- INTERCUlTURAl COMMUNICATION DIALOGUE
MIND DVER MATTER
Kann ma n besser durchtrainiert und körperlich fitter se in als e in Profifußballer? Oder haben auch
Spitzensport ler wie jeder andere Mensch gelegentlich mit phys ischen und psychischen Problemen zu
kämpfen? VICKI SusSENS-MESSERER s prach darüber mit zwei Experten. i ni§'!llin'VICTOR THOMPSON: Hi, Michael.MICHAEL KELLMANN: Hi, Victor.THOMPSON: Tell me, you're a professor of sports psy-
ehology at Boehum Univefsity. Is there anything par-
ticular you're working on at the moment?KELLMANN: O h, lots of things. For example, I'm in-
volvcd in starring asports psychological service centre
for athletes, coaches and business managers in the
Ruhr Valley region. Whar about you?THOMPSON: , 'm rrained borh as asport s psychologist
and a dinical psyehologist, so I also work within the
National Healt h Service here in England, in London,
helping non-sportS people as weil as working privately
within sports. 00 you work wirh people from all d is-
ciplines?KELLMANN: Yes, because t he methods can be adapted
tO all sports. In fact, they ean be used for anyone in a
pressure situation. For example, the Stress a footballer
faces before the World Cup final can be pretty mueh
the sa me as that of a manager who has to make an
imporrant presentation on a major strategic decision.
Talking about the World Cup, what in yOUf opinion is32 Business SpoIJigtlt
the genera l attitude among British footballers these
da ys tO sportS psychology?THOMPSON: Weil, many oE the older football coaches
were onee players, and their attitude is that they gOt
to the top without the help of psychology - so, why
would anyone else need it? Also, psychologists are
seen here as being like couDsellors - people you go to
when you've gOt a problem.KELLMANN: I would say, though, rhat rhe percentage
of people with depression is the same among athleres
as it is in the rest of the population.THOMPSON: 1 agree wirh t hat. After all, spons stars
are people, too. T hey can l'\ave marriages that break
a part or Joyed ooes who get sick with serious illnesses,
like we al l carl. But w hy do you think football was
one oE the last sports to use psychologists for the opti-
mization of performance?KELLMANN: I [hink that's because of the [Ough-~uy at-
titude. When [ was Iectu rin~ 00 sportS aod exercjse
psychology io Brisbane, Australia, from 2007 to 2009,
I discovered that Australians are far more open to
psychology than Germans. Sports psychologisrs are an
integral pan öf thcir Olym pic team - as they a re in
the US aod Caoadian teams. My expericoee is that it
takes five to tcn years before oew ideas about psychol-
ogy make their way across the ocean and iofluence the
German mindser. But things have already starred to
change here since s ports psychologist H ans-Dieter
Hermann was hired by the German national football
team in 2004. In fact, he is still with them. Are t here
many football teams with psychölogists in England,
by the way?THOMPSON: Oh yes. Some of our big teams now have
psychologists: Stoke City, Leeds Unired and Sourhamp-
too, for example. Bur rhere is still not enough infor-
mation abau! how players can benefit from psycholo-
gists. What would really help is more examples of the
good work we ean do. The coach or manager maybe
gers all [he glory, bur there are other people t here who
can make a bi~ difference, and that narurally indudes
sportS psyehologists.4/2010