British Olympian uses Street Fighter IV to hone skills
London 2012 British hopeful Tyrone Robinson playing Street Fighter IV to improve chances of medal
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Wednesday, 25, Feb 2009 02:57
One of Britain's London 2012 hopefuls is using videogame Street Fighter IV as part of his training.
Tyrone Robinson, a bronze medalist for taekwondo in the European Championship, has turned to the Xbox 360/PS3 game as part of his daily training.
Robinson, 22, regarded as one of Team GB's brightest Olympic hopes, is using the game to sharpen his coordination, speed up his reflexes, mentally rehearse his moves and develop his fight planning.
"I'm never going to be able to throw fireballs in the ring like the characters in Street Fighter IV, but I can still try some of the crazy kicks they do," he said.
"It's a good way to relax at the end of a hard day's training and great to have a tournament with friends."
Taekwondo coaches support his use of the game, since sports psychologists reportedly accept that mental rehearsal can dramatically improve results on the field.
Des Blackburn, the performance analyst for Great Britain Taekwondo, believes Street Fighter IV is an ideal mental trainer.
"To complement their physical training our athletes are also encouraged, in their spare time, to play this type of game, as it is known that doing so can increase their attention span, depth perception and hand-eye coordination; though this is always recommended as an addition to their physical training and never as a replacement," he said.