Zone Mind and the impact on game awareness

As a high-performance trainer, I work with coaches and athletes in multiple sports, and that allows me to see that high-performance strategies are identical across all sports.

One of the most intriguing human abilities that shows up consistently has been referred to as Quiet Eye, a term coined by Dr. Joan Vickers of Calgary, Canada. It is the human ability to focus intensely and act skilfully, while being tuned into the whole playing area.

Much emphasis in Quiet Eye has been focused on the role of the eyes — whence comes the name —and, although the eyes are not inconsequential, they are merely a part of the greater process that is going on here. It is a bit like calling a car an “ignition” because it gets your car started. Or calling it a “fast” because that is how it moves.

The quietness of the eye is one of a thousand indicators — others are adrenaline, oxygen regulation and body temperature — that are indicative of one being in this ready state where we function in an optimum state of mind. Hence, I’ll trump Dr. Vickers’ name choice and refer to the process as Zone Mind (ZM), which, when you have the opportunity to experience it, you’ll understand why. 

The main reason I’ve coined the term Zone Mind for this process is because focusing on the eye alone can lead us to some misdirection and misunderstanding. Dr. Vickers describes the visual performance benefits of having someone adjust their eyes in the few seconds before throwing a free throw in basketball or setting up to shoot a clay target. However, I’m going to go a mile further and say that much more is better.  In reality,  you need to be living in ZM all the time, not just when you step onto the foul line, station, post, court, ice rink, diamond or pitch. 

The Dilemma

The outcome of Dr. Vicker’s research (where she used miniature cameras to track the eyes) was a rather straightforward strategy whereby basketball foul-shooters paused for an optimum period of time to prepare their eyes before shooting the shot. The results were phenomenal in the consistency of the resulting shots—except Dr. Vickers missed a salient point (pardon the pun).  

If setting up in ZM for the prerequisite amount of time worked so well for foul shots in basketball, the remaining action shots such as jump-shots, lay-ups, overhead shots and pivoting shots, would have no setup time. Hence the dilemma of the “optimum” time to set up is obvious, as the game is not going to stop for any basketball player.

In my discussions with various coaches, a nice metaphor for ZM emerges. ZM keeps the brain functioning like an efficient computer. And, every time there is a change of visual re-focusing (such as refocusing on the time clock or an opponent or your teammates), it creates a jarring effect in your computer mind and interrupts or reboots it.  

Let’s put this in the basketball context, and count the number of reboots of a less skilled player. He watches the ball as he catches it (1). He looks at his opponent in the face (2). He looks to the basketball net to check if a shot is a possibility (3). He looks to the shot clock (4). He looks to a teammate to make a pass (5), and then another (6) and then a third (7). He looks to the shot clock again (8). He looks to his opponent again (9).  He looks to the basket and shoots (10). With this many reboots, the player is particularly inefficient. And, oh, he misses the shot. 

Professional players, on the other hand, stay in ZM all the time. They see the passer, opponent, teammates, clock, basketball and net all at the same time (1) in a peripheral gaze. Their brains run efficiently for the entire game in this mode and they know precisely where everyone is on the court. And although they are aware of the shot clock, they probably have an internal one that is more accurate. With no rebooting, the result is obvious;  they swish the shot effortlessly. The solution is obvious. Athletes must stay in Zone Mind all of the time.

ZM has a Long History

In my training in the martial art of karate, I learned that ZM is described in ancient literature as “looking at the mountain in order to see the person (in front of you)” or, in Zen literature, “looking in the pond and seeing the mountains.” Your eyes immediately adjust with each to get you into Zone Mind.  

My professional and Olympic athletes confirm that time does appear to slow down and their reflexes appear faster, and they seem to be able to predict the movement of targets, balls or people with uncanny accuracy. They speak of being observers in their own competition where everything appears to be moving more slowly and targets and nets appear huge. And they all report that self-talk (positive and negative) disappears, the brain becomes quiet and skills run on autopilot. And, of course, it is something you live in all of the time.  

Getting into Zone Mind

ZM is easy to get into. But, like any skill, it must be practiced in order to be sustained.  To experience ZM::

• Look at a distant object such as a telephone pole. (It works just as well to imagine one if none is present.) Bring your index fingers directly in front of your eyes at arms length and look through them to the pole. The fingers will be unfocused, while the pole will remain focused.  
• Slowly move your arms outwards to the sides of your body, while you continue to stare at the pole. It may be necessary to wiggle your fingers to keep them visible, as you move your arms to the sides of your body.  
• Stop your fingers at the edge of your peripheral vision. You will now see the object in the distance and the wiggling fingers to the sides of your head, at the same time.  
• Leave your arms extended and notice a sense of observing everything. Notice how quiet your brain is.  

This is Zone Mind (Quiet Eye or “looking in the pond and seeing the mountains).” It may feel quite different initially, but drop your arms and continue to hold this gaze for as long as you can and experience the wonder of all you can see. Imagine yourself in your game (following a ball, tracking a clay target, tracking an opponent), and notice how your eyes lock on to it. Most importantly, get comfortable with Zone Mind through your visualizations and enhance your game by applying it on the court, range, field and court.

Ways to practice ZM

You can build competence with ZM outside of your game: 

1. Drive your car and notice how you can see the road ahead and the road behind at the same time (with the help of the rearview mirrors, of course). The best NASCAR drivers use ZM all the time. 
2. Find a basketball court (even if you are not a basketball player) and throw some hoops. First do it by constantly refocusing (rebooting the mind) between ball and basketball net. Then shoot in ZM where you are looking peripherally and the net is in the center of the big picture. Compare the two experiences.  
3. For those of you who are coaches, test ZM out when you are training your students. Notice how it gives you much better information about your students than when you are constantly looking from student to student. It will provide some very interesting perspectives and be a model for your students as well.  

Summary

ZM will feel different initially, so you’ll have to practice it to make it feel normal. Once you’re comfortable with it in practice sessions, test it out in your game. Your brain will be quiet and focused. Time will seem to slow down. Your target will seem bigger and slower. Quite simply, when ZM transforms your game, your Zone will never again reboot and you’ll feel unstoppable. And, with lots of experience, especially in competition, it will become an automatic part of your high-performance game.