Week 5 - Goal setting

The aim of this week is to look at goal setting in more detail with the client by setting some more advanced goals such as the ones learnt through previous weeks. These include SMART goals, types and lengths of goals. This weeks meeting took place at the client's place of education, Loughborough College, as this is where the client will be learning about goal setting and it will be a more familiar location.

After the client watched the video (shown above), I asked them to set a performance and a process goal they would like to achieve. These types of goals would be more beneficially to the client as they have a huge positive effect on motivation. Performance goals are more precise than outcome goals as they have a specific goal they want to achieve and they also encourage the development of mastery which would improve the client's motivation levels. Process goals help focus attention as individuals have complete control of their own goals; these goals can be established to map the route to achieving the desired performance goals.

Setting performance and process goals in this week of the PST programme shows progression from the 3rd week as the client only set a more simple outcome goal in that phase. This progression shows the client has been educated well and acquired the skills to enable them to set these types of goal. 

The client has set a performance goal to improve on their shooting accuracy. This is specific to their position as they play as a striker and it can be measured by the percentage of their shots on target. This can be practiced during training or in a match situation and monitored by the coach and the client can then gain knowledge of whether or not they have achieved their performance goal from previous performance or whether it needs to be adapted. Adapting or changing goals to make them harder or easier, depending on where the client is at, can have a positive effect on motivation which is what the PST programme is aiming to increase. 

The client has also set a process goal to improve on their technique during a free-kick situation. The client is the free-kick taker in their team and improving this would be beneficial for both themselves and their team. The free-kick set piece can be broken down into the starting position, the run up to the ball, the planting foot, the connection with the ball and the follow through. Improving these processes of the set piece will work towards their performance goal to increase the accuracy of their shooting and also to score more goals. These processes can be assessed by the coach or me, the sports psychologist using video analysis which will clearly identify the process in which the client needs to improve on. This will be fed back to the client in the final week of the PST programme as well as feedback on other goals and his music playlists.