Sport Psychology in the Media
Oh dear, oh dear, another ghastly portrayal of sport psychology in the media!!! In today’s Times, a double page spread about British tennis hopeful, Anne Keothavong relates her experience with an American sport psychologist, who told her to talk to a tree. Well, it is possible that this idea has been taken out of context to dramatise the story. Maybe the tree idea was just a metaphor for understanding all the elements required for elite performance. The result is still the same. Sport psychology is portrayed as new age mumbo-jumbo. Unfortunately the world of sport psychology is clouded by all sorts of untrained individuals armed with a few tricks from a weekend course in the latest fad for life changing nonsense.
The article goes on to say that Miss Keothavong has found some help from Dr De Souza, who is described as a GP and life coach with an interest in sport psychology!!! Well if the LTA has a multi-million pound budget, why is our number one woman tennis player getting her psychological support from an amateur dabbler without formal psychology training? Never mind whether that is within his code of ethics!
The profession of sport psychology, as practised by fully trained psychologists specialising in this area, draws on scientific research and evidence combined with mainstream psychological theories of behaviour change to help athletes with their sport and well-being. Qualified practitioners have made significant contributions to our Olympic success and to many areas of professional sport. They do not use mumbo-jumbo or psychobabble. They work confidentially and professionally and do not rush to the Daily Mail as soon as one of their clients improves three places in the world rankings, and they do not recommend conversations with trees.
All sport performance has a psychological element. There is no need for a debate about whether it constitutes 10 percent, 20 percent or 70 percent. Anyone who is serious about improving their performance needs to consider all of the elements and work on each of them systematically. Winning only requires the tiniest of margins as does losing! To lose because you missed out on a key element of your training and preparation is just naïve.
Each performer contributes their own work on how they think about their sport. Good coaches will understand much of the science of developing psychological skills, but for the full professional service covering performance skills,team dynamics, counselling and support with lifestyle issues, get a
professional.
p.s. I do not have any control over the adverts on this page and would not consider many of them to be formal psychology training.
Alastair Evans-Gordon M.Sc.
Sports-IQ
Sport Performance Consultancy
alastair@sports-iq.com
07831-426-928
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Comments
I was at an AGM where a respected practitioner suggested a higher level of subscription so that funds could be pooled for a marketing budget. Of course, the academics voted against it.
At least now bona fide professionals have a platform to get their message across. We don't vet members for qualifications, because membership isn't restricted to the professionals, but because it is a public & democratic platform the membership could point out or challenge inappropriate or misleading content by commenting.
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Rob Robson
Co-founder, iStadia.com
What matters is getting results and if one has the qualifications, accreditation and proven experience to back that up then any professional organisation should be hung, drawn and quartered for not matching their best athletes with those sport scientists (sport psychologists or otherwise) that give those athletes the best chance of succes - it's not as if there is a shortage of sport psychologists, is there?
Of course good management would ensure that it's not just about proven success but that the practitioner gets on with said athlete and communcates in a way the athlete understands. In other words it's not just about what you know but how you get it over. Any athlete that doesn't get on or understand his/her sport psychologist is onto a loser no matter how good/qualified/proven the practitioner is.
It would be good to hear the LTA's side of the story. It they can find Roberto Forzoni (top man) for Andy Murray, then surely they can find someone as good (wel, almost!) for Anne Keothavong.
Keith Irving
Anova
Keith
Keith Irving
iStadia