When Erik ten Hag took over as Manchester United manager a couple of years ago, he strode down the sideline at an empty Old Trafford one day and said there was an immediate change he wanted to make: the staff needed to rip out the heating mechanisms for seats in the dugout.
The ground is unlike most other football stadiums in the world, and a quirk of the configuration meant the technical areas, where managers are allowed to stand to yell instructions to their players, weren’t symmetrical.
The away team’s traditional area actually straddled the halfway line, meaning the opposition manager, in ten Hag’s eyes, had a better view of what was happening on the pitch. The United dugout was a few metres away, and confined to one half of the pitch – which, he reasoned, gave him an inferior view of the action.
So, ten Hag put the club’s ground staff on notice: they had to remove all the heating for the chairs in United’s dugout, used to keep reserve players and officials warm in the frigid English winter, and reinstall it for the other side, where he would now set up shop.
Shrewd thinking or plain lunacy? The jury might still be out on that one, as ten Hag faces another season trying to fight off the sack. But if nothing else, it was an example of the nth degree to which professional sporting teams will go for an edge.
Chances are if you watch an NRL game this weekend you will see the latest one per-center to hit rugby league teams – not entirely new, but being used more than ever before: deep breathing during games.
Like the camera cutting away to the cute kid holding up a sign begging for Nathan Cleary’s boots, the latest television grab is a team of NRL players, locked arm in arm, taking deep breaths in the middle of the field.
Two of the technique’s biggest advocates, the Bulldogs and Dragons, are the NRL’s two most improved teams this year. Their players muster in a circle after scoring a try (or behind the try-line after conceding one), shut their eyes and take two or three deep breaths. The top four-bound Sharks are also converts, while the pioneers – the Warriors – have continued with the ritual they introduced many years ago.
Mindfulness, the buzzword for improving a person’s mental state, was pushed hardest in the sporting space by rugby union’s legendary All Blacks. They took it a step further when they crashed out of the 2007 World Cup as overwhelming favourites, shrinking under the weight of a nation’s expectation.
The story has been told before, but it’s worth telling again: they developed a system whereby players could either be known as blue heads or red heads. Blue heads would be calm and process driven, worrying less about the result of a match than their next task. Red heads were bogged down in levels of stress and anxiety, not clear on their next duty and worried about the outcome.
Some of their players developed personal triggers to prevent them becoming red heads. Richie McCaw would press down with a foot really hard into the ground to release negative energy when something went amiss during a game. Brad Thorn would spray his face with water.
But above all, they began breathing together during a stoppage.
“The players weren’t that receptive initially, because they hadn’t been exposed to that [mindfulness],” says Gilbert Enoka, the man who helped build the All Blacks dynasty through his psychological coaching, and worked with Michael Maguire in NSW’s successful State of Origin campaign this year.
“You could either perform under pressure, or you couldn’t. It wasn’t considered something you could develop. But the breathing was part of changing that perception. Managing your breathing actually altered your body system.”
Gilbert Enoka (centre) with All Blacks coaches and the Bledisloe Cup in 2016.Credit: Getty Images
The science behind its effect can be quite complex, but is broken down into two branches of the automatic nervous system: the sympathetic and parasympathetic. The former prepares the body for fight or flight during stress, but the latter is what athletes target given it can slow down the heart rate and relax muscles.
“The breathing does three or four things for me when I look at it,” Enoka says.
“One, it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is important for lowering the levels of stress and the hormone cortisol. It helps clear the mind, which keeps people focused during those intense moments.
“If you do it well, it increases your oxygen intake, so you get more oxygen into the brain and into the muscles. That’s very helpful for people performing.
“But the key thing for me is it creates a pause, which helps the leaders be clear about the messaging they want to get across. You’ve got an emotional reset, but a pause for messaging to be given.”
Enoka argues the breathing undertaken by most NRL teams might not even be the optimal routine, suggesting they should be seeking to engage the diaphragm, or “belly breathing” as he calls it, more than just the chest (which he says still has significant benefits).
On Saturday, the stakes won’t be much higher for a bunch of teams trying to make the finals. The Dragons need to beat Parramatta to stay in pole position for their first finals berth since 2018. The loser of the Broncos-Dolphins derby in Brisbane will see their season end. The pressure and expectation will be immense.
“We know there’s science behind it which suggests it can help improve performance,” Dragons coach Shane Flanagan says. “We did a bit of it at Manly last year, and it was one of the first things we discussed when I came here.”
Says forward Tom Eisenhuth: “We use it as a chance to reset and get together. We all get on the same page. Teams might have different reasons for doing it and people have different ideas. We take a second to calm down and focus on the next job. The players see it as valuable now, and we’re trying to drive it.”
At the start of the season, Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo told his players they would be spending more time working on “above the shoulders”, or improving their mindset. Part of that would be breath work during a game. Their defensive mindset has completely changed, leading the NRL this year after being porous last season.
“It’s just a sort of a presence mindset, and sometimes obviously it’s a high fatigue game,” prop Max King says. “You’re puffing and you’re blowing and you’re sort of worrying about the next thing, and it’s sort of two deep breaths and, ‘What’s next?’
“It’s usually before team chats, just so you can be present, get the knowledge that’s being spoken, and act it out. I think it’s been really great for us.”
with Billie Eder
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