Handball player’s Mental Scorecard.READ MORE

Handball player’s Mental Scorecard.

This is the background and premises

Whether you are an athlete or a leader, you need to be capable of performing when under pressure. All other things being equal, it still applies that he who performs best when un¬der pressure is also the one who achieves the best results. But how do we learn to act more efficient while under pressure?

In general it applies, that the overall experience in human behavior confirms that when a person is under pressure, he or she will often attempt to solve the problem by applying the same behavior, which perhaps in reality actually created the pressure to begin with. The simple explanation is that if our personality is i.e. to be systematic, orderly and planning and if we then lose control we will tend to try to regain control by applying even more systems, order and planning. Or, if our per¬sonality is to make quick decisions, take risks and if we do not achieve the desired results we will tend to try to ease the pressure by stepping up the pace, take more chances and push even more. In this way we are actually confirming Einstein’s definition of insanity:

True insanity is…
Using the same behavior and expecting different results.

But why is this so? This is because we are always trying to optimize our feelings of well-being and happiness while minimizing our feelings of unhappiness and pain. And how we do so is a direct result of our personality. This also means that it is difficult for a leader or an athlete who usually finds happiness in satisfying the need for security, punctuality and predictability, to take risks or make impulsive unplanned decisions. Mentally, such decisions are directly headed towards unhappiness and pain. The same applies to the person who finds happiness in the excitement and adrenalin rush there is by taking chances and always seeking the fast lane. It is hard for him or her to lighten up on the accelerator and head to the inner track for the more security oriented solutions. Mentally, such alternatives lead them away from happiness.

This is also why we have difficulty liberating our¬selves from our personality’s habitual secure behavior patterns. However, if we are to succeed doing so, we need to begin in our own mental world of notions. This is why it is called Mental Training.

The world’s best goalkeeper

During the European Championship, Kasper Hvidt was pronounced the best goalkeeper of the tournament. One didn’t have to be a Danish fan to see that he was the right choice. Kasper is an exceptional thorough and systematic person who will go to great lengths to avoid surprises. He keeps statistics over all the details – everything in his life has its own place. Unexpected shots and game patterns, a water bottle in the wrong place or a defense player who is not defending the agreed angle are all situations that can throw his focus.

When this happens he seeks to regain control by being even more systematic, having more statistics and more order. In frustration of this disorder he may reprimand his fellow players and the consequence of this is that the save percentage drops. Therefore Kasper needed to both mentally and in practice rehearse some alternative reaction patterns.

The Focus Model and the four colors

What helped Kasper and the other players to stop short, find and mentally practice alter¬natives to their usual behavior was the Focus Model, which is the core of the Mental Scorecard. In the model we have divided the players into four different types, who have four different approaches to how they play handball. These different approaches give each player the optimal happiness and thereby the optimal conditions for performance. See figure 1.

Figure 1. The Focus Model

The keywords in the figure de¬scribe four fo¬cus areas, game strate¬gies and behavior pat¬terns. They do not ex¬clude one another; however the more focus a per¬son has on the key¬words from one cor¬ner the less focus he or she will have on the keywords in the opposite corner. For example, when a very red player, such as Joachim Boldsen, is under pressure he will often seek his solution in the red corner. In other words, more willingness to take risks, more efforts, more energy and more pressure.

When he does not stop short and try other solutions it is because he by nature – in par¬ticularly when under pressure – does not have much focus on interplay (the blue corner) or that he in the heat of the battle “forgets” to follow the agreed upon strategy (the grey corner). Such solutions are not part of his mental readiness. They represent his “Mental Blind Spots”.

The purpose of mental training is to open the player’s eyes to alternative solutions. The solutions they will tend to overlook because they stem from their “mental blind spots”. Areas where they do not instinctively expect to find pleasure and success, but pain and failure.

It should be said that we have no intention of changing the players’ personalities or ap¬proach to the game. Boldsen plays best in the red corner and Kasper in the grey corner. Jesper Jensen is exceptionallycreative creative and sees opportunities long before they occur. He is best in the green corner. Lars Jørgensen is best in the blue corner, bringing his fel¬low players along, supporting and making them bet¬ter. These players have their strength in each of their corners. That is something we neither can or will change, but if we can help them to see and use strate¬gies and opportunities from the other corners two, three or four times during the game then we can change losing situations into winning situations.

This is why we started by mapping each player’s corner of happiness and mental blind spots and from there got them started practicing using alternative solutions from the other corners – both mentally and in practice. In this way we maintained each player’s main competencies, strengthened their weaknesses and added new tools to their toolbox.

Color Buddy training

The next step was to optimize team performance. To do so we developed a Color Buddy training system. The players were paired up two and two. The purpose was to give them a solid knowledge of the each other’s corners of happiness and pain, strengths and weaknesses. By understanding how and what their differences were they could better make use of the differences. One of the methods was that they in pairs helped each other uncover and open their “mental blind spots”.

This created respect, unity and interplay on a world-class level – to Gold!

Notes:

The Mental Scorecard is used today in HR-activities in the business community as well as the Danish Handball Union and the Danish Golf Union.

If you are interested in learning more about the Mental Scorecard please call Finn Havaleschka from the Garuda Research Institute finn@garudahr.com

You can read more about how Ulrik Wilbek and his assistant coach Peter Breds¬dorff-Larsen use the Mental Scorecard in his book (Danish) “Tro på dig selv” chapter 4. Alternatively you can contact Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen at peterbl@webspeed.dk

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