training. They performed the
interventional techniques in special situations such as competition-simulated conditions. For example, one judoka selected combats, or parts of one combat, in which he had been defeated because of ineffective focus (e.g., thinking about the outcome of the combat and not what he should be doing during the combat). An appropriate focusing-attention technique was established which the judoka practiced for a few minutes.