World Snooker Championship Final 2012

So, just 13 short months after declaring his intention to retire from the game for good, Ronnie O’Sullivan is, for the fourth time, World Snooker champion, beating Ali Carter 18-11 in Monday's final.

What has become well publicised over the past couple of days is that Ronnie hired Dr. Steven Peters to assist him with his mental approach to his game. The effects have become very noticeable. Throughout this year’s final, Ronnie exuded a calmness and confidence which has often been his downfall in the past. What interested me most, however - watching the final as millions of others did - was the contrast in both players’ ability to handle their emotions and take their opportunities throughout the contest. While Ali Carter will reflect on many missed opportunities, Ronnie seemed to avail of any that came his way. So, the question is – how can sport psychology assist in this area, and what can we learn from it?

From a sport psychology standpoint, it is first important to understand the following concept:

“Thoughts effect feelings, and feelings effect our behaviour”

Let’s give a simple example. You've got a big exam in the morning. While you've studied very well for it, you begin to doubt how much you actually remember. You try to recall the facts you should know, but you get some wrong. You start to feel a bit worried because you want to do really well. You start to read over things again and now nothing makes sence - even stuff you thought you knew. Your panic grows - what if you fail and have to repeat the whole year? After a lot of study, you go to bed at an ungodly hour but you can't sleep. You toss and turn all night. Your heart is pounding, you feel hot, and your stomach is in bits! You get up, down a strong coffee and try to study more! It's no use, nothing is going in! All you can think is "I'm going to fail everything"! When you arrive at the exam room, you overhear other students talk about things you're not sure you've even heard of! They all seem so confident! You have leave the room because you suddenly feel ill! Your hands are shaking, you can hardly even speak! You even consider just leaving and going home again.

Clearly, you are in no state to perform at your best in the exam. Despite being well prepared, your original doubts have brought on a set of feelings, and these have in turn affected how you act. Instead of trusting your hard work and knowledge, your little doubts have grown and affected your feelings, which have in turn influenced your actions. Remember - you haven't even seen a single question on the paper yet!

In a sporting context, our mind can be very good at throwing up all sorts of thoughts. This is particularly relevant in a sport like snooker, where a player can sit for minutes on end - watching their opponent - and very much alone with their own thoughts. In psychology, we call these inner conversations, "self talk". For a confident player, many of these thoughts can be enabling. He may, for example, be eagerly waiting for his next chance to play, thinking of the next ball he’ll pot, imagining the crowd applause as he hits the perfect shot, or another big break. This positive self talk will energise the player, keep him relaxed – but not too relaxed. When he does get an opportunity, he will be in the right frame of mind to make the correct decision, play the correct shot, and play it well. “Thoughts – Feelings – Behaviour".

Alternatively, when things are not going too well, these thoughts can be very negative. It is very common in snooker to see a player sit, shaking their head as they reminisce on a simple pot they just missed, or a poor safety shot that let their opponent in. This is an outward sign that this player is focusing on their mistakes. This negative self talk can lead to less enabling feelings. Maybe that mistake has given the opponent another frame. This focus can lead to increased worry, or in psychology speak - increased anxiety. Along with a whole host of changes that occur in our body; muscle tension increases, heart rate increases, sweating increases, and our ability to make good decisions is reduced. None of these are conducive to good performance (in sport, or in exams!), and so the player misses another simple pot, misjudges the pace of a safety or, quite simply, plays the wrong shot!

So, why do I mention all of this? Well, let’s take a look at Monday’s frames in the world snooker final. Monday is the decisive day where the final will be won or lost. Going into the day’s action, Ronnie O’Sullivan led 10-7. He won the 18^th frame with a break of 105 to go 11-7 ahead. This is the report of the next 10 frames from the BBC. Count how many times it mentions a mistake made by Carter...

“Carter missed a relatively straightforward pink to hand his fellow Essex player the next frame, and the next two frames followed a similar pattern.

In the next, Carter had three chances to secure the frame but missed them all, before the 32-year-old, with only the colours to clear, missed two attempts at the yellow to allow O'Sullivan to surge into a 14-7 lead.

At that stage it looked like O'Sullivan might win the match with a session to spare, but Carter avoided that ignominy, returning after the mid-session interval to take a scrappy frame before raising his arms in mock triumph.

Having steadied the ship, Carter complied a battling 105, his first century break of the final, before reducing the gap to four courtesy of a break of 53. But O'Sullivan refocused, making a run of 64 to lead by five frames.

After the restart, O'Sullivan demonstrated his superior safety game once again, waiting for Carter to make a mistake before taking the frame with a run of 70.

Carter took the next, capitalising on a missed black by his opponent to chisel out a frame-winning break of 64, only for O'Sullivan to hit back, moving to within one frame of the title with breaks of 26 and 46 after some errant safety play from Carter”

In his post match interview to the BBC, Carter stated “Tonight I was just trying to make a game of it, I didn't do anything wrong there, I had one chance and won the frame from it, in the other ones I didn't have a sniff.”. Clearly the facts of the game do not accurately reflect this analysis! It is, of course, somewhat speculative to suggest what might have been going on in Ali's mind. We can only observe his behaviours - his performance - and try to interpret what his thoughts and feelings might have been. The evidence does suggest, however, that he was performing at a level far below his potential.

Sport psychology can have a massive influence on performance in these situations. Clearly Ali Carter is a superbly talented player. After all, he was playing in his 2^nd World Championship final this year! In his semi-final, his potting and safety play were outstanding. The problem for many sports people is producing skilled action under the most pressurised situations. This is what often separates the winners from the losers, and this is where sport psychology can help.

Sports people can be taught to recognise when they are experiencing anxiety - often, we are simply unaware of just how our minds, and bodies, are reacting! Some anxiety is normal and we have to learn to recognise it, and not be afraid of it. It is important to stay in the moment, and not start to think of what might happen. Players can be trained to control their thoughts – to stay in the present, and to focus on more positive and enabling thoughts. Through controlling our self talk, we can learn to stay positive, remain confident and improve our ability to perform when it really counts. 

There are also many Relaxation techniques and tips which can be used to reduce anxiety, and these can be practiced and learned like any skill. These include simple breathing exercises, and more advanced techniques like Progressive Muscular Relaxation. Clearly, this attention to the mental side of performance is something that Ronnie O’Sullivan has learned – and the sight of him performing at his very best, at the highest level, and lifting his 4^th World Championship crown was something truly wonderful to behold.