The key to delivering a top class performance, according to snooker legend Steve Davis is 'to play as though it means nothing, when in fact in means everything'. Easy to say, but not quite so easy to execute.

Well it is possible but difficult to do. One aspect that helps is if you play to the same standard whatever the level of competition or whatever the opponent and surroundings. One game to play, one level of pressure. As we know in most sports the pressure can build as the game advances, the final black, the last hole, the deciding set. The pressure comes on as the points and shots become more significant.

In this day and age our everyday environment has trained us to shift our attention quickly and frequently for one stimuli to another quickly. We are living in a 5 minute or less culture. In sports to be effective it is vital to be able hold our attention consistently on an activity with some intensity. There is much written about the what of attending but very little on the how. Whether you are playing tennis,golf, bowls,snooker, running the 100M or any sports, it is vital to take control of attention and to direct it in particular ways to be effective.

One of the skills of the sports competitor is the ability to visualise or create internal images. This can be done a variety of ways. Jack Nicklaus detailed his own stategy of visualising the whole details of each shot before he played it.

“I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. First I see the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I see the ball going there; its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there is a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality.” - Jack Nicklaus

Its funny how teams often perform better at home or players have favourite venues in which to perform but how does it all work? How can a place or space lead to a marked change in performance? The sports arenas are treated as sacred spaces worshpiped by thousands and millions. But what changes behaviour simply because the location has changed.

There are six aspects to mental toughness that are key in the sporting arena:-

1. Self Belief
2. Confidence
3. Handling Stress and Pressure
4. Staying Focused
5. Self Motivation
6. Optimism and Positivity

A player can strengthen or weaken these psychological aspects of their game. The management of each of these and in total as whole are key to deliver top class performance. We shall be looking in much more detail at each of these.

Three of the key aspects in improving performance include focus, concentration and centredness.

Concentration includes what a player attends TO in playing or competing. This compares with how a player focuses which is about remaining in the immediate sporting context. So for instance a player who is playing on the 18th whilst thinking about handing his card in is not focusing. Doug Saunders was on the 18th with a 3 foot putt for the Open only to start thinking about his presentation speech whilst lining up this final putt.

Get ready to Focus

To improve a players focus the following are required:

1. A clear objective or goal related to the current setting

2. A Boundary around the context - whats in and whats out

3. An ability to become totally aborbed in the activity.

4. A sense of now and a connection to now- not whats happened or whats going to happen

5. The support of concentration and centredness as part of the overall system.

6. Being strongly anchored in the context and with clear markings of the context.