{"id":1038,"date":"2019-10-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/headstart-how-to-make-that-playbook-stick-in-the-athletes-mind\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:27","slug":"headstart-neuroscience-memory","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/headstart-neuroscience-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"Headstart: How to Make That Playbook Stick in the Athlete\u2019s Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n\t
\n\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t
\n \n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n Oct 24, 2019 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Headstart: How to Make That Playbook Stick in the Athlete\u2019s Mind<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
Category<\/div>\n Human Performance<\/a> <\/div>\n
\n
Share<\/div>\n Facebook<\/a>\n Twitter<\/a>\n Email<\/a>\n Copy Link<\/a>\n
https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/headstart-neuroscience-memory\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

In this fourth instalment, Optios discusses declarative and implicit memory and how neuroscience can optimize an athlete’s cognitive workload.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

\n

An article brought to you in association with our Partners, Optios:<\/p>\n

\"Optios<\/p>\n

\n

Optios, formerly The Platypus Institute is a pioneering leader in the field of maximizing elite-level sports performance based on neurocognitive assessments and has extensive experience working with coaches and athletes. For more information click <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cStudy your playbook<\/a>,\u201d is the no-nonsense advice that Tom Brady \u2013 the quarterback with the most record-breaking wins in NFL <\/strong>history \u2013 gave to a seemingly distracted rookie player during an Instagram exchange at the start of the Patriots\u2019 current season.<\/strong> <\/span><\/h4>\n

Learning a playbook and ‘making it stick\u2019 is one of the most important (and daunting) challenges for NCAA Division 1 College level and professional football players.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rugby players understand the importance of the NFL playbook, too. Earlier this year \u2013 in an interview with the National Rugby League \u2013 Australia\u2019s Jarryd Hayne (formerly of the Parramatta Eels) who played American football for the San Francisco 49ers, gave some advice to another rugby player turned NFL draftee, Jordan Mailata.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can go into the NFL and understand a little bit of what you\u2019re going to learn, but until you sit down in a room and see the playbook, the defensive schemes, it just blows your mind,\u201d Hayne said. \u201cI went in there with some idea, like \u2018oh yeah, I kind of get it\u2019 but not only do you have to learn all the schemes, you also change them every week. And it\u2019s not one of those things where you get time to learn and change them; it\u2019s like \u2018BOOM we\u2019re doing this now\u2019 and you\u2019re expected to know it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The cognitive skills footballers use to make the playbook stick can be applied to any team sport that requires learning a specific sequence of plays that are part of strategic game plan where every player acts like a cog in a well-oiled machine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“From complex playbooks to weekly preparation for an opponent’s tendencies and formations, memory is key to success,” Tom Nugent of Optios Neuro said in a recent interview. “Football has historically been known as a game of inches, with an emphasis on the physical. To be continually successful in today’s game, having the best physical game won’t be enough. To us at Optios, it’s a game of mental milliseconds. Whoever remembers the fastest, correctly reacts to the play as it unfolds, and makes accurate decisions quickly, wins.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Mental milliseconds are what separates the good from the great,” Nugent continues. “Lightning-fast processing speed is just one facet of how NeuroPerformance training is changing the competitive landscape in sport. At Optios, we work with teams and players to help them access their internal database and recall information correctly, quickly and effortlessly.”<\/span><\/p>\n