From Psychology...until the fun games

2. Psychology before the game
Frosso Patsou
Ph.D, M.Sc Psychologist – Sport Psychologist
www.idealpsychology.gr
Bekas Vagelis
BSc. Fitness in Football Specialist
UEFA B licensed Football Coach
FIFA11+ Instructor
Fitness Coach in Panathinaikos FC
Fun games

3. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Cognitive
Physical
Anxiety before competition
Fun games

4. Explanation of the previous slide
 Stress is a multidimensional concept, where two of its four dimensions are cognitive and
physical stress. What we observe is that 4 days before the competition the cognitive stress is
quite high. That is, the negative thoughts and doubts that exist in the athlete's mind are in high
percentages. Physical stress, ie physical symptoms such as trembling, tendency to vomit are
not so strong.
 Two days before the competition the cognitive stress continues to rise, respectively the physical
stress also rises but it is still much lower than the cognitive stress. A few hours before the
competition /game the physical stress has reached almost the same levels as the cognitive
stress. What we understand is that the symptoms that athletes experience in their body just
before the competition are mainly due to the negative thoughts and doubts that they reproduce
in their minds all week about the difficulty of the game.
1. Smith, R. E., Smoll, F. L., & Schutz, R. W. (1990). Measurement and correlates of sport-specific cognitive and somatic trait anxiety: The Sport
Anxiety Scale. Anxiety research, 2(4), 263-280
2. Giacobbi, P. R., & Weinberg, R. S. (2000). An examination of coping in sport: Individual trait anxiety differences and situational
consistency. The sport psychologist, 14(1), 42-62.
3. Horikawa, M., & Yagi, A. (2012). The relationships among trait anxiety, state anxiety and the goal performance of penalty shoot-out by
university soccer players. PloS one, 7(4), e35727.

5. 0
5
10
15
20
25
Tension Depression Vigour Hostility Anger Confusion
Scores
Scores
Fun games
Ideal Psychological Profile in Sports

6. Explanation of the previous and forward slide
 The ideal psychological profile that we want the athlete to have is to have low
scores on tension, depression, confusion, fatigue and hostility while we want to
have high scores on vigor.
 What we see is that after a loss, the psychological profile is totally different from
the ideal profile. Athletes score high enough in tension, depression, confusion,
fatigue and hostility and very low in vigor.
1. Ziv, G., & Lidor, R. (2013). Psychological preparation of competitive judokas–A Review. Journal of
sports science & medicine, 12(3), 371.
2. Cumming, S. P., Smoll, F. L., Smith, R. E., & Grossbard, J. R. (2007). Is winning everything? The
relative contributions of motivational climate and won-lost percentage in youth sports. Journal of
applied sport psychology, 19(3), 322-336.

7. 15 15
5
17 17
15
0
5
10
15
20
25
Ideal Profile
Loss
Draw
Victory
Fun games
Ideal Psychological Profile in Sports

8. Fun games
😊 HAPPINESS HORMONES 🧠
 Research has proven there are four hormones that promote well being—
ultimately happiness. They are the 4 hormones in D.O.S.E.
 Let's look at each hormone. 😊
 ✨Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and is responsible for many functions, including
memory, sleep, mood, pleasurable reward, behavior, and cognition.
 ✨Oxytocin is a special chemical in your body that helps create the feeling of
falling in love.
 ✨Serotonin made from the essential amino acid tryptophan that sends signals
between your nerve cells.
 ✨Endorphins are known as the body's "natural opiods" that can make a person
feel happy and relaxed.
Neuro+science

9. Fun games….In my mind
‘Feel Good Hormone’

10. Fun games
 Fun games in sports, especially football, can be defined as:
 All those forms of exercise, which through the creation of competitive playful
conditions, promote the mental health of the athlete and in particular the technical and
tactical progress of the footballer during the training process.

11. Fun games
 Fun games in football and depending on their subject matter can be
characterized as:
Technical
Fun games
Tactical
Fun games
General
activation’s and
dynamic warm up
Fun games

12. Fun games
 Fun games in football and depending on their place in the daily training cycle
can be characterized as:
Warm up
Fun games
Basic part
Fun games
Recovery
Fun games

13. Fun games
 Fun games in football and depending on the fitness parameters they train can
be characterized as:
• Aerobic
capacity
exercise
Fun games
• Strength
general or
specific
Fun games
• Speed
• Movement
• reaction
• Decision making
• implementation
Fun games

14. Fun games
 Fun games in sports and especially in football, when should they be used and
when should they be avoided?
 Do they have a coaching status? Those ,are they measurable as fitness
parameters (work-rest-reps-set)?
 Are they measurable as technical performance factors?

15. Fun games
Rest day
Recovery – technical day-
Technical demands game
Strength –HIIT training
day- Game for aerobic
capacity
Conditioning Day- High
intencity competitive game
Tactical day- Tactical
position and build-up game
Reaction day-Make a
decision + sprint game
Game day
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Monday
Teusday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saterday
Sunday
% load of intencity per day
Weekly Periodization of Fun Games

16. Fun games
Competitive
Perceptive
ability
What Fun
Games require?
Making
Decision

17. Fun games
Competitive
performance
Speed
(Reaction, execution,
movement)
Making Decision
Psychological
condition of the
athlete
What can we
improve with
Fun Games?

18. Fun games
 Are They Better, Than What?
Fungames
Than the general
warm up?
Than the scheduled
passing drill?
Than the tactical
routine?

19. Fun games