The Multi-Action Plan Intervention Model

The multi-action plan (MAP) intervention model has been developed to help athletes attain optimal and consistent performance. The MAP conceptualization originates from different theoretical views. These include the optimal experience framework, the mindfulness-acceptance-commitment based approach, the individual zones of optimal functioning model, and the identification-control-correction program. The MAP model identifies four performance categories deriving from the interaction of optimal/suboptimal and automatized/controlled performance dimensions. In an optimal/automatized (type 1) performance state, the athlete experiences high levels of physical and mental energy, and tends to execute actions in an effortless, smooth, and consistent manner. Competitive stress, fatigue, or unexpected performance difficulties can enhance the performer’s attention to movement execution and reinvestment in conscious processing, thereby leading to disruption of movement automaticity and, ultimately, decreased (type 3) performance. Poor (type 4) performance can also occur in conditions of low task involvement and, consequently, ineffective movement coordination. Finally, distress, fatigue, or unexpected events can trigger functionally optimal states and action-tendencies, provided that the athlete is able to “mindfully accept” his or her state, focus on the individual’s core components of the action and, therefore, enter in an optimal/controlled (type 2) performance state.