The Circle of Attention

For players in a Competition

If you are a competitive table tennis player, it is important to recognize that there are many things in a competition environment that can divert your attention, and you can end up worrying about all this different stuff. For example, the spectators, your parents, your teammates, the rating of your opponent, your phone, etc. These can all become distractions that make your “circle of attention” big.

You might also have thoughts about mistakes you’ve done on previous competitions, or perhaps, you have expectations about what should happen in the upcoming match, if this is the case, you then also have unhelpful elements of “the past” and “the future” which make your “circle of attention” even bigger (and perhaps even create other problems).

It is important to realize that having a “big circle of attention” will almost definitely diminish your capability to perform to the best of your abilities, in other words, "weaken your performance". So, what should you do? Essentially, you should do the opposite, and that is, keeping your circle of attention rather small, focusing predominantly on yourself, and having inside your circle only those relevant things you need at the time. One might ask: What are those relevant things I shall keep inside my circle of attention? The answer is: The things that help you perform to the best of your abilities and are within your control.

It is also worth to note that your circle of attention changes throughout the competition. This means the “content” inside your “small circle” varies depending at what stage of the competition you are at. For example, if you are having a lunch break, your circle of attention shall be different than if you are about to start a match.

In simple words, your goal as player is to “Narrow your circle of attention”. This is easier said than done, and to achieve this, previous work needs to be done, first in recognizing what are those things that help you perform your best, and second, develop positive habits and routines that help you stay on your “small circle”. You might try to achieve this by yourself, however, there is a high chance you won’t be able to, or it will take you too long, and for these reasons, you might want to consider having a coach or a sport psychologist that can help you.