ENGL 105.93 - Anders Juengst

The stage was set, I had manipulated my defender to get him on his heels and waited for the perfect moment to strike. I sprinted into the end zone and watched my teammate release the disc, zipping it towards my outstretched hands. In that split second before I caught it, I thought ahead to my celebration: I’d chest-bump my teammates, receive some high fives, and maybe even spike the disc… Doink! The pass bounced off my hands and I watched in horror as it fell to the turf. I was trying out for UNC’s club ultimate team, Darkside, and I had just made a huge fool out of myself in front of all of my future teammates by dropping the easy catch.

As I reflected on the tryout that night, I pondered whether my lack of focus at the tryout was a result of a lax attitude the days and hours prior. At the first tryout a week earlier I had a stellar performance, and beforehand, I visualized myself going through the motions: catching, throwing, a calm temperament on offense and a tenacious fight on defense. The night before that first real experience with the team, nerves were thwarting my efforts to get a good night’s sleep, so as I lay in bed I imagined what it felt like to perform the seemingly simple but frustratingly elusive maneuver that is throwing a Frisbee. However, before the second tryout I did not use visual imagery and my play suffered. The cringe-worthy drop made it clear that visualizing about playing well before a practice could have a dramatic effect on my actual concentration and execution.

Visualization is a powerful tool when used by athletes to enhance their performance. Before a big game or tournament, mentally preparing noticeably decreases the time it takes me to warm up and increases the level of my play overall. In the neuroscience community, the act of visualizing an action is called kinesthetic motor imagery, KMI for short.

Although athletes have been visualizing for a long time, only recently has the practice been studied scientifically. In 2015, Richard Ridderinkhof and Marcel Brass attempted to discover the “neurocognitive mechanisms underlying motor imagery” in their study on KMI published in the Journal of Physiology-Paris. They define motor imagery as “the cognitive ability that allows an individual to perform and experience motor actions in the mind, without actually executing such actions through the activation of muscles," (Ridderinkhof, Brass, 2015) By thinking about doing an action, athletes train their minds and bodies to improve their proficiency.

In their research, Ridderinkhof and Brass gained understanding of KMI on a neural level. They found that when KMI is used, a network in the brain is activated that is “highly overlapping but not identical” to the system that actually controls muscles (Ridderinkhof & Brass, 2015). During visualization the brain then compares the desired muscle movements with the actual “internal emulation” of those actions. The difference between these provides the basis for improvement of motor skills.

An important distinction that all athletes should be aware of is the difference between KMI and its close counterpart, visual motor imagery, VMI for short. The key difference is perspective. While KMI is feeling the sensation of muscle movements from a first-person perspective, VMI is imagining watching yourself perform an action from a third-person perspective. While the difference might seem trivial, a study from the University of Auckland (2006) found that the benefits of VMI are nonexistent, while subjects who used KMI performed better. The difference between KMI and VMI is similar to playing a sport versus playing the video game incarnation of that sport, such as the popular soccer franchise, FIFA. While playing FIFA may increase tactical understanding of soccer, a FIFA player will not develop any motor skills particularly important to real-life soccer itself. In FIFA, the player is watching from an over-head, third-person view and not experiencing the sensations and muscle movements a soccer player would in the physical realm.

Experienced athletes use KMI to refine their motor skills because it allows them to improve without exerting any physical stress on their body. As New York Times reporter Christopher Clarey (2014) explains, Olympians use KMI to practice events such as bobsled or ski jumping while sitting in their chairs at the airport. By the time the athletes have to compete, they have mentally run the course hundreds of times. Every athlete believes that practice makes perfect, and those who use KMI to prepare have a leg up on their opponents, inching closer to a perfect showing.

Emily Cook, a skier from the United States who competed in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, argues that "visualization" isn't the best term to use to describe KMI. “'Visualization, for me, doesn’t take in all the senses,' said Emily Cook, the veteran American aerialist. 'You have to smell it. You have to hear it. You have to feel it, everything,'” (Clarey, 2014). Cook's arguments reinforce the idea that the more an athlete can use KMI and feel themselves in the moment, the better they can improve their motor skills. An athlete employing KMI should be totally immersed in their imaginary world.

Although Ultimate is a field sport based around team strategy, development of individual throwing and catching skills is paramount. These technique-based skills are much like the winter sports Clarey wrote about, they require lots of practice and muscle memory to become a master. Kinesthetic motor imagery is a must-have tool for Ultimate athletes to use both when learning new throwing styles and preparing for a major tournament.

Going into the final round of tryouts, a weekend-long tournament in Greenville, NC, I made sure to prepare both physically and mentally. Although the former is important, I took extra precautions to make sure I was mentally ready for the weekend. The right workouts, diet, and hydration would be worth nothing if my brain wasn't ready.

I spent the days leading up to the tournament using KMI to my advantage, focusing on both routine skills and game changing plays. In the five years of my ultimate experience I have thrown thousands of passes, so visualizing those movements is easy. On the other hand, trying to recreate the feeling of a flying layout catch is more challenging. The mental barrier of a dive takes time and experience to overcome. In the seconds leading up to a layout, time seems to slow down, and my brain must make a choice: Do I sell out to make the catch? Surely risking scrapes and bruises in what may be a futile effort? KMI helped me alleviate any hesitation toward laying out, and when opportunity struck that weekend, I made it count. An errant throw from the other team popped up, and I dove, catching it in the end zone for a score, securing my spot on Darkside.

The stage was set, I had manipulated my defender to get him on his heels and waited for the perfect moment to strike. I sprinted into the end zone and watched my teammate release the disc, zipping it towards my outstretched hands. In that split second before I caught it, I thought ahead to my celebration: I’d chest-bump my teammates, receive some high fives, and maybe even spike the disc… Doink! The pass bounced off my hands and I watched in horror as it fell to the turf. I was trying out for UNC’s club ultimate team, Darkside, and I had just made a huge fool out of myself in front of all of my future teammates by dropping the easy catch.

As I reflected on the day's events tryout that night, I pondered whether my lack of focus at the tryout was a result of a lax attitude the days and hours prior. Before At the first tryout about a week earlier when I had a stellar performance, and beforehand I visualized myself going through the motions: catching, throwing, a calm temperament on offense and a tenacious fight on defense. The night before that first real experience with the team, nerves were thwarting my efforts to get a good night’s sleep, so as I lay in bed I imagined what it felt like to perform the seemingly simple but frustratingly elusive maneuver that is throwing a Frisbee. However, before the second tryout I did not use visual imagery and my play suffered. The cringe-worthy drop made it clear that visualizing about playing well before a practice could have a dramatic effect on my actual concentration and execution.

Visualization is a powerful tool when used by athletes to enhance their performance. Before a big game or tournament, thinking about my actions the next day mentally preparing noticeably decreases the time it takes me to get mentally warm up and increases the level of my play overall. In the neuroscience community, the act of thinking about doing visualizing an action is called kinesthetic motor imagery, KMI for short.

Although athletes have been visualizing for a long time, only recently has the practice been studied scientifically. In 2015, Richard Ridderinkhof and Marcel Brass (2015) attempted to discover the “neurocognitive mechanisms underlying motor imagery” in their study on KMI published in the Journal of Physiology-Paris. They define motor imagery as “the cognitive ability that allows an individual to perform and experience motor actions in the mind, without actually executing such actions through the activation of muscles," (Ridderinkhof, Brass, 2015) By thinking about doing an action, athletes train their minds and bodies to improve their proficiency.

In their research, Ridderinkhof and Brass gained understanding of KMI on a neural level. They found that when KMI is used, a network in the brain is activated that is “highly overlapping but not identical” to the system that actually controls muscles (Ridderinkhof & Brass, 2015). During visualization the brain then compares the desired muscle movements with the actual “internal emulation” of those actions. The difference between these provides the basis for improvement of motor skills.

An important distinction that all athletes should be aware of is the difference between KMI and its close counterpart, visual motor imagery, VMI for short. The key difference is perspective. While KMI is feeling the sensation of muscle movements from a first-person perspective, VMI is imagining watching yourself perform an action from a third-person perspective. While the difference might seem trivial, a study from the University of Auckland (2006) found that the benefits of VMI are nonexistent, while subjects who used KMI performed better. The difference between KMI and VMI is similar to playing a sport versus playing the video game incarnation of that sport, such as the popular soccer franchise, FIFA. While playing FIFA may increase tactical understanding of soccer, a FIFA player will not develop any motor skills particularly important to real-life soccer itself. In FIFA, the player is watching from an over-head, third-person view and they are not experiencing the sensations and muscle movements a soccer player would in the physical realm.

Experienced athletes use KMI to refine their motor skills because it allows them to improve without exerting any physical stress on their body. As New York Times reporter Christopher Clarey (2014) explains, Olympians use KMI to practice events such as bobsled or ski jumping while sitting in their chairs at the airport. By the time the athletes have to compete, they have mentally run the course hundreds of times. Every athlete believes that practice makes perfect, and those who use KMI to prepare have a leg up on their opponents, inching closer to a perfect showing.

Emily Cook, a skier part of from the United States team that who competed in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, argues that "visualization" isn't the best term to use to describe KMI. “'Visualization, for me, doesn’t take in all the senses,' said Emily Cook, the veteran American aerialist. 'You have to smell it. You have to hear it. You have to feel it, everything,'” (Clarey, 2014). Cook's arguments reinforce the idea that the more an athlete can use KMI and feel themselves in the moment, the better they can improve their motor skills. An athlete employing KMI should be totally immersed in their imaginary world.

Although Ultimate is a field sport based around team strategy, development of individual throwing and catching skills is paramount. These technique-based skills are much like the winter sports Clarey wrote about, they require lots of practice and muscle memory to become a master. Kinesthetic motor imagery is a must-have tool for Ultimate athletes to use both when learning new throwing styles and preparing for a major tournament.

Going into the final round of tryouts, a weekend-long tournament in Greenville, NC, I made sure to prepare both physically and mentally. Although the former is important, I took extra precautions to make sure I was mentally ready for the weekend. The right workouts, diet, and hydration would be worth nothing if my brain wasn't ready.

I spent the days leading up to the tournament using KMI to my advantage, focusing on both routine skills and game changing plays. In the five years of my ultimate experience I have thrown thousands of passes, so visualizing those movements is easy. On the other hand, trying to recreate the feeling of a flying layout catch is more challenging. The mental barrier of a dive takes time and experience to overcome. In the seconds leading up to a layout, time seems to slow down, and my brain must make a choice: Do I sell out to make the catch? Surely risking scrapes and bruises in what may be a futile effort? KMI helped me alleviate any hesitation toward laying out, and when opportunity struck that weekend, I made it count. An errant throw from the other team popped up, and I dove, catching it in the end zone for a score, securing my spot on Darkside.