Visualisation in sports and athletic achievement refers to the mental process of imagining or mentally rehearsing a physical activity without actually performing it. It's a widely used technique in sports psychology that helps athletes improve performance, build confidence, and manage stress by vividly imagining successful outcomes or perfect movements.
Visualisation involves engaging the senses sight, sound, touch, and sometimes even smell to simulate the experience as if it's happening in real life.
Visualisation Applied to Surfing
For surfers, visualisation can be a powerful tool to enhance both performance and mindset. Surfing is not just about physical ability but also requires timing, balance, and decision-making in unpredictable environments.
Improved Surfing Technique
By visualizing the perfect form, from paddling to catching a wave, a surfer can mentally practice technique. For example, imagining the fluid motion of standing up on the board, positioning the correct stance, helping to reinforce muscle memory.
Increased Confidence
Surfing can be intimidating, especially in big waves or new locations. Visualisation allows surfers to mentally face challenges before encountering them. They can imagine themselves conquering waves, boosting confidence when it comes time to perform in real conditions.
Surfing demands a calm yet alert mind. Visualisation helps surfers stay focused by mentally rehearsing technique or set combinstions of turns. This lowers anxiety and enhances the ability to remain relaxed in high stress situations.
Overcoming Fear
Visualisation can help surfers face their fears by repeatedly visualising themselves successfully targeting critical sections or air rotations. This mental preparation can reduce fear responses and improve composure in critical moments.
Visualising a Surf Session and Surf Technique
Imagine lying on the sand before heading into the water. Close your eyes and mentally rehearse the perfect bottom turn to top turn combo. See yourself paddling toward the line up, feel the cool water against your skin, and hear the sound of the waves. Imagine the moment dropping into a perfect wave, the weightlessness, the engagement of the rail, the drive and squirt through the fins performing a deep carving bottom turn, gliding the forearm across the face of the wave, looking up to see way above you the lip hooking out and holding that rail before extending out, projecting the front foot to and above the hook.
By doing this, you are priming your body and mind to execute these movements more smoothly when you actually hit the water.
Incorporating visualisation into a surfer’s coaching routine can enhance athletic achievement, making movements more efficient, improving mental state, and allowing them to execute coaching objectives.
Justin West Coaching is a surf coach of several WQS and CT elite surfing athletes as well as coaching hundreds of improver, intermediate and advanced level surfers. He has travelled all over the world running surf training camps and is currently living and coaching in Portugal where he has run surf coaching sessions in the Algarve, to Alentejo and as far North as Ericeira for the last 10 years.