How to Coach Yourself and Others Essential Knowledge For Coaching | Page 95

Sports
Flow may occur in challenging sports such as Eventing.
The concept of being in the zone during an athletic performance
fits within Csíkszentmihályi's description of the flow experience,
and theories and applications of being in the zone and its
relationship with athletic competitive advantage are topics
studied in the field of sport psychology.
Timothy Gallwey’s influential works on the "inner game" of
sports such as golf and tennis described the mental coaching and
attitudes required to "get in the zone" and fully internalize
mastery of the sport.
Roy Palmer suggests that "being in the zone" may also influence
movement patterns as better integration of the conscious and
subconscious reflex functions improves coordination. Many
athletes describe the effortless nature of their performance while
achieving personal bests – see references.
The Formula One driver Ayrton Senna, who during qualifying for
the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix explained: "I was already on pole,
[...] and I just kept going. Suddenly I was nearly two seconds
faster than anybody else, including my team mate with the same
car. And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car
consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a
different dimension. It was like I was in a tunnel."
When challenges and skills are simultaneously above average, a
broadly positive experience emerges. Also vital to the flow state
is a sense of control, which nevertheless seems simultaneously
effortless and masterful. Control and concentration manifest
with a transcendence of normal awareness; one aspect of this
transcendence is the loss of self-consciousness.

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