Impact on Performance
Owen’s balance was essential in his first goal. He managed to keep his composure and strike the ball towards goal on the volley. Without this balance, he would have not been able to strike the ball as effectively as he did. This would have made it more probable for him to not score the goal via either hitting it off target or the keeping saving it.
His agility on his 2nd goal was the key for him to produce the shot. He was originally facing away from goal but managed to keep full control of his body whilst turning towards the goal. Without this agility, he would have probably missed the ball completely or strike the ball over the bar, as a lot of strikers in this position would often do.
On Michael Owens 3rd goal, his speed enabled him to gain ground on the defender and beat him in the race for the ball. Without his speed, the defender Jens Nowotny would have probably reached the ball with ease and safely guided it away from his box, therefore preventing the goal
Module 1 – Skill Acquisition – Information Processing/ Feedback
Topic
Feedback is something a performer receives during or after an action or performance. It can be intrinsic (from inside the performer) or extrinsic (feedback from coach, team mates, crowd etc). Feedbacks purposes included:
- Detection and correction: Finding an error in part of a performance and correcting it
- Motivation: Encouraging the performer to carry on
- Reinforcement of learning: Thorndike’s laws (law of exercise, law of effect and law of readiness)
The two types of feedbacks have different qualities and disadvantages:
Intrinsic Feedback – This feedback comes internally from the athlete through the proprioceptors. Through experience, the performer will know how well they have a carried out a particular action or skill. The performer will then use this knowledge they gained, to adjust the way (if needed) they do the action again.
Extrinsic Feedback – This feedback is from the outside world. It is from the coach, crowd, team mates etc. It can be shown visually through sound or through exteroceptors. This is used more in the first stages of learning because as the performer is new to doing the skill, they don’t know or don’t understand if they have done it correctly and efficiently. The performer will gain knowledge from this and will know what to do next time.
Both intrinsic and extrinsic feedback can reinforce behaviour, through positive reinforcement and punishment.
Feedback is effective when:
- Modifications are suited to the ability of the performer
- It does not overloaded, has to make sure the performer is not trying to take in too much
- Accurate and specific. There’s no need for the performer to be learning irrelevant information
Link to Athlete
Football is as much a mental game as it is a physical game. All throughout the match, Michael Owen is always receiving extrinsic feedback and intrinsic feedback. Extrinsically, the coach will tell Michael if he is in the right position, if he is moving in the right places, if he’s making the right passes etc through sound/voice and maybe hand signals. The crowd will also cheer and applaud if he does something outstandingly well and a team mate might give him a pat on the back and say well done. He will also know internally if he is making the right decisions. If he receives a pass, he knows that he has made enough space to comfortably receive a ball. His proprioceptors will tell him how good the pass felt, if he felt he made the right pass etc. If he manages to shoot, he knows that he done well as he evaded any tackles from opposition players, and put himself in a goal scoring opportunity. He would remember his actions in the build up to this opportunity, because if he is in a similar situation again, he knows what extra to do to enable him to have a greater chance of scoring a goal.
Impact on Performance
The feedback received throughout the game effected Michael Owens performance. An example was on his first and second goals. In the 12th minute, Owen scored a volley from 12 yards out keeping great balance and agility. In the 48th minute, he scored a very similar goal. Heskey knocked the ball down to him and he struck it on the volley first time into the right hand side of the goal. If however, he missed his first volley in the 12th minute, he might have tried something different because he would have remembered his actions and outcome from the previous experience.
Owens SR bond would have strengthened everytime he did something correctly, like scoring his goals or producing a good pass. When Owen scored his goals, especially when completing his ‘hat-trick’, he received positive reinforcement and praise from coach, team-mates and most of all, the crowd. This would have motivated him to carry on his excellent performance with great confidence, and yet again prove his status as one of the world’s best strikers
Module 2 – History and socio-culture – Physical Sports Activity Continuum
Topic
All physical activities can be divided into 6 different categories, which make up the physical activity continuum
“Sport is an institutionalised, competitive activity that involves vigorous physical exertion or the use of relatively complex physical skills by individuals whose participation is motivated by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors”
(Coakley 1993)
Sport is a competitive activity that has rules, an end result (winner/loser), that involves an individual attempting to outperform their competitors. It involves the body working at a high sub-maximal or maximal rate. The classifications of sport are:
- Competitive – Eagerness and strong desire to win
- Rule bound – Gives no team an advantage and makes sure boundaries are kept
- Skilful – A performer that cannot only meet the demands of the game, but exceed them
- Serious – There are big consequences for the winner and loser
- Tactical and strategic – Strategies to out perform the opponents
- Highly Structured – Making sure every player is given the chance to perform best of their ability
- Organized – Everyone knows what to do, when and how to do it.
Being a professional sportsman requires hours of practice. Many professionals, such as Michael Owen, do 5 or 6 training sessions a week and their training is mainly sport specific. (Match situations/skills used in a game).
Link to Athlete
The game against Germany was a very competitive game for England. If they won, they would have gone top of the world cup qualifying group and essentially booked their place in the 2002 world cup finals. Michael Owen and his team mates played to the best of their ability, and using the tactics the national coach (Sven Goran Ericsson) advised at the beginning of the match.
Michael Owen was always eager to get on the ball. He chased every ball down, even pretty much lost causes because there was the slightest chance the defender could mess up and give Owen a glance of a goal scoring opportunity. He ran and tried his best for the full 90 minutes, and he was rewarded for his efforts by receiving the man of the match award. This is evidence of the competitive nature of this game.
Owen abided by the rules of the game by giving away only one foul and receiving no yellow or red cards from referee Pierre Collina. The rules were also enforced by the referee’s 3 assistants who ensured that players remained onside and flagged for any fouls that the referee might have missed or was undecided on.
Michael Owen and England’s desire to win was shown in the fact that he scored 3 goals and that England remained to press the German defence, even though Germany had a deficit of one, two, three and four goals.
Impact on Performance
England went 1-0 down very early on. This had affected Michael Owen in a big way because he knew that if England were going to get goals, he would be the main source. The fact that the hopes of the team, the 7,000 fans that travelled to the Munich Stadium and the hopes of the rest of the nation at home rested on him, he needed to boost his competitiveness. He needed to perform as good as ever if England were going to progress.
Owen remained rule bound and didn’t pick up any yellow cards, which meant he didn’t hesitate when challenging for a 50/50 ball. If he had received a yellow card, he would have been weary for the rest of the game and would have opted out of a 50/50 challenge in the likelihood of him mistiming it, and receiving another yellow card. This would have meant him being sent off, missing England’s next 2 games and giving Germany the advantage of having an extra player.
This match was very serious and any mistakes that a player made, could have proven costly. Owen knew this and throughout the match he was fully concentrated; he ensured that every move he made was a skilful and effective one.
Sven Goran Eriksson’s main tactic was the simple formation of 4-4-2. This made this midfield continuously available to feed Owen through balls and a good example of this is when Owen scored his 3rd goal. A through ball from Steven Gerrard put Owen 1-on-1 with the German keeper.
Again because of this formation, Michael Owen had many choices whilst on the ball. This kept the structure and organisation of the team and this made sure that nobody was forced to play out of position
Sven Goran Eriksson’s tactics obviously worked, and that was shown through the 5-1 score line.
Module 4 – Sports Psychology – Aggression and Assertion
Topic
You will find aggression and assertion in almost every sport. Although aggression and assertion can be said are quite similar, they are also very different.
‘Aggression is any form of behaviour directed towards the goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment’
Baron 1977
Aggression is:
- an act of hostility or injury
- involves physical or verbal behaviour
ultimately damaging, physically or mentally
Assertion is the aim to achieve a goal and any injury which maybe caused is accidental. For example a tackle in a football match. The player would be attempting to tackle the ball but his fast momentum takes him colliding into the player. This is assertion because his ultimate goal was to get the ball cleanly and his aim wasn’t to harm or injure the other player.
Assertive behaviour is acceptable in modern day sport as it generally doesn’t go against the laws of the game.
Assertive Behaviour:
- No intention to harm or injure
- Use of legitimate verbal or physical force
- Behaviour that does not break the agreed laws and rules of the game.
e.g. a strong tackle aimed at getting the ball
There is a grey area of ‘ambiguity’ where it is often hard to tell the difference between what is aggressive and what is assertive. For example, a boxer is ‘directing the goal of harming or injuring’ the other performer. So this could be classed as aggressive. However, the other boxer, although ‘motivated to avoid such treatment’ is expecting to get hit and expected to return the same treatment in the nature of the game.
Link to Athlete
Football is a physical game and there a lot of tackles and physical contact made. It is the job of the referee to decide weather a tackle is assertive or aggressive. Football is a game where you need to be assertive to be a top performer, You need to be prepared to make that vital tackle to win your team possession. Most tackles are often assertive, as the main objective is two gain possession of the ball rather than trying to harm the opponent. Michael Owen is generally thought of as having a Stable introverted personality. He has good self control and is calm and careful. He did not make one aggressive tackle in the whole 90 minutes and was not once penalised for a foul.
Impact on Performance
In the 13th minute Owen and Sebastian Deisler were chasing the ball. Deisler showed aggression by fouling Owen whereas Owen showed assertion by fairly competing for the ball and not reacting to Deislers foul.
Knowing that he had not committed a foul already in the game, Owen knew he could get the benefit of the doubt and avoid the yellow card. This means he would not think twice about putting in a strong challenge on an opponent. If he was on a yellow card, he would try to avoid such a challenge in fear that he could mistime it and receive a second yellow; therefore getting sent off. Having this doubt in his mind would affect his whole performance and he would not be fully concentrated. But as he has an assertive attitude, his concentration levels were optimum and his performance reflected this…scoring 3 goals and creating many more chances.
Module 4 – Sports Psychology – Arousal
Arousal can be said as a combination of Psychological and physiological levels of activity experienced by the performer.
‘A general physiological and psychological activation of the organism (person) that varies on a continuum from a deep sleep to intense excitement’
Gould & Krane 1992
There are many changes to the body and mind when as a result of arousal:
Somatic Changes:
- Sweat Production
- Increased Heart Rate
- Increased blood pressure
Cognitive Changes:
- Faster information processing
- Increased attention
There are also some negative cognitive changes which included Confusion, lack of concentration, lack of co-ordination, irrational thoughts and wrong decision making.
The level of arousal all depends on what skills you want to use:
- Gross Skills – High Arousal. Less control needed
- Fine Skills – Low arousal
- Complex Skills – Low arousal
There are 3 theories about Arousal which all have different theories of how arousal affects a sports performance. Inverted-U-theory, Drive Theory and Catastrophe Theory.
Inverted-U-Theory
In this theory there are 3 levels of arousal:
- Under Arousal = Below par performance and lack of attention
- Moderate Arousal = Optimum level. Good level of concentration and state of mind
- Over arousal = Inhibits performance (bad decision making and lack of concentration)
This theory suggests that as arousal levels increase, so does the performance but only upto a certain point. Once the arousal levels are in the over arousal zone, his performance will deteriorate and the performer will have to lower his arousal.
Hulls Drive Theory
This theory suggests that the more aroused you are, the better your performance. However, it all depends on what level you are at. If you’re a professional, it will improve your performance but if you’re a beginner/novice the performance will deteriorate
Catastrophe Theory
This theory suggests that as arousal increases, so does performance but…after certain point there is a sudden drop in the performance.
Link to Athlete
This was a very important game for the England team and every player’s arousal needed to be at the right level.
Owens arousal was at a moderate level and this level means optimum performance. If it was too low, he wouldn’t be motivated to make them runs into space and wouldn’t be making an effort to receive the ball. If he did receive the ball, chances are that he would have a bad first touch or making the wrong decision when playing the ball.
There are a lot of ‘gross skills’ needed in football therefore a high level of arousal is required. His heart rate, blood pressure and attention levels would all be high. Owen needed to be careful he was not too aroused. At a big event like this with millions of people watching, it would have been very easy to become over aroused. Luckily, he stayed at the right level and scored 3 goals in England’s 5 – 1 win.
Impact on Performance
On Michael Owens first goal, he had to have great composure to get the shot on target. If his arousal levels were too high, the probability is that he would of lashed at the shot rather than thinking through his actions. The fact that he scored, showed that he had an optimum level of arousal.
His cognitive changes due to his arousal were positive and this ensured he had a quality performance. Gerrard played a through ball to Michael Owen for his 3rd goal and his increased attention and faster information processing enabled him to respond quickly to the stimulus that Gerrard was playing the ball and therefore get ahead of the defender and score.
Module 5 – Contemporary Issues in Sport - World Games
Almost every athletes dream is to play in the World Games. It is the most prestigious tournament in any one sport and they only come around every 2 to 4 yours .Often, they are seen as the pinnacle of ones sporting career as they involve only the elite best in the sport and if you win, you are normally regarded as world champions. They offer the biggest rewards, both intrinsically and extrinsically.
These prestigious games normally have massive opening ceremonies, attract loads of sponsors, are very commercialised and attract Millions of viewers world wide.
These games, for example the Olympics, always try to promote positive values.
The Olympic Games is probably the biggest sporting event known to man.
All of the worlds 5 continents participate, and they each represent one of the interconnecting rings that make up the Olympic symbol.
The Olympic ideal encourages the idea that ‘the most important thing is not to win, but to take part’
‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’ is the Olympic motto which translates to ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’. Other Olympic symbols include Doves (which represent peace), Olympic Torch (Eternal flame which celebrates the coming together of 5 continents) and the Olympic Oath (taken by all athletes before competition).
There is an idea of Olympism and there are six goals:
- Personal Excellence
- Educated Sport
- Cultural Exchange
- Mass Participation
- Fair Play
- International Understanding
Link To Athlete
The game was played at the Olympiastadion in Munich. At the time this was considered to be one of the best stadiums. With a capacity of over 69,000 and the best facilities available, this was considered one of the best stadiums in the world and was Michael Owens most important game in his career so far.
This game was for the qualification stages of 2002 world cup and this was probably England’s most important fixture of the group. If they won, it ensured them a place in the 2002 World Cup finals, the biggest footballing event in the world. Owen knows the importance of this competition to himself, his team mates and the rest of the English nation. He could earn hundreds of thousands of pounds through sponsorship and endorsement. Big companies know how much of a role model he is to young children and young footballer players and his name on a company product could greatly increase sales.
Impact on Performance
This was such an important game for England and Owen knew that if they were going to score goals…he would be the main provider.
It was at one of the most important stages of this most prestige tournament in the world and he had to deliver. Every opportunity he had, he made the most of it and this is why he scored 3 goals. He was constantly running into space, looking for the ball, assisting other team mates and working at the hardest level possible.
He knows that there are millions of people watching this game including lots of sponsors and he knew if continued with his level of performance, this could possibly attract sponsors and earn mega-money sponsorship deals
Bibliography
Books
Websites
Michael Owen Online – http://www.michaelowen-online.com/
Football Association Profiles - http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/Players/
Videos
England vs Germany 2001 Qualification Match
