4 | channel the change

Mike Campbell gave an interview where he explained how Tom Petty channelled Steve Miller to create “You Don’t Know How It Feels”.

Although some Petty classics are sprinkled throughout the tracklisting, like ‘You Wreck Me’, his new label Warner Bros didn’t think there was anything great to sell to the radio. It’s not like they didn’t have a point either, with most of the tracks being on the acoustic side and morphing into jam sessions sometimes.

Looking to put together a hit, Mike Campbell remembered Petty returning to the drawing board while listening to The Steve Miller Band, recalling in the Wildflowers documentary, “There was a discussion between me, Rick and Tom that there wasn’t really a hit on this record. And somebody said, ‘what sounds like a hit?’ and somebody else said, ‘That Steve Miller song ‘The Joker’’. Tom went home with that idea and then came back with a song”.

Tim Coffman, “The Tom Petty Classic Influenced by Steve Miller”

The example got me thinking about parallel approaches for athletes. Yes, there are examples of athletes who create very specific alter egos for performance - former NFL defensive back Brian Dawkins and his Wolverine persona is my personal favorite - but what about channelling as a tool for learning?

I see several potential upsides to such an approach:

1. Assisting athletes in making technical changes: Having athletes channel other performers may provide an easier path to technical changes than explicit instructions about how to move their bodies. Channelling would be similar to analogy or holistic cues, which may be advantageous for learning and performance (e.g., Zhuravleva & Aiken, 2023). Additionally, if it isn’t working, you can just “change the channel.” If “shoot like Steph” isn’t getting the desired adjustment, maybe “shoot like Dame” will!

2. Exploring emotional self-management techniques: Having athletes channel the personality and on-court demeanor of known professionals, or even teammates, may provide a boost to existing mental skills training approaches. Imagine the potential value of experimenting during practice with a “LeBron James mindset” or a “Victor Wembanyama mindset.” You could even take it a step farther, create mental game superheroes, and have athletes experiment with different roles.

3. Creating more adaptable movers: The recent success of coaches such as Alex Sarama highlights the value of contraints-led approaches, and sport scientists such as Harjiv Singh help highlight how variability in training can be a feature rather than a bug. Channelling is an easily understood and easily implemented constraint and also somewhat of a cheat code for adding variability into training.

4. Decreasing fear of failure: When performing as themselves, failure might take on a greater weight for an athlete. We know there may be value in taking a third-person approach to self-talk (Moser et al., 2017), so why not a third-person approach to technique? It may shift from the perspective from “Why am I missing these shots?” to “How many shots can I make like Steph? Like Dame? Like Rick Barry!?!”

5. Increasing athlete engagement: Training in sport can be monotonous. Many in the field of mental performance will argue that athletes simply need to learn to embrace the boring. I would counter that by suggesting that there is nothing wrong with making practice more interesting, and, dare I say, fun.

In the Tom Petty example, the artist was able to explore new outcomes by channelling someone else. In other words, he channelled change. He tapped into a known entity that had an existing form to achieve the creative equivalent of a gravitational pull towards a place he may not have been able to travel otherwise. And, if the effort didn’t work, he could always just change the channel. When looking to help athletes move differently, or even respond more effectively to the ups and downs of the sport, it may be worthwhile to try something similar!

Ivor T.H. Tso, James C.L. Law, and Thomson W.L. Wong. 2022. Music-assisted training for dart throwing novices: post-training effects on heart rate and performance accuracy. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 29(1), 120-133.

summary: Tso and colleagues examined the effects of different types of music during dart training on heart rate (HR) and throwing performance in 45 novice dart throwers. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) slow music group (SMG); (2) fast music group (FMG); or (3) control group (CG). Each participant completed a pre-test (15 throws), a practice block (10 sets of 15 throws each), and a post-test block (15 throws). During the practice block, participants listened to music based on their assigned group. The FMG listened to a playlist of songs at 120 beats per minute (BPM). The SMG listened to a playlist of songs at 60 BPM. The control group practiced with no music. Average heart rate and dart throwing accuracy data were collected during the pre- and post-test throws. Tso and colleagues found statistically significant increases in HR from pre- to post-test in both the FMG and CG. They found no statistically significant differences in dart throwing performance, but did note that SMG participants had the highest mean improvement in scores compared to the other two groups. FMG showed the least improvement. Tso and colleagues also reported a significant moderate and negative correlation between the pre-test to post-test change in heart rate and the change in total dart-throwing accuracy scores. In other words, a fall in heart rate was associated with an increase in accuracy. According to the authors, these results suggest that listening to slow-paced music during training inhibited increases in heart-rate and may have improved dart-throwing performance.

potential application: Research often leaves with you questions or ideas but seldom provides answers. This study fit that mold. For me, it made me think about the music that athletes may be drawn to ahead of competition. At times, they may seek out music that reflects their energy, excited, or nervousness. That may not always be in the best interest of their performance, however. This study suggests that there may be a benefit to looking to direct your pre-game energy rather than simply reflecting it. Anecdotally, I can think of two former clients who found success by shifting to mellower forms of music for their pre-game playlist. I also recall my former colleague John Kilbourne and his use of music to enhance his strength conditioning efforts with Philadelphia 76ers during their 1983 championship season. Additionally, this study brings to mind the story of boxer Audley Harrison, who found that listening to Japanese classical music ahead of matches helped ease his anxiety (Karageorghis, 2017). In short, this study may not offer definitive solutions, but it may spark discussions that can help athletes discover how their choices in training or pre-game music influence their performance.

In an online clip, basketball Hall of Fame member Chris Webber describes making a beat for Nas. Anecdotally, Webber illustrates that interests outside of sport don’t necessarily prevent an athlete from still achieving greatness within sport. Most interesting to me, however, is what Webber says about how he connected with the lyrics in the track from Nas. Webber says he “heard [his] basketball career through the words of the song.” It speaks to the role that art can play in finding or making meaning. Whether through consumption or production, music may help athletes access insights or make emotional connections that would be difficult or impossible to reach otherwise.

Tupac continues to offer modern observations from the grave, so we will keep pulling on that thread in this issue. A line from “Keep Ya Head Up” has popped up on several of my feeds over the last year and a half:

They got money for wars
But can't feed the poor.

Monday of this week was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so it seems fitting to also include “lyrics” from his library that pre-date Tupac’s.

A nation that continues year after year, to spend more money on military defense then on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

from The Three Evils of Society, August 31, 1967

For this playlist, I explored some artists who channel a character as performers. I went with the ones that I had on my radar but google suggests there are many, many others I could have added. If you can think of other tracks worth including, shoot me a message or drop them in the discussion below!