Written by Perception… it’s as simple as knowing where to offload your no-look pass, or is it?
How do we know which space to move into on court? Where to receive the ball safely? How to position ourselves to evade a defender or take an intercept? Perception is everything in netball—and most sports. Psychology has a lot to say about it, so let’s get into it.
The Psychology of Perception
Looking back at early psychologists, we recognize Sigmund Freud (known as the father of psychology), who believed our perception of the world is shaped by the subconscious mind. Why mention Freud? Because without him, later psychologists might not have explored perception as deeply as they did.
Later academics developed theories built on these original concepts. Such theorists include, James Gibson’s Ecological Theory of Perception which suggests that athletes scan their environment for the best option without conscious thought. David Marr’s Computational Theory of Vision states that athletes process visual information faster than non-athletes. Lastly, Richard Gregory’s Constructive Theory of Perception argues that experience and learned expectations improve an athlete’s ability to anticipate movements and react faster.
How Does This Relate to Netball?
Sports psychologist Dr. Derek Panchuk combines these theories into practical training. He suggests that the technical aspects of sports should be mastered in adolescence so that, by the mid-teen years, the focus can shift to visual perception training.
Visual perception in sports is the ability to read the game and instinctively know your role in a given moment. Take Coach Jenny van Dyk, the Proteas’ national coach—her team trains up to 15 different center-pass variations. This means that in any scenario, players recognize the next play. Van Dyk sets up first-, second-, and third-phase plays so that her team can visualize each step: first phase (center pass), second phase (goal third pass), and third phase (pass into the circle). This is perception training – repeating scenarios until players automatically recognize and adapt to game plans.
Training Your Perception
So far, we’ve focused on team perception training. But what about you as an individual? Our minds are our strongest asset – they can remember, interpret, and act in ways we don’t fully comprehend, which is the essence of psychology.
Next time you’re training, put your perception to the test. Set up cones in a square and run a specific pattern through them. But the challenge is to only take one look at the cone you’re running toward, then shift your gaze to where the ball would be coming from. Can you still hit your target cone without directly looking at it? You might be surprised at the results – I’ve tried and tested this myself.
Conclusion
To wrap things up, we can see how perception is a concept that has been developed for decades, with coaches only recently implementing this type of training in high performance sports. Considering these recent findings toward athlete development, keep in mind that perception is something that needs to be trained. It might not click immediately, but with repetition, it will improve—or maybe you already have a natural ability for it! In our next blog, we’ll dive deeper into individual perception and how to sharpen visual perception both on and off the court.