.png)
Help children understand how attention changes across different performance situations. This animated Power Up® lesson introduces four focus styles, uses sport and music examples, and helps children practise choosing where to direct their attention when concentration matters most.
Looking for a group? See all workshops.
In this section we will explore Robert Nideffer’s theory of focus styles and explore the different styles of focus and identify the most appropriate focus style for a variety of situations. You will be invited to analyse scenarios and review helpful focus styles through case examples and then relate them to your own performance. Using the different focus styles you can better manage distractions during training or performance.
Focus and attentional control is a complex area but very important when planning for long term sustained performance. It can be used in combination with other aspects of performance psychology, like imagery for example. By completing and practising this section you will likely be able to:
Robert Nideffer’s (1976) Theory of Attentional and Interpersonal Style can be a complex theory to learn and best done in a visual and dynamic fashion, drawing on your experiences. This means that you will need to practise and try to activate the different focus styles over a period of time. Watch this video several times to help you along the way.
This Power Up® module introduces children aged 10 to 16 to different styles of focus and how attention can change depending on the demands of a performance situation.
The animation makes a complex idea more visual. Children move between broad and narrow, internal and external focus, then work through examples from sport and music before applying the ideas to themselves.
This lesson can be purchased on its own or completed as one of the six modules in the full Power Up® performance psychology course.
The concept of focus styles becomes more useful with practice, so children may benefit from revisiting the animation and trying the activities in different performance settings.
.webp)
.avif)
