Goals in sport: how to quickly improve sports performance.

An essential tool for sports psychologists.

Nowadays, there are many variables that make an athlete evolve within his or her discipline.. We could talk about concentration, motivation, perseverance, dedication or commitment.

In this case, we are going to focus on a way to progress quickly and effectively through the establishment of objectives. Researchers, sports psychologists and coaches all agree that setting short, medium and long term goals is totally effective in improving the athlete's abilities, as well as maintaining motivation.

The importance of setting goals

This strategy is not a new idea; it has been used for many years in other areas such as business and organizations. A clear example would be the achievement of incentives or awards, as an employee achieves certain objectives for the company.

However, the use of systematic target setting in athletic training has been implemented more recently, and with excellent results, the use of systematic goal setting in the training of athletes has been implemented more recently, and with excellent results..

Numerous research studies support the effectiveness of goal setting as a motivational technique and strategy that optimally enhances performance.

Defining the term "goal"

An objective or goal is defined as the acquisition of an optimal level of performance on a specific task and within a pre-set time interval. From the perspective applied to sport, this strategy alludes to the achievement of certain domains of a task that increase sport performance, such as improving a swimmer's personal best for a championship.

When we talk about setting objectives or goals, we refer to designing a training plan focused on the achievement of small advances or steps, to achieve mastery of a particular skill. In addition, the main advantage of this goal-setting procedure is the main advantage of this procedure of setting goals or objectivesIn addition, the main advantage of this procedure of setting goals or objectives is that the establishment of tasks to master certain skills of a sport in a short period of time, leads us to compete with ourselves and motivate us to overcome our own marks or limits.

Some mechanisms of the motivation process that are put into action are:

• Focusing attention on the important aspects of the task.Ignoring external variables that may disturb the activity.

• Putting into action the energy necessary to achieve mastery of the trained skill. of the trained skill.

• Activate other variablessuch as perseverance in the face of error or failure to achieve the objective.

• To have a Wide range of resources that allows the athlete to succeed in any situation given in the sport competition.

• The self-realization that is achieved, once you go over the previously imposed objectives.

Classification of goals

The objectives or goals can be divided according to different aspects. For example, according to the period in which they are carried out, we would be talking about short, medium and long term goals.

Short-term goals

The short-term goals or objectivesare programmed to be achieved in one week of training. For example, for an athlete to lower his own personal best by 1 second during the entire training week.

Medium-term goals

The medium-term goals are planned to be achieved in one or two months. For example, for an athlete to establish marks that allow him or her to compete in major events such as national or international championships.

Long-term goals

The long-term goals are those that are set for an annual season. For example, for an athlete to be able to compete with the best in the Olympics.

The importance of collective goals

There are objectives or goals referring to the athlete himself within a collective or team. A team is a sum of individualities placed at the disposal of the collective. Therefore, the improvement in the individual's performance will lead to an improvement in the team's performance..

The objectives set for the athlete himself imply that he/she concentrates better on what he/she has to do in each moment to achieve the final goals. Therefore, these are aspects that are trainable on an individual basis and that will benefit the collective. For example, the striker who aims to score a certain number of goals in each training session.

However, there are aspects that are only trainable on a collective level. For example, the defensive mechanism of a rugby team must be perfectly coordinated in order to be effective.

To sum up, when we talk about goals or objectives referring to teams, each individual must put all his capabilities to improve individually and collectively, both being compatible.The two must be compatible.

Characteristics of goals or objectives

For the establishment of goals or objectives to achieve desirable results, the following must be respected.

• The objectives to be achieved must have a certain threshold of difficulty, taking into account the capabilities of the athlete.The objectives to be achieved must have a certain threshold of difficulty, taking into account the capabilities of the athlete in a realistic way.

• They must be concrete (e.g., lower my mark by one second in two weeks), as these work better than general aspects. (I will do my best).

• They must be tangible characteristicsthat can be measured. (Score five goals in a training match).

• Focus the objectives in positive termsSince focusing on success means focusing on achievement rather than on avoiding failure.

In short, setting objectives or goals within the training of any athlete, helps in an important way to improve their own skills and, therefore, the progress of this, overcoming limits that neither the individual himself was aware of beating.