PSYC 471 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Jennifer Heil, Clara Hughes, Statistical Hypothesis Testing
3 Mar 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSYC471: Human Motivation
1
Lecture 10 – Sports Psychology & Canada at the Winter Olympics
• Questions of the day
o Why has Canada become a powerhouse at the Winter Olympics?
o What motivational factors enabled Jennifer Heil, Clara Hughes, Becky
Scott and Alex Bilidoeau to win multiple Olympic medals?
o No country that had ever hosted the Olympics, won 0 gold medals like
Canada in 1988
o The Canadian federation didn’t want another repeat of Calgary
▪ Invested a lot of energy to make sure Canada would perform well
▪ Littlehammer – little improvement
▪ Vancouver – 14 gold medals
The most gold medals any country won in winter Olympics
• Goals
o Review Terry Orlick’s model of sport excellence
o Review examples of psychological skills training
o Consider whether we can apply any sports psychology skills to our own activities
• Sports psychologists view of Ericsson’s (1994) article?
o Describing hypothetical interview with an athlete who wanted to break through at the Olympics?
o Someone at age 5 and 4 hours a week
o Someone at age 8 and 4 hours a week
▪ Could never catch up
▪ Even if they did more hours
o Earlier age and more hours a week is
the most beneficial
▪ Maybe the quality makes a difference
o Sport psychologists think deliberate
practice is less important
▪ Innate talent and helpful for athletes to
believe they have innate talent
▪ They think there are mental factors that have to do with how you perform in big game
situations
• Terry Orlick’s model of sport excellence
PSYC471: Human Motivation
2
o Four basic human requirements for excellence
▪ Talent
You won’t reach excellence without natural talent
Talent is a basic necessity but will not be enough to ensure excellence
The athlete must believe they have an innate talent
Myriam Bedard
“At 18 years I knew I had talent to challenge the best at the 1992 Olympics… I
felt I had the ideal physical attributes for my sport: very rapid muscular and
aerobic recuperative abilities, and a god given talent to learn how to shoot in less
than one month. That really was a natural talent… a finesse of touch that one
cannot be taught… just like the concentration that I just naturally have.” (1999)
▪ Effort
Mostly involves deliberate or purposeful practice
Hard work – leading Olympic athletes work incredibly hard for what they achieve
“The intensity and quality of work for athletes who have broken through to the top
of their sport almost always surpasses that of the athletes who have not been
able to crack the barrier
▪ Simulation
Vital for the Olympics
Have to prepare for the exact conditions
Competing in Salt Lake City, Utah – low oxygen environment
Prepare to compete vigorously in a low oxygen environment
Simulate the exact conditions you’re likely to experience
Vancouver – paid the money for our best athletes to compete for 2 years at the site of
the Olympics
Chinese coach who worked with our national team
“Not as good at taking criticism, tended not to believe that certain things like
repetition and simulation were required for good performance in international
competitions, and that they had the luxury of time in learning the physical and
mental skills necessary for competitions.”
Simulation training is critical for preparation for competition
Becky Scott 2002 Olympics in Utah
▪ Mental skills
Psychology or mental skills
“Combination of talent, hard work and simulation has produced many champions
and will continue to contribute to excellence, but in the future it will not be
enough. Refined mental training will be the final prerequisite.”
Document Summary
Lecture 10 sports psychology & canada at the winter olympics: questions of the day, why has canada become a powerhouse at the winter olympics, what motivational factors enabled jennifer heil, clara hughes, becky. Scott and alex bilidoeau to win multiple olympic medals: no country that had ever hosted the olympics, won 0 gold medals like. Canada in 1988: the canadian federation didn"t want another repeat of calgary. Invested a lot of energy to make sure canada would perform well: littlehammer little improvement, vancouver 14 gold medals. The most gold medals any country won in winter olympics: goals, review terry orlick"s model of sport excellence, review examples of psychological skills training, consider whether we can apply any sports psychology skills to our own activities. Psyc471: human motivation: four basic human requirements for excellence, talent. You won"t reach excellence without natural talent. Talent is a basic necessity but will not be enough to ensure excellence.
