Raising Competition Performance Levels Analysis of competitor feedback 7 March 2013

1. Raising Competition Performance Levels Analysis of competitor feedback 7 March 2013

2. Introduction – Aim of the session • Key Factors when assessing feedback • The difference between heats and finals • The difference between the competitors perception and the reality • The limited sample group • All of these questions relate to the competition itself not external factors

3. Did you enjoy it? - Heats

4. Did you enjoy it? – The Skills Show

5. Was the competition too hard? – Heats

6. Was the competition too hard? – TSS

7. Was the competition too hard? – Heats/Score

8. Was the competition too hard? – TSS/Score

9. Was the competition too hard? • Much greater confluence at the Final Stage although those who thought it was hardest did worse and vice versa • Bizarrely at the heats those who though it was hardest did best? Know enough to know they don’t know enough? Possible correlation with mindset. Liberation?

10. Did you feel nerves affected your performance? Heats

11. Did you feel nerves affected your performance? Heats • In heats it appears to be better to be complacent than nervous; those who were very nervous scored 6.6% lower than those who said they weren’t nervous at all pointing to the conclusion that nerves are more damaging than complacency • It appears that a small amount of nerves are the best place to be with those who answered (2) scoring the highest. Both appear to be damaging although we could say on balance complacency is less damaging than nerves as (61.25 compared to 55.4)

12. Did you feel nerves affected your performance? TSS

13. Did you feel nerves affected your performance? Finals • Those who identified most strongly with nerves affecting their performance scored almost 11.7% higher than those who said it didn’t affect their performance at all • Those who claimed nerves did not affect their performance have actually scored lowest overall. Reaching capacity? Again linked to liberation? • Conclusions • Nerves don’t affect the high performers as much? • The impact of TSS, a lot of people commented the big stage was intimidating and hampered performance but the figures don’t seem to bear this out? • ?

14. Did you receive pre-competition training? Heats

15. Did you receive pre-competition training? TSS

16. Did you receive pre-competition training? • Heats - It is not surprising that those who identified themselves as having the most pre-competition training scored the highest (nearly 12%) higher than the next best performing group. What is surprising however is the relative equality between the other groups and the fact that the next highest performing group were those who identified themselves as having received no pre-competition training. This could indicate that a little training is more damaging than none as it may make the competitors less self-reliant or lead them to do inadvisable things. Maybe if they don’t do enough it causes them to learn too many skills at insufficient depth rather than concentrating on what they are good at. • Finals - The average scores for the different levels of pre-competition training are much closer together. As expected, those with little or no such training have scored on average around 4% less than those who consider themselves to have had adequate training. A surprise is that those who identify as having had full pre-competition training have scored almost the same as those who have had none at all, and the best average scores have been received from those who have identified themselves as having a good amount of training (category 4) • Note – Finalists in general identified as having far more pre-competition training

17. How well did you manage your time? Heats

18. How well did you manage your time? TSS

19. How well did you manage your time? • Heats - Time management is vital to competition success. Those who said they managed their time very well scored on average 28% higher than those who said they didn’t manage it well at all. • Finals - Unlike in the heats, there seems less correlation between the reported time management and the actual scores. Those who said they managed their time very well scored on average almost identically to those who said they didn’t manage it well at all (69.33% and 69.52% respectively).

20. If you started the competition again tomorrow would you do better? Heats

21. If you started the competition again tomorrow would you do better? TSS

22. If you started the competition again tomorrow would you do better? • Heats -This negative correlation is indicative of a sense that those who performed less well did not necessarily do so because they didn’t have the skill to but because the made mistakes (time management etc) on the day. Those who gave a score indicating they would do somewhat better (4) scored the lowest on average which may indicate that they were operating at a closer level to their capability than those who did better but had the potential to really succeed. This points to two distinct groups: those who failed on the day (a larger group) and those who did not have the skill to perform to a very high level and did less well (smaller) • Finals - Much more steady findings although those who identified most strongly with this question scored lowest perhaps indicating specific errors.

23. Conclusions • The simplest and easiest thing you can do to improve competition performance is manage your time well. (28% in heats) • Pre-competition training can have a significant impact (11%) but need to make sure that this is done correctly else can be detrimental. • Competitors are good judges of their own performance • Nerves are a significant problem at the heats and less so at the final but complacency is also damaging. • Those who perceive the competition as hardest do best. Brings the best out of them? • Competitions not only test skills but improve them (62% feel they have improved their skill level by competing) Resilience, handling pressure etc

24. Any other thoughts? ? What other questions could we ask?