It’s taken a while for psychological science to catch up with sport. The
US Olympic Team didn’t take a psychologist with them until 1988, and
the British Psychological Society didn’t create a full Division of Sports
Psychology until 2004. But today, psychology and sport have become
inseparable. By the time of the London Olympics in 2012, most inter-
national athletes will have worked with a sports psychologist at some
stage in their career. In fact, as competing athletes reach ever-greater
heights of physical readiness, it’s often the mental arena in which
winners and losers are made. Today, sports psychologists provide
advice on – among other things – mental attitude, team cohesion,
visualization techniques, and coping with injuries and setbacks.
Thinking like a winner
How do elite athletes cope with the intense pressure they are put
under? Is it possible to think like a winner? A great deal of research in
sports psychology has attempted to answer these kinds of questions by
conducting extensive interviews with top-class sportsmen and women.
In one study published in 2005, Stephen
Bull and his colleagues at the England and
Wales Cricket Board interviewed twelve top
English cricketers, uncovering evidence
of what they called tough attitudes and
tough thinking. Taking risks, going the
extra mile, belief in quality preparation
and having a “never say die” mindset were
all examples of tough attitudes. For instance, one cricketer recalled
his early career attitude: “You can throw whatever stones you want at
me,” he used to say to himself, “but I am not going off this course. It
might take me ten or fifteen years, but I will get there. I will play for
Sport
“It’s a funny thing,
the more I practise
the luckier I get.”
Credited to Arnold
Palmer (among others)