When a boxer is well psychologically prepared and confident in himself, he is able to mobilize, correctly assess the situation and successfully solve problems.
Boxing as a sport makes extremely high demands on the psyche of an athlete. It is much easier to achieve a certain level of physical and technical-tactical readiness for a tournament than psychological readiness.
The state of psychological preparedness plays a special role, it is often decisive in a fight. An athlete who does not know how to cope with excessive excitement on the eve of entering the ring, unsure of his abilities, during a fight will not be able to quickly mobilize and act rationally.
On the contrary, if a boxer is well psychologically prepared, calm, confident, easily controls his mood and actions in battle, he will be able to mobilize, correctly assess the situation, take into account their own and the enemy's capabilities and successfully solve tactical and technical problems.
In psychological preparation, his individual qualities are brought to the fore; therefore, the trainer must be sufficiently erudite in the field of psychology, pedagogy, physiology and medical supervision in order to thoroughly study his ward and most individualize training, taking into account his abilities and conditions of their development.
At present, it is customary to divide the psychological training of an athlete into two stages - the stage of general psychological training and psychological preparation for the competition. Both of these stages are interconnected, at the same time, each of them has its own characteristics that must be taken into account in the methodology of sports training.
At different distances, this feeling among boxers is not the same. In combat at medium and close distances, muscular-motor perception is of primary importance for assessing the distance to the enemy. At long distances, this feeling depends on the level of development of visual perception, the speed of reaction.
Boxers should be aware that a good sense of distance will enable them to defend and attack more successfully. The best way to develop a sense of distance is fighting in pairs. In conditional fights, the coach must give tasks that require the correct determination of the distance to the opponent, which will contribute to a conscious and active attitude of boxers to work on the development of a sense of distance.
A boxer, conducting a fight with a partner, must constantly train himself to follow the slightest changes in the distance between him and the opponent and clearly fix the moment when the distance is suitable for the attack.
The timing of the attack requires the attacker to have a sense of distance, which is associated with a sense of timing.
Sense of time is determined by the characteristics of the course of physiological and mental processes in the body. The balance of the processes of excitation and inhibition creates the prerequisites for keeping from untimely movement.
Some boxers have an excellent sense of timing and know how to choose the moment to attack when the opponent is no longer able to avoid a blow. Thanks to a developed sense of time, a boxer is able to estimate the duration of a round, a break, and separate time intervals of hostilities and rationally spend his strength. It can be developed mainly in a fight with a partner, when it is necessary to accurately determine the time for strikes and defenses, as well as in exercises on fast-moving apparatus (ball on rubber, pneumatic bags and on paws).
A sense of body position. During the fight, the boxer is constantly looking for a comfortable starting position for attacks, defenses and counterattacks. The ability to control the position of your body in relation to the enemy creates the prerequisites for successful combat operations.
Feeling of freedom of movement. One of the hallmarks of a boxer's skill is the ability not to strain too much, in difficult conditions to be free and at ease.
Feeling of shock. The most important quality of a boxer is the feeling of a blow, associated with the perception of speed and taking into account the moment the fist touches the target. The boxer must learn to hit different strengths, speeds and lengths and from different starting positions.
The hardest to learn is strong, punctuated punches. The Boxer must be confident that he will shock the opponent with his kick.
The knockout effect of a blow depends on the ability to deliver a blow at the moment when the enemy does not expect him, on the accuracy of the blow, the force of the blow, and the place of impact. In addition, the blow should be delivered with that part of the fist that provides the greatest rigidity.
Attention is the direction and concentration of mental activity on some subject. The most important properties of attention are intensity and stability. The Boxer must be extremely attentive during the fight. The trainer monitors for cases of a drop in intensity, concentration and stability of his attention. Without heightened attention, it is difficult to correctly perceive and process information, think productively, respond in a timely manner to a change in the tactical situation and control your activities
Maintaining a high level of attention requires a large expenditure of nervous energy. When the body is tired, the intensity of attention decreases due to protective inhibition.
The speed of reaction. “A reaction is a conscious response, in which an athlete knows in advance about the upcoming actions and prepares in advance to respond to them in a certain way” (P. A. Rudik)
Each boxer has a certain type of motor reaction associated with a characteristic distribution of attention: psychologists distinguish between sensory, motor and neutral reactions.
In the sensory type of reaction, the boxer's attention is mainly focused on unraveling the opponent's plans and foreseeing his actions. In this case, the athlete often misses the opportunity to attack, defend and counterattack in a timely manner.
Boxers with a motor type of reaction focus mainly on their own punches or defense, and not on coordinating their actions with the actions of the opponent and his intentions. As a result, they hurriedly and often not quite deliberately attack and defend themselves prematurely.
With a neutral type of reaction, the boxer's attention is distributed both on his own actions and on the actions of the opponent, as a result of which the boxer switches from attack to defense and counterattack in a timely manner. As mentioned earlier, a boxer is characterized by complex reactions, which greatly complicates, but at the same time diversifies tactics.
Boxing is characterized by a deep interconnection of various mental qualities, such as a sense of distance with a sense of time and speed of reaction; or a sense of ring orientation with a sense of distance.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that mental training is the main one in mastering technical and tactical skill.
Boxing Federation.
