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How to be a great captain

Posted by Capsul Tube Wednesday, September 14, 2011 0 comments

Welsh golfer Nigel Edwards has just captained the GB & Ireland team to victory at the 2011 Walker Cup.

In our latest guest blog, he shares his key success factors that he shared with the team before they went on to triumph on the Balgownie Links of Royal Aberdeen Golf Club.

TEAM

· Golf is more often than not an individual sport. When we come together it’s important to build that team spirit.

· I stress with the players that each person has an effect on the team so it is important to have a positive attitude

· I make sure that the different pairings socialise and spend time in each other’s company

· Everyone has to be part of the team. The players need to feel part of the team. The very best players in the team have a role to play as well as those players who aren’t playing so well. Those playing well have a responsibility to lead the team and support those not playing so well and likewise those not playing so well have to support the others.

· A player is rested not dropped – the players and management need to understand this process. The player that is rested has to support and cheer on the others for the good of the team. One player cannot win the Walker Cup. However, one player can ensure the team loses the Walker Cup.

· Egos have to be left at the door – players will not always be able to do what they want to do. They won’t be able to practice on their time frame.

· I ask players to play their own game and not to do anything different to any other week.

· Expect your opponents to play well and hit good shots, expect them to hole putts but don’t be in awe.

· Fit in to the team, accept you will have to do “other” things, this is not just about YOU.

· I don’t expect any whingeing or complaints – whether it’s about hotel, food, missed putts etc

NERVES

· Handle the nerves, don’t be afraid of them, everyone will be nervous so be prepared for them and DEAL with them when they come. Accept the facts and hit one shot at a time and don’t get caught up in what’s going on around you.

· Don’t let selectors and outside influences affect your play. Embrace it and prove your qualities.

· Nerves help you to focus.

· Nerves bring a clarity of thought.

DISCIPLINE

· Golf is not a game of Perfect by Dr Bob Rotella.

· Discipline is being able to do simple things day after day, week after week, year after year.

· Discipline is key to any professional athlete – training, nutrition, practice etc

· Just focuses on the target

ATTITUDE

· A great attitude is key to success – before, during and after a round or tournament.

· Stick to your routine on every shot.

· You should be fresh to go when you wake up.

ENJOYMENT

· This week will be one of the greatest experiences of your lives. You are in a very privileged position of being a Walker Cup player.

· YOU ARE SPECIAL

· I want you all to have a great week, this is a really enjoyable experience and I have been privileged to have been part of four teams, two winning teams and I can honestly say that you will look back on this week with great memories. Friends you make on the opposing team and friends you make through golf.

· There will be thousands of people out there wishing and wanting you to do well and wanting you to hit great golf shots, hole long putts and be successful.

· Lads ENJOY this wonderful experience.

What do you think? How do you inspire and prepare a team?

Role of psychology after a sports injury...

Posted by Capsul Tube Tuesday, August 23, 2011 0 comments

With injuries hitting the Wales rugby camp, we tracked down Sport Wales’ Dr Joy Bringer to discover what role sports psychology can play in rehabilitation...

Joy is a Sport Psychologist, working full-time with elite athletes and coaches at Sport Wales in Cardiff. She is a Chartered Psychologist and is accredited to the High Performance Sport level with the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences.

In her role, she has travelled to the Athens and Beijing Paralympic Games supporting British athletes., and has been appointed as the Lead Sport Psychologist for ParalympicsGB for London2012. She has also been an integral member of Team Wales at the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games.

How traumatic can it be to have an injury?

If the injury is career threatening, it can have a massive impact. Often you find athletes whose whole identity is sport. If that is suddenly taken away from them, it can be devastating.

That’s why we recommend a life balance in which studies, career or hobbies also play a part. So when things aren’t going so smoothly in sport, there are other things to focus on. And that’s true for anything – not just sport. If you’re 100% devoted to your job and you get made redundant, it’s understandably a huge blow. For those that have other interests, it is easier to adapt and move forward.

It all really depends on how serious an injury it is and the perception of the injury. If you have the confidence and belief that you will come back from the injury, it’s more likely that your recovery will be quicker. So confidence is vital!

What sort of issues crop up after suffering an injury?

· The loss of confidence – questions pop up like, “am I going to get back to where I was before?”, “Are my competitors getting ahead of me?” “Will I be as good as I could have been?” “Am I going to recover in time?”

· The fear of losing out on your dreams. If you’re moving towards the Olympics for example, there is the fear of not being selected and that may have been something you’ve been dreaming about and working towards since you were a child.

· The fear of re-injury, especially in similar situations.

· The feeling of isolation. Teams can be like a tight knit family. If you get injured and you’re not able to train or compete, you can be taken away from that and leave you feeling like you’re missing out.

· Lack of motivation – if you’re constantly getting setbacks, and there may well be setbacks within the rehabilation programme, you can feel that you’re never going to make it happen and then you it’s easy to lose motivation and think “ why bother?”

How can psychologists play a part in overcoming these issues?

By working closely with the rest of the support team – coaches, physio, nutritionist, strength and conditioning coach, psychologists can help athlete set realistic and appropriate goals. If your focus is just on getting back to where you were pre-injury – that can be a too distant goal. It’s important to give yourself credit for little improvements you make every day.

We can also help an athlete stay in touch with the rest of the team so they don’t suffer from that feeling of isolation.

Psychologists can also help athletes believe in the rehab programme as well as the athlete’s ability to successfully complete it.

How do these issues impact on physical recovery?

We know that chronic stress can impact on physical recovery. Your body doesn’t heal as quickly. If you’re lacking motivation, that can then result in you not sticking to the rehab programme and you won’t see as much progress.

Stress can also result in emotional eating or maybe drinking which leads to weight gain and not eating the right things. So you’re not helping the body to heal itself.

If an athlete has a fear of re-injury, they may change their techniques to protect the injury. This may also result in tension around those muscles and can actually increase the risk of re-injury. But it does depend on the individual and the injury.

What happens psychologically if an athlete misses a major competition?

It really depends on what the competition means to the athlete and how the athlete interprets that. If they (and their support team) can keep it in perspective and believe that it’s not the end of the world – then it is not so devastating. It is a normal response to feel depressed, angry, frustrated, to consider retirement – or it can make an athlete more determined than ever!

How can you help an athlete focus on recovery and rehabilitation? What sort of things will you suggest and put in place?

We look at goal-setting that fits in with the rehab programme so we work closely with strength & conditioning, physio and so on.

We work on Emotional Coping and Problem Focused Coping– In terms of Emotional Coping, we often deal in stress management, the responses to stress – helping an athlete to reevaluate the situation in a way that is going to help, not hinder them.

Relaxation strategies are also important –we can explore what helps them relax and encourage them to do what they enjoy – going to the cinema, listen to music etc – whatever it is that puts the athlete in a better mood.

Breathing techniques and progressive muscle relaxation are also useful techniques – we can help teach the body to notice the difference between tension and relaxation. This can help an athlete to actively relax.

We use a lot of imagery with the athletes – if they’re feeling stressed, they can imagine a relaxing, safe place. Imagery is also used to motivate – if you imagine yourself fully fit and back competing again, it can have incredible results.

Steve Backley is a perfect example. Three months out before the 1996 Olympics, he’d been on crutches for six weeks. He used visualisation techniques. So he imagined himself throwing a javelin and throwing a personal best.

He won the silver medal and says: “It proved to me how powerful a tool the mind is and how the body just follows it. That's what I like about the championships, it's not only about the physical tests. There are 8, 10 guys, certainly in javelin, capable of throwing the distance necessary to win, but it's the one who handles the pressures of a major championship better than the others who will win.”

We talk to athletes at Sport Wales about those that have had successful comeback stories so they know that it is possible.

Imagery is also a good way to maintain technique. There was a famous study involving a group of rugby players and a group of ballerinas. When the rugby players watched the ballerinas on TV, there was no significant change in their brain activity. But when the rugby players watched a video of other elite rugby players, it activated the parts of the brain that scientist think are related to those same movements.

When an athlete gets injured, it is common to become overly worried about being in the same situation that they were in when they got injured. If an athlete can watch themselves successfully perform the movements in which they sustained the injury, this can also help lessen the fear of re-injury. Basically, it helps to remind the athlete that they have performed the movement many times without injury, and it increases the belief that they will be able to perform the movement again successfully, without injury.

What should family and close friends do? Do they play a part?

There are many, many research studies that show that family and friends are really important to making a successful comeback. In psychology we call this social support.

It’s important to find out from the athlete how you can best support them. For one athlete, phoning them five times a day might be exactly what they need – for another, it might stress an athlete out.

And remember to support the athlete not just the week after injury – the support might be needed more than ever three months, six months or nine months later.

Career advice: want to be a sports psychologist?

Posted by Capsul Tube Wednesday, June 22, 2011 0 comments

Dr Joy Bringer is a Sport Psychologist, working full-time with elite athletes and coaches at Sport Wales in Cardiff. She is a Chartered Psychologist and is accredited to the High Performance Sport level with the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences.

Sport Wales' Dr Joy Bringer

In her role, she has travelled to the Athens and Beijing Paralympic Games supporting British athletes. She has also been an integral member of Team Wales at the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games.

We managed to catch up with her to get some career advice for those who fancy a career as a sport psychologist...

What made you decide on a career in sports psychology?

I first learned about the field of sport psychology, when I was completing my undergraduate degree in psychology at Pepperdine University in California. Pursuing a career in sport psychology was a great way to combine my love of sport and my ambition to help others.

How would you define sports psychology?

Sport psychology is the study of psychological principles applied to sport. It is actually a very broad area of study which can include looking at ways to improve an individual’s performance (for example, an athlete, a coach, a team manager, or even a referee), a team’s performance, or indeed the whole sporting organisation. Some researchers study what motivates people to get involved in sport and continue to participate, which is very important from a national health perspective. In terms of elite sport, researchers look at what will help athletes and coaches excel at their sport, and applied sport psychologists help athletes and coaches put this into practice.

How did you get into it?

I was encouraged to present my undergraduate dissertation on coach feedback at a student conference, which made my application stronger when I applied to study for my master’s degree at the University of Oregon. My master’s degree programme was focused on teaching us about the theory of sport psychology and how to become good researchers.

There was no structure for gaining applied experience. However, for those students who were motivated to work in sport, the professors did provide guidance. I had worked in tennis previously, so I approached the university tennis coach and offered to help out. I worked 20+ hours a week, doing anything from feeding balls, to evaluating matches, to helping with admin, and reviewing applications from prospective players. I was also able to put into practice some of the ideas that I was learning about during my sport psychology course.

After completing my master’s degree, I answered an advert to complete a PhD at the University of Gloucestershire. In addition to doing the research required for the PhD, I completed three years of supervised experience to become a British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences applied sport scientist. As my area of expertise was in sport psychology, I felt that it was important for me to able to call myself a sport psychologist (which is a protected title) so I also made sure that my training would prepare me to become a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and register as a practicing Sport Psychologist with the Health Professions Council.

What do you do now?

I have been working at Sport Wales as a Senior Sport Psychologist since 2003, helping elite athletes and their coaches train and perform better. When I start working with a sport, athlete, or coach, we will go through a process of a “needs analysis” where we will identify areas where improvements might be made. This could include teaching skills such as goal setting, refocussing strategies, imagery, and managing emotions.

I work within a team of sport scientists and sports medicine providers, so whenever possible I link in with the other support staff. For example, if an athlete wants to improve concentration during competition, the performance nutritionist will work with the athlete to develop an appropriate nutrition plan for competition days, and I will help the athlete with refocussing strategies.

What do you enjoy about it?

I love working with highly motivated sports people who are striving to perform better.

What would your advice be to anyone thinking of becoming a sport psychologist?

Currently, if you want to be an applied sport psychologist, you must complete a Health Professions Council (HPC) approved programme of training and successfully register with the HPC. Anyone wanting to become an applied sport psychologist should start by reading the advice on the websites for the British Association for Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES), the British Psychological Society (BPS), and the Health Professions Council (HPC) to learn about what qualifications are required. Then, speak to those already working in the field.

Find out what the current job market is and learn about the career paths for applied sport psychologists, academic lecturers, and researchers in sport psychology. Seeking out opportunities to volunteer or work in sport, whether it is through coaching or other roles, is a great way to make contacts and find out whether or not the hours and the environment suit the way you want to work.

The Sport Wales website gives lots more information about volunteering and you can sign up to get involved today!

Any myths about it?

In the past, some athletes thought sport psychology was only needed if something was wrong with them. Fortunately, most athletes and coaches now value the input sport psychologist can have in terms of improving preparation and performance. For example, sport psychologists can play a major role in helping athletes, coaches, team managers, and support staff to anticipate and respond better to pressures that might occur during the upcoming London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

If you want to find out more about becoming a sport psychologist, the following links might be helpful:

http://www.hpc-uk.org/apply/psychologists/

http://www.bps.org.uk/careers/careers_home.cfm

sport kholis

How to be a great captain

Role of psychology after a sports injury...

Career advice: want to be a sports psychologist?

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