Once, while still a student, I took part in a rock climbing competition. There I saw that some athletes do such a thing: they look at the track, raise their hands as if holding on to the holds, and muscle micromovements are visible. And then the same thing, but with eyes closed. Can you guess what they did? Yes, we walked the route in our imagination. They visualized it. “Does it work?” I asked them then. “Of course! but few people do it,” was the response of the athletes. This was about 15 years ago. And the American Olympic team brought nine sports psychologists to the 2014 Olympics. One of the main goals of psychologists was to help athletes with visualization. Today it seems obvious to me that in addition to improving physical and technical skills, it is also important for an athlete to use techniques and exercises that will make him stronger mentally and psychologically. What are these techniques? This is training in visualization and awareness. In studies conducted at the US Olympic Training Center (Murphy, Jowdy, Durtschi, 1990), you can see interesting results: 90% of Olympians use one or another method of visualization, according to 97% of these athletes, their use has a positive effect for sports results. 94% of coaches working with Olympians use visualization in their training sessions, with 20% doing so during every session. I believe that visualization has enormous potential for improving athletic performance. I’ll start today by talking about this technique and how it works. What is the essence of visualization techniques in sports? In creating mental images corresponding to the sporting event in which the athlete is participating, in the mental representation/visualization of positive results, desired effects and sensations. The mental image includes a visual picture, as well as other sensations (touch, smell, kinesthetics, touch, hearing) What do athletes visualize? For example, competitions with mental living from beginning to end; complex elements; finishing moment; living the moment of victory. Athletes performing in technically complex sports (such as gymnastics, ski jumping, etc.) imagine every moment of the upcoming event in their imagination. Athletes use visualization to improve both physical and psychological skills. With the help of visualization you can: Increase concentration. Develop confidence. Control emotions. Practice a sports skill or complex element. Train strategy. Reduce pain and recover from injuries. Increase the likelihood of getting into a flow state. How does it work? An athlete's visualization and his real training cause identical brain function. Scientific experiments have shown that people who only imagine specific actions and do not do them in reality still experience an increase in muscle strength. The same applies to other indicators: speed, concentration, etc. Visualization helps build neural networks that correspond to the event that is being represented. Neural networks are unique patterns created by millions of interconnected neurons. The connections they create can direct the movement of energy along a specific route, an incredibly complex network. It takes time to build it. And it is precisely these routes that are created and strengthened during visualizations and real training. Every time we perform an action or imagine it over and over again, stable connections are formed between neurons. The more often we do this, the stronger and more stable they are - this is how a network is formed that is responsible for the accuracy of performing any action or pattern of actions. When such networks become stable, certain patterns of behavior, reactions, thinking patterns, and emotional reactions arise. The human brain has a unique ability to rebuild itself, create new connections and networks - this is the gift of brain neuroplasticity. The brain is capable of neuroplasticity at any age.