It was only five months before the 2014 Winter Olympics when Team GB snowboarder Billy Morgan ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his right knee during practice. He was medically advised that the injury required an operation, but with the recovery time for an ACL op lasting a minimum […]
In many elite sports, it is considered common-place to manipulate one’s body weight and composition prior to a competition or tournament. This is typically achieved through a combination of acute and chronic practises which involve a state of negative energy balance and dehydration, commonly known as “drying out”. These strategies are typically employed by sports […]
After drawing in an away match to West Brom, after the game, Liverpool Manager Brendan Rodgers looked forward to the following week’s fixture with Arsenal due to the home advantage they had been receiving in the season. Rodgers stated that “I sense the belief, we love playing there” when he was asked how he felt […]
“Forget all your phases of play and technical practices. You first need to light a fire under players.” (Craig Short) ‘Psychology’ is an evocative word. To the layperson, it looks like something that is beyond their comprehension, something that is best left for academics and thesis writers, just like the rest of the ‘-ology’ disciplines. […]
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999) is a form of behavior therapy that incorporates the concepts of mindfulness, acceptance of thoughts and emotions and values-driven behavior into traditional behavioral change principles. From an ACT perspective, psychological dysfunction is primarily the result of the tendency to misapply problem solving and language to […]
For those who don’t know, I’m a trainee sport psychologist based in South East England. I’ve been on the British Psychological Society’s (BPS) Qualification in Sport and Exercise Psychology (QSEP) since December 2013 and this is the story of my journey to becoming a sport psychologist. This article is aimed at individuals looking to become […]
The penalty kick is widely considered the most anxiety-provoking situation in all of football. Whether it be a schoolyard match at the local grade school or the final of the World Cup, the pressure on the goalkeeper or the shooter can cause players to second-guess their abilities, shatter their confidence, and ultimately fail the situation […]
We’ve all seen it or heard about it – stories of top football coaches shouting, throwing things all in the name of getting the best out of their players. From Sir Alex Ferguson’s legendary temper in the changing rooms, to Graham Taylors’ touchline fury broadcast in the 1994 BBC documentary ‘An Impossible Job’, you could […]
Penalites. It is one of the cruellest methods of deciding a victor in any sport. Both ecstasy and agony in a heartbeat. A hero and a villain. One team running to celebrate with dedicated fans, and another team in despair, disappearing down a dark tunnel. After 120 minutes of intense end-to-end football the game must […]
Internal dialogue or self-talk, as it is most commonly referred to in sport psychology, is an occurrence nearly every athlete experiences. Although positive self-talk is possible, typically, our thoughts and self-statements are negative and consciously appear at the most inconvenient of times. However, it is when we fuse with these thoughts that they become influential […]