Means of self-regulation of the athlete's mental state

Personal determinants of athletes' resistance to stress

As is known, manifestations of stress states that can be observed from the outside are mediated by internal psychological conditions.

This position is confirmed by some authors and in relation to the specifics of sports activity. Thus, L.D. Gissen notes that "the basis of differences in the degree of severity and structure of athletes' reactions to the same external situation of mental stress are different features of the athletes' personality, their needs and attitude to similar events", that is, the individual properties of the athlete's personality, being included in the structure of his activity as internal conditions or internal means, directly or indirectly affect the characteristics of the stressful state that is experienced and the athlete's activity.

Important for understanding the features of the development of stress states is the position on the multilevel and multifactorial nature of their determination in extreme conditions.

Features of a stress state are determined by several systems of conditions of different hierarchical levels.

The highest level is the motives and attitudes of the individual that determine stress. The study of the correlations of motivational and personal properties as factors of mental stress in sports psychology is considered an important aspect of the comprehensive study of the problem as a whole.

An objectively difficult situation caused by any external demands and obstacles becomes stressful only when there are sufficiently active motives and attitudes of the individual that encourage overcoming these difficulties.

The second, lower hierarchical level of conditions that determine the features of a stressful state is the psychodynamic and neurodynamic properties of the individual.

The third level is the actual psychophysiological state, which is characterized by vegetative shifts, subjective experiences, and changes in quantitative and qualitative indicators of activity.

The influence of personality on the genesis of stress is manifested primarily in the fact that one of the conditions of the highest hierarchical level that determines it is highly active motives and attitudes of the personality (regardless of their sign), aimed at overcoming difficulties.

The importance of the motivational sphere in experiencing stressful situations is always emphasized, because almost the only common element of stressful situations is the discrepancy between a person's abilities and the requirements for his organism and his personality, and these requirements, in turn, are determined by motivation, so we can come closer to understanding the essence of a stressful situation and the stressful state that arises in it if we consider this situation from the point of view of behavioral motives.

According to the opinion of some scientists, at least three important parameters of motivation can be distinguished that affect the state and behavior of a person.

The first parameter is represented as a scale, at one end of which are motives for behavior and actions that may be relatively unknown to a person (those that are mostly in the unconscious, according to the terminology of psychoanalysis), and at the other end - explicit motives that are easily realized and evaluated by the person himself.

The second parameter is motives that have been formed on the basis of past experience or are formed under the influence of direct experience of activity and communication with other people.

The third parameter characterizes two groups of motives: physiological (hunger, thirst, self-preservation, etc.) and socio-psychological or social.

Social motives include the motivation of affiliation, power and achievement, the common property of which is that the goals aimed at by actions motivated by these motives can be implemented only in interaction with other people.

Motivation of behavior by the desire for affiliation is manifested in the search for acceptance, friendly support and sympathy, mutual trusting ties. Individual differences in the attractiveness of the result of affiliation are one of the determinants of the motivation for affiliation. The second determinant is the negative attractiveness of unsuccessful affiliation. Depending on the ratio between them, an individual can be characterized as predominantly associated with either the hope for affiliation or the fear of rejection.

The study of power motivation, of course, involves understanding power as an ability, that is, each effect that an individual performs is determined by his power, which is considered in this context as his strength, competence.

To successfully influence the motivational basis of another person, the one who uses power must have certain resources or sources of power, the acquisition and preservation of which the power motive is directed through the prestige or influence associated with them.

Achievement motivation, of course, is understood as a tendency to improve results, experiencing success or failure in any activity, dissatisfaction with what has been achieved, which supports from within the formation of the level of aspirations, perseverance in overcoming obstacles in the process of achieving goals, which is accompanied by self-confidence, in one's own abilities.

Social motives are often considered by various authors as being of a similar nature in human behavior, in particular, in the conditions of sports activities.

For example, Murray identifies a number of "psychogenic needs" that can be reflected in various behavioral models characteristic of athletes, contrasting them with basic biological or "viscerogenic needs". The main part of Murray's motivational series looks like this:

Manifestations of needs in sports

List of needs	Manifestations in sports activities
1. The need for prestige, self-improvement, achievement, ambition, the desire to demonstrate oneself	A need that is satisfied to varying degrees in most types of sporting activities
2. The need to maintain one's status, avoid disappointments, and overcome defeat and failure	Coaches often appeal to this need, especially before potential competitions
3. The need to exercise power over others, to dominate or submit to others	Many athletes become team members to satisfy this need
4. The need for communication, establishing emotional connections with others, showing kindness, and cooperation	Many athletes join the team to satisfy this motive

It is obvious that the needs that Murray identifies correspond to the types of social motivation: thus, the first and second needs can be considered, respectively, as motives of striving for success and avoiding failure, which together represent the motivation of achievement. The third need can be characterized as the motivation of power and the fourth as the motivation of affiliation. A number of psychologists distinguish the "desire to achieve" as a source of motivation, which is acquired quite early in the ontogenetic plan, meaning the desire for success as such with a projection on various types of activities, in particular, sports results. Individuals with high motivation in relation to achievement, as a rule, show themselves well when performing work that requires great intellectual or physical effort. Individuals with high desire to achieve can adapt well in extreme conditions, they react relatively little to psychologically unfavorable factors, and the development of neurotic forms of reaction is not typical for them.

Any aspirations or motives are active, leading forces in human behavior. Specific objects that are achieved to satisfy these aspirations, incentives are divided into real and mixed: if achieving a real incentive is impossible, the individual chooses another incentive that is mixed in relation to the first.

The presence of several (real and mixed) motivations has a possible significance for overcoming difficult situations, especially if the encounter with them is not episodic, but long-term. The danger of changing positive motivations to negative in extreme conditions arises when the real psychological situation and the model created in the imagination do not match.

Thus, the development of changes in mental states under the influence of extreme conditions is associated with the characteristics of motivation. Positive motivation within a certain incentive is a kind of barrier that prevents the development of the condition towards pathology. The presence of positive motivation, which corresponds to the basic values and personal attitudes of the individual, makes the emergence of extreme options for responding to extreme conditions, in particular, in the form of a traumatic stress state, less likely.

In addition to the motivational orientations of the personality, a person's resistance to the occurrence of various forms of stress reactions is also determined by his individual typological features.

Individual typological features are manifested, first of all, in extreme situations, when adverse conditions require the mobilization of basic and compensatory mechanisms or "when there is an extreme situation in which previously learned forms of behavior do not work, in connection with which a full mobilization of the properties of the nervous system characteristic of this individual becomes necessary".

In studies of individual-personal determinants of reliability, stability of activity in complex extreme situations, the strength of the nervous system is highlighted as one of the most important features.

The indicator of the strength of the nervous system is indeed one of the main intrapersonal factors that determine the features of a person's mental reactions to stressful conditions, since it determines the presence of many psychological manifestations important for successfully overcoming extreme situations.

Thus, individuals with a strong nervous system have advantages in activities with irregular occurrence of stimuli.

In addition to the characteristics of the nervous system and temperament, as personal factors, reliability, stability of activity in complex maximum situations, the following are also distinguished: personality orientation, intelligence, tendency to dominance, tendency to risk and some others.

Personality orientation, which is a certain "core of personality", is manifested in the fact that in different situations people with different individual psychological characteristics set themselves different goals, and in one person a specific sequence of goals manifests itself regardless of the characteristics of the situation.

It should be noted that usually, based on the characteristics of the personality as a whole, three main types of personality orientation are distinguished: personal, collectivist and business. The orientation itself is considered as a complex personal formation that determines the entire behavior of the individual, the attitude towards oneself and others and is manifested in needs, interests, ideals, beliefs, dominant motives of activity and behavior, worldview.

Orientation, as a system of individual relations to reality, is the following triad: attitude towards other people as members of the team; attitude towards work and its results, products; attitude towards oneself, one's personality, in accordance with which the above types of orientation are distinguished, which are called interaction orientation (VD), task orientation (NT) and self-orientation (NS). It should be borne in mind that all three types of personality orientation are not strictly separated, but always combined, therefore we can only talk about the partial predominance of one of the types, but even this small advantage gives the activity a certain specificity.

Thus, the orientation towards interaction occurs when a person's actions are determined by his need for communication, the desire to maintain good relations. Individuals with this orientation, of course, give in to group pressure, avoid direct problem solving, and do not take on leadership.

The orientation towards the task reflects the predominance of motives associated with the achievement of the group's set goals, enthusiasm for mastering new skills and abilities, the process of activity itself, and the desire for knowledge.

The orientation towards oneself indicates the predominance of motives for one's own well-being, the desire for personal superiority and prestige; about the person's preoccupation with his own experiences and ignoring the needs of others.

Studies in sports psychology show that athletes whose coaches are oriented towards interaction have a higher level of "mental burnout" than athletes whose coaches are oriented towards re In addition to the orientation of the personality, the competitive psychological state, which determines the effectiveness of activity in extreme conditions, is influenced, as already indicated, by such a personality quality as a propensity for risk.

In general, risk in psychology is considered as a situational characteristic of activity, which consists of the uncertainty of the result of activity and possible adverse consequences in case of failure. The term "risk" corresponds to three main interrelated meanings:

Risk as a measure of expected disadvantage in the event of failure in activity, which is determined by the combination of the probability of failure and the degree of adverse consequences in this case.

Risk as an action that in one way or another threatens the subject with loss.

Risk as a situation of choice between two important options for action: less attractive, but more reliable and more attractive, but less reliable (the result of which is problematic and associated with possible adverse consequences) [2].

The choice of a behavior option in conditions of danger is usually determined by the following considerations:

the gain that can be obtained with a given choice;

the danger (physical or other) that exists with this choice;

the chances of success or avoidance of danger with the choice made;

the degree of necessity of making a choice in general and this choice in particular. All these are external situational factors that constitute the objective conditions of the task and determine the choice of the subject of the course of action in a complex situation associated with danger. Each of the above considerations can be detailed. For example, the chances of success or avoidance of danger can be assessed in connection with the subject's ability to control the development of the situation, prevent the negative consequences of the choice made, etc. It has been experimentally established that the presence of such opportunities increases the subject's confidence in his actions in a dangerous situation, which contributes to the choice of a more risky option for behavior in it.

However, the subject's behavior in a dangerous situation depends not only on its objective conditions, but also on how adequately these conditions are reflected in his consciousness. The degree of adequacy of the subject's reflection of dangerous situations largely depends on his individual qualities. Thus, people who are distinguished, for example, by a weak nervous system, usually overestimate the degree of danger and the possibility of its realization. People with a strong motivation to achieve a goal and gain from this are sometimes, on the contrary, inclined to underestimate the level of danger and consider the possibility of its manifestation to be less likely than it actually is. The influence of personal qualities is particularly strongly reflected in the implementation of this kind of choice in conditions of risk in extreme situations. The choice is also influenced by such a quality of personality as risk tolerance. This trait not only directly determines the choice of a riskier option, but also indirectly contributes to it, since it generates an underestimation of possible danger.

Thus, risky behavior is determined, on the one hand, by objectively influencing situational factors, and on the other - by the individual properties of the subject.

Thus, the propensity to risk in combination with motivational, individual-typological characteristics and orientation of the personality mainly determines the general level of a person's resistance to the occurrence of various forms of stress states, as well as certain individual features of experiencing these states and overcoming their consequences.

Given the uniqueness of each person's individual experience and their psychological characteristics, the degree of influence of stressors on their condition varies both quantitatively and qualitatively. From a practical point of view, it is important that each individual has a tendency to respond to similar stressful situations with reactions characteristic of him. Their relative constancy is explained by a certain system of psychological adaptive and protective mechanisms worked out in the process of individual development, which provide more or less effective adaptation to the load.

In psychology, the problem of the influence of difficult situations and consequences that cause stench is analyzed mainly in terms of studying the consequences of frustration, since psychological and socio-psychological factors that represent frustration, in the case of their high intensity, can act as extreme and lead to the development of severe forms of stressful conditions.

The concept of "frustration" is usually defined either as "adverse circumstances that inhibit or prevent the achievement of a certain goal", or as "a state that occurs when it is impossible to implement motivated behavior". In the absence of an object necessary for the satisfaction of consumption, we speak of primary frustration; if the object is there, but the path to it is blocked by obstacles, then this is secondary frustration. Obstacles can be passive (lack of means to achieve the goal) or active (the presence of diverse competing needs) - the latter option is a conflict.

In sports, due to the constant increase in the level of demands of both an individual and his reference groups, there is always a rich ground for frustration. The entire range of needs is subject to tension, from the most primitive to specifically human.

The most obvious case of frustration in sports is the inability to realize goals dictated by the desire for primacy. Frustrating events lead to a certain type of behavior. Thus, the element of psychological struggle, which fate takes in the process of achieving the intended goals, generates the emotion of anger, which, in the absence of the opportunity to direct it "as intended" at sports rivals, can be directed either at oneself, which causes a depressive syndrome, or at the immediate environment, which leads to secondary conflicts. Defeat in sports competitions is perceived as a loss for the ideas about one's "I". The inability to protect it causes anxiety.

The result of frustration associated with the desire to comply with social norms, when the athlete does not justify the hopes placed on him, is the emotion of shame, and with a critical attitude from the outside - anger. The desire to comply with social norms can also serve as a stress-generating factor if a person simultaneously belongs to two or more social groups that make contradictory demands on him. For example, there are situations in which a person must choose between success in sports or in other, for example, educational activities, necessarily meeting disapproval somewhere.

Among the total number of reactions to frustration, of course, positive and negative are distinguished. Positive reactions include constructive solutions, overcoming obstacles that prevent the achievement of the stimulus. Negative reactions to frustration can cause various forms of unconstructive behavior.

In severe stressful situations, some people experience a hysterical twilight state in which they do not realize the full gravity of the situation, while in others, the state of mind is disturbed only after direct stressful influences, when the person realizes what happened.

The most common form of stress reaction to stressful psychogenic influences is reactive, or psychogenic, depression, characterized by pessimism. In threatening stressful situations - humiliation, betrayal, attack, injustice - aggressiveness or toxicosomanic reaction (use of alcohol, for example, to suppress feelings of fear, shame, longing) is often manifested.

To suppress feelings of one's own guilt, awareness of wrong behavior or unpredictability in the occurrence of a stressful situation, some individuals manifest paranoid, hostile reactions, which are expressed in the search for the culprits of what happened.

Another type of reaction, characteristic of especially difficult situations, is hysterical, which is aimed at suppressing or reducing internal tension through dissociation or conversion. During dissociation, a transformation or forgetting of experiences and a change in personality occurs, that is, a temporary denial of the existing personality and the adoption of another life role. During conversion, internal emotional tension is transferred to the motor sphere - paralysis or loss of function of the sense organs. The diametrically opposite is the "motor storm", a hysterical attack.

Reactions without psychomotor impairments are common, but they are accompanied by a dramatic perception in a person that he has suffered a defeat and needs support, help and understanding. These problems are within the competence of clinical psychologists in sports.

Regulation of mental states in sports. Regulation of the state of mental readiness of an athlete

Psychological training in sports

Successful performances in competitions require comprehensive provision of the athlete's preparation, including psychological support.

Psychological support is a set of measures aimed at the special development, improvement and optimization of the systems of mental regulation of the body's functions and the athlete's behavior, taking into account the tasks of selection, training and competitions.

In the psychological support of sports activities, three components are distinguished: psychodiagnostics, psychological preparation, management of the state and behavior in training and competition conditions.

Psychodiagnostics, as the first component, precedes the specific practical work of a psychologist. At this stage of psychological support, information is received from the athlete to the psychologist, which contributes to the high-quality and purposeful implementation of practical work in sports.

Psychological preparation and management of mental state, as the second and third components, is a direct impact on the athlete, that is, information comes from the psychologist to the athlete.

Psychological preparation is a process of practical use of clearly defined means and methods aimed at forming the athlete's mental readiness. Psychological preparation solves the problem of forming and improving the properties, qualities and traits that ensure success in sports activities.

The purpose of the third component - management of mental states and behavior - is to solve the problem of creating favorable mental states: working during training, before competitive and competitive (pre-start, after starting) at competitions.

Psychological preparation is a chronic process, management of states and behavior is a continuation of psychological preparation. It is necessary in acute cases of manifestations of insufficient mental readiness of the athlete.

The problem of psychological preparation consists in solving the issues of ensuring the athlete's psychological readiness for activity in extreme competitive conditions.

The structure of the athlete's psychological preparation, proposed by G.D. Gorbunov, includes preparation for a long training process, general psychological preparation, correction of states before responsible competitions, and special psychological preparation for a specific competition.

Verbal-figurative representation as a description in words and a figurative representation of the predicted competitive situation, the actions of opponents and one's own actions, which is materialized in diagrams, models, drawings, etc.

Natural model - the creation in the training process of conditions that are similar to the conditions of the competition for which the athlete is preparing. These are both attempts at "assessment" and estimates of the "result", and all this - in different halls, at different stadiums and equipment, in different weather conditions and time of day.

It is advisable to teach the athlete to combine these types of models, because it is not always possible to use a full-scale model.

Programming is closely related to modeling, because practically it is carried out on its basis. Programming competitive actions is a search for ways to solve problems that may arise in a competition. If an athlete finds these ways during training (even if it turns out that he made a mistake in something), then his assessment of the probability of achieving success increases, which contributes to the optimization of the mental state. At the same time, it should be remembered that the search for ways and optimal solutions prompts the athlete to adjust the program determined by the goal (the result of the competition), or even change it. This requires the creation of an emergency model of the situation and comparing it with the reference model created in advance during preparation for the competition. If there are significant discrepancies, there are grounds for changing the program of actions.

The use of special training to check preparation involves the presence of two types of training:

comfortable - with an equal or weak opponent;

uncomfortable - with a stronger opponent.

Such training can cause the athlete either a feeling of satisfaction, ease, reduced emotional arousal, or, conversely, a feeling of dissatisfaction. "Comfortable" training is used to increase self-esteem of the probability of achieving success. To encourage the athlete, fix his attention on successful techniques, tasks can even be simplified to maintain the athlete's confidence.

Uncomfortable conditions are used in cases where it is necessary to slightly reduce the athlete's unjustifiably high assessment of his level of readiness, increase his activity, stimulate additional efforts. However, uncomfortable training is not used in the last week before the competition.

In addition to the above-mentioned means, special pre-competitive psychological training uses psychological conversations, rational psychotherapy, etc., aimed at forming the athlete's attitude to this competition, at economizing neuropsychic costs, minimizing risk, and helping the athlete in choosing and using self-regulation tools.

In special psychological training as preparation for specific competitions, such forms as early and direct are distinguished. Special psychological training covers the period of time from the moment when the fact of the athlete's participation in this competition is established (early psychological training) to the last final performance.

Three periods are distinguished:

1st - notification of the competition to information about the draw and schedule. This is the period of information collection.

2nd - before the start of the first stage of the competition. This is the period of building behavior and actions.

3rd - preparation for the final. This is the period of re-processing the information received during the competition, clarifying, and possibly changing the program of actions, ensuring rest, recovery between starts.

Pre-start psychological training can be a subspecies of special psychological training, since we are talking about a specific start at a specific competition. At the same time, it (pre-start preparation) has a certain structure, which can give grounds for considering it as a form of special psychological training.

Pre-start psychological preparation has two important goals: to develop mental skills and abilities and to associate the conditions for improving performance with certain stimuli.

Pre-start psychological preparation includes:

restoration or temporary reduction of the level of arousal through relaxation, calming imagery;

instilling self-confidence through verbal forms: "you are in great shape", "realize what is inherent in you", etc., which are given 5-8 minutes before the start;

reminders about the nature of behavior when going to the start: "smile", "react - or - do not react - to the spectators", etc.;

reinforcement of the attitude to the most effective work,

raising morale, putting all energy into action.

Often athletes use mascots (figures, T-shirts) as

stimuli that operate both before and during performances, helping the athlete

to adhere to pre-start instructions, to link them with previous

successful settings.

Mental readiness of the athlete

Formation of the athlete's mental readiness is the main task of psychological training in sports. The concepts of readiness and mental readiness are distinguished. Readiness is considered as an integral characteristic of the athlete at the moment. As subsystems, it includes physical (energy), special (technical and tactical) and mental readiness.

The closer to the competition, the more mental readiness gains importance, because it is more dynamic, easily changeable compared to physical and special, and, in addition, using psychological influences, it can be increased and thereby can contribute to achieving sporting success.

Mental readiness can be of three types: normal, increased and decreased. Normal mental readiness is readiness for usual activity, which does not require increased requirements. The state of increased readiness is due to novelty, creativity, good health, special stimulation. The state of decreased readiness is associated with manifestations of strong, uncontrolled emotionality of the athlete with distraction of attention, errors in activity.

Mental readiness for competitions is a pre-competitive mental state, the main feature of which is the level of emotional arousal. Pre-competitive emotional arousal arises from the athlete's need to achieve a goal in competitions and a subjective assessment of the probability of this goal.

The subjective assessment of the probability of achieving the goal has a decisive influence on the pre-competitive and competitive state of the athlete. This assessment can range from 0 - when the athlete has no faith in the possibility of achieving the goal, to 1, when he is completely confident in achieving the intended result. In practice, such an estimate does not reach extreme values.

The components of the assessment of the probability of an athlete achieving the set goal are:

his assessment of his own capabilities, which are determined by the level of his versatile preparedness;

assessment (before the competition) of the expected and real conditions of the competition, including the composition and strength of sports opponents;

comparison of the above assessments affects the level of emotional arousal.

Arousal is a general physiological and psychological activation of the body, which has a certain continuum. Highly excited people are characterized by mental activity, increased heart rate, frequent breathing, significant sweating, which can manifest as a state of reduced mental readiness. Athletes often explain their failure by the fact that they failed to overcome excessive excitement, they did not have the necessary level of mental readiness.

Studies show that there is a certain connection between expectations (expectations), self-expectations and the level of sports achievements of athletes. Expectation of victory over a strong opponent, performance of a complex sports element can lead to exceptional performance due to overcoming mental barriers, which, in turn, leads to increased self-confidence.

The combination of the concepts of confidence and expectation has gained its significance in the theory of self-efficacy, which is productive in foreign sports psychology. Self-efficacy - the perception of the ability to successfully complete a task - is a situation-related form of self-confidence (A. Bandura, 1986). According to this theory, effective expectations are associated with emotional arousal. The perception of arousal affects behavior, changes the effectiveness of expectations.

Athletes can interpret an increase in the level of arousal as a manifestation of fear about the inability to successfully perform a sports exercise. If you use relaxation and reduce the level of arousal, then the level of self-efficacy will probably increase, that is, a change in the interpretation of the state of arousal by athletes from negative to positive contributes to this increase.

Therefore, the state of mental readiness of an athlete, formed in pre-competitive psychological preparation, which includes the actualization of confidence, will significantly increase the reliability of his competitive activity.

Reliability is the ability to demonstrate, implement certain qualities, properties of an athlete in conditions of intense sports activity. That is, it is not just a set of certain qualities, but the ability to demonstrate, implement them, which determines the effectiveness of an athlete's performances at competitions (Y.M. Bludov, V.A. Plakhtienko). The presence of certain qualities is not a sufficient condition for success in sports. The core condition for the maximum realization of an athlete's capabilities is such a mental state that ensures the balancing of all processes of regulation of the body's systems and psyche.

The athlete's reliability includes two components:

Functional

The ability to manage oneself in conditions of sports activity; to perform assigned functions with the necessary quality;

Structural

Factors of athlete training (personal, typological, socio-psychological, development of gnostic and perceptual functions, etc. with the allocation of general qualities in sports activities and special ones in a specific sport).

Training factors can have both a positive and negative impact on the processes of regulation.

Mechanisms of mental regulation of the athlete's state

Regulation in a broad sense is bringing something into line with something externally given to it. Regulation of the personality is traditionally considered (Platonov K. K.) as ordering its properties and bringing them into line with the requirements for it. Regulation is a process, it is an influence on mental phenomena (processes, states, properties) in order to maintain or change the nature of their functioning (Nikiforov R. S.).

K. O. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya emphasizes the multi-level nature of regulation, distinguishes levels of mental and personal regulation. The level of mental regulation is associated with the maintenance, mobilization, etc. of mental activity, which acts as a subjective condition for the implementation of real activity by the individual. The personal level covers the ways of including the individual in the activity, his attitude to the activity.

Personal regulation of mental states is carried out in different plans. Personality properties, value orientations, self-esteem, dominant needs and motives, guidelines, intentions - each of them affects the emergence and dynamics of the state. The relationships between the personality and mental states are of the nature of mutual influence - states have a reverse effect on the personality, its development, strengthening some qualities, weakening others; on the emergence and restructuring of motives and goals.

The central link in the relationships of personal qualities with the characteristics of mental states is the attitude towards oneself, since it is it that determines the parameters of the dominant mood. Also important is an active attitude to the life situation, the readiness of the individual to overcome obstacles, satisfaction with self-realization.

The structure of psychological regulation of athletes' activities according to L.M. Abolin (according to the meaning of the concept of regulation) includes such components as experience, goal, subjective model of significant conditions of activity, assessment of controlled conditions of activity, choice of tactical plan, preparation for its implementation, direct implementation of the program, correction. Psychological regulation has a double conditionality:

factors of activity, which include external and internal stimuli;

factors of accumulated experience, a characteristic feature of which is the emotional assessment of the conditions of activity, of what is valuable and significant for a person.

The meaning of the regulation processes lies in the selection of goals of action and coordination of appropriate programs for the implementation of these goals. Hence, important for the study of regulation mechanisms, their effectiveness is the ratio in the system "level of aspirations - level of achievements", which finds its manifestation in mental self-regulation as the self-activity of the individual and self-regulation of his mental states in particular.

Mental self-regulation of states can be of three types: emotional, volitional, and voluntary. Emotional self-regulation, being one of the main types of mental self-regulation, provides a general mobilization of all body systems, and this mobilization is not always optimal, because increasing emotional arousal above a certain level causes the opposite effect, disorganization. Volitional regulation is a mechanism for fine-tuning human activity, its object is the organization of mental functions in extreme conditions in order to preserve or restore the necessary organization of physiological and psychological functions.

Mental self-regulation becomes the most developed form of self-regulation of the individual's state, when it includes various means of action and masters a system of various methods of voluntary self-regulation of the state.

In sports psychology, the concept of emotional-volitional regulation is most often used, and this is not accidental. Studies show that athletes distinguish 49% of the difficulties as objective (technique, tactics, fatigue, etc.) and 51% as subjective (fear of competition, sports equipment, loss, low results, insecurity, etc.). Objective difficulties are overcome mostly due to training, and among the subjective ones, inadequate emotional reactions and states that are not suppressed by simple desire, but require their arbitrary regulation, come first.

Mental regulation is a set of measures aimed at forming a mental state that contributes to the most complete realization of the athlete's potential.

If the level of emotional mood coincides with the start, this is the most favorable state;

The 1st level of regulation is the state of combat readiness. All components of the state function as a single system, and the necessary regulation is aimed at preserving this integrity.

The 2nd level of regulation is used, comes into effect when one of

the components of the state necessary for a successful performance is insufficiently expressed.

The 3rd level of regulation is classified as incomplete mental readiness. Significant deviations are recorded, but with sufficient special and functional training they are amenable to correction and optimization.

The regulation of states should differ depending on the typological features of the properties of the nervous system. Athletes with a weak nervous system are recommended to be praised and encouraged more often, and not to react to their failures. Athletes with a strong nervous system, if they have not fully demonstrated their capabilities, can be critically discussed, without fear of causing them to lose their mood.

In the process of mental regulation, a change in mental activity and self-activity is carried out. Three main mechanisms for regulating mental states are distinguished:

imagination;

muscle relaxation;

word.

Changing mental activity, that is, influencing the involuntary functions of the body, which are regulated by the autonomic nervous system, will be effective in the conditions of creating a specific representation that causes excitation of nerve centers. Representation of action causes the same effect on our nervous system as real experience.

Using the corresponding representations of sensations, with which a person previously had certain emotional states associated, it regulates the manifestations of the state that is necessary for achieving success, influencing the activity of internal organs.

The mechanism of representation, as retrieving fragments of information from memory from various experiences and creating meaningful images, can be used to reduce the level of anxiety, develop confidence, increase concentration, and recover from injuries. Thus, the representation of recovery from injury is associated with faster recovery rates in injured athletes.

Representations of actions program muscles to action, since all our emotions are manifested in a certain change in the activity of internal organs and muscle tone; feelings, experiences are transformed into muscle work.

Muscle relaxation is always an indicator of positive emotions, a state of calm, joy, balance

Deep muscle relaxation can weaken or even stop negative emotions along with changes in internal organs. Constant exposure to stressful conditions creates the prerequisites for the loss of skills of involuntary relaxation and the appearance of persistent muscle hypertonus.

As a result of relaxation, the overall level of activation decreases, the tendency to the emergence of defensive emotions (excitement, anxiety, anger, etc.) weakens. Relaxation contributes to the emergence of positive emotions, a sense of calm, satisfaction, prepares the nervous system for rest, leads to a decrease in the tone of the smooth muscles of internal organs, the cardiovascular system and the musculoskeletal system.

Thus, achieving complete muscle relaxation (relaxation) is the second mechanism of influence on the involuntary activity of internal organs, changes in mental state.

Against the background of relaxation, as a result of a decrease in the tone of the cortex, autosuggestion is easily recorded. As is known, at the moment of mental excitement, the muscles involuntarily tense. In some cases, excessive excitement overstrains the muscles so much that the ability to control them is lost, concentration and focus of attention decrease. When the brain relaxes, the skeletal muscles also relax. The more tense the muscles, the more active they are, the more impulses go from them to the brain and the more it becomes activated.

The more relaxed the muscles, the fewer impulses come from them to the brain. And when the brain receives fewer and fewer exciting signals, it begins to calm down, plunging first into passive cheerfulness, and then into drowsiness.

The perception of a word, mentally directed at oneself, against the background of a reduced tone of the cerebral cortex changes the mental state. The word can cause emotional reactions, which are accompanied by a change in physiological functions. A word can cause functional changes in the body, provoke a disease or, conversely, cure it.

In conditions of reduced tone of the cerebral cortex, the action of the word and its influence on the emotional state and other physiological processes increases sharply.

"There is a grace-filled power in the consonance of living words," - these words of Lermontov best emphasize the action of the word, the grace contained in words, the grace that manifests itself in prayer. Prayer brings peace, strengthens the spirit. The history of Olympic sports is marked by the feat of Greg Louganis, a four-time Olympic champion in diving. Before each jump, the athlete freezes for a few moments on the springboard; with his arms folded in front of his chest, he whispers the words of prayer. Having received an injury during the jump, he found the courage to continue the competition and emerge victorious. This was appreciated at the Olympics as a manifestation of high spirituality.

That is, the use of words against the background of reduced cortical activation to influence the involuntary functions of the organism, experiences and behavior, and therefore, the mental state, is the third mechanism of state regulation.

This is suggestion and autosuggestion. In the regulation of self-activity, the use of words is autosuggestion. Directed autosuggestion of the desired mental state occurs with the help of formulas of the optimal state - organizing formulas of autosuggestion - based on the principle of feedback that exists between words and the real facts that gave rise to these words. The use of such formulas characterizes a higher mental mobilization, which is associated with concentration and focus of attention.

These mechanisms form the basis of almost all methods of mental regulation and self-regulation. The only difference is in the ways that lead to achieving a drowsy state and concentration of attention and in the means of mastering them, which is revealed through the basics of training psychological skills in order to avoid dissociation, the discrepancy between the real and optimal mental state. The magnitude of this discrepancy is determined in the process of psychological training of the athlete based on psychological control.