The three Rs: how to save a team from distraction

Former England coach Martin Johnson, who resigned after his team's poor showing at the 2011 World Cup

During the Rugby World Cup last year I made the effort to set my alarm for a Saturday morning (which can be challenging!) to watch England's quarter final against France. England had been slow to start in a few of their World Cup games, none more so than against our old rivals Scotland. So I wasn't too worried when the team looked like they were not really in it for the first half. I thought: 'Second half, now we will switch on and perform'. What came next was further proof of England's new-found inability to accept their professional responsibilities.

France went ahead through Vincent Clerc. England failed to refocus

A salutary lesson

Both on and off the field, the performance of players fell short of public and media expectation before their early exit 12-19 to France. While in New Zealand, they hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, their off-pitch antics not reflecting a professional team attempting to be the best in the world. From a sport psychology point of view I would question how focused England were on the task in hand, while they bungee jumped, visited bars and jumped off boats. Distracted by what was happening off the pitch they were physically present at their matches, but the mental focus seemed lacking. Observation of the team's body language, ill discipline and lack of tempo reinforced this for me.

Bubble of focus

When we are entirely focused on something a bubble is created around us, one that allows concentration to be full and not allow distractions. England as a team did not seem to have the bubble of focus needed to concentrate solely on winning the world cup. Had it been there they would have quietly gone about the task in hand as did many of the other teams. Unsettled, poorly thought through behaviours were a result of a team that did not have a unified focus and became too easily distracted with what was around them.

Protect your team

What can we do about distractions? We all have our own strategies for dealing with distractions in everyday life, but what is the solution for teams in top sporting environments, when distractions can have such a negative effect on performance? Sport psychologist Dr. Patrick Cohn uses a simple strategy called The Three Rs, for improving concentration and achieving peak performance.

The 3 Rs

1. Recognize – be realistic and admit you have lost your concentration. This is the first and most vital step.

2. Regroup – once you have recognised that you are distracted (and what the distraction is) and have lost your concentration, you can break free of whatever it is that is distracting you, and begin the process of refocusing.

3. Refocus – here is where you begin to adjust and go back to the basics of what you are trying to achieve e.g for a tennis player it may be their tennis stroke (perhaps not trying to hit the ball hard or trying shots that you do not possess) and/or playing just one point at a time during a match.

Look out for the next blog from Performance Edge Sport Psychology – The power of language in achieving peak performance