10 questions to a sports performance coach

To what extent is cricket a mental game?

Some – probably non-cricket lovers – would say you have got to be mental to even play the game, seeing as you can play a match for five days only to get a draw!

On a serious note, I have heard so many different percentages thrown out about how much of success is attributed to mental strength versus technical prowess, but it really is difficult to put an exact figure on it. I believe that certainly as the level of competition increases (i.e. international cricket) and technical skills all become of a similar standing, it is generally those that show superior mental ability that come out on top.

However, this is all dependant on what you define as ‘mental ability’. If a batsman gets out on 30 playing at a ball that nipped away off the seam and in hindsight he possibly could have left, is that a technical or mental error? Or if a bowler breaks down mid-Test, is it because his action is faulty, he is not fit enough, or because he couldn’t motivate himself to go to the gym and do his strengthening exercise?

It is tough to say, but there is no doubt that when it comes to things like, staying focused, dealing with intense pressure, maintaining motivation, dealing with external issues that may affect performance, there are things you can do to improve these areas and everyone would agree that they affect performance in a big way – which tells us that mental toughness is key.

A batsman is in a poor trot of form and in an ever-increasing spiral of low confidence. Let’s call him ‘Ricky’. What do you say to him?

In the South African context, we call him “Mark”, but who’s checking! The common misconception about coaching is that the coach has all the answers and the student/player just implements the coach’s suggestions. That happens in primary school! With top cricketers, it is important to find out from them what is going on inside their head, and why that is the case. People suffer from low confidence after not scoring runs amongst other things, but it is the interpretation of this lack of success that needs to be understood to ensure that we can fix the problem. Once we know that, then we can challenge the perceptions and beliefs that the player may have and try to look for solutions.

What you don’t want from players though is for them to play victim and cease trying – should that be the case, then there is trouble. At the end of the day “Ricky” will could well come back to being good again, it is just a question of whether he wants to work at it.

BE the ball…BITE the ball

In your experience, what are the most common psychological issues facing cricketers?

Without doubt it is fear of failure. Cricket is unique in that there is SO much time to think. For nuclear physicists time to think may be great, for cricketers it can be problematic. Sitting waiting to bat and you haven’t scored a run in the last two weeks, your place in the team is being talked about and the bowlers are looking sharp. What is the thought process now in a player’s mind, and is that thought process going to help or hinder him scoring runs?

So often I hear guys saying that they are just so scared of failing and that that negative mindset causes them to tense up, forget what they had practised and start to become result focused rather than process focused. What happens is that your mindset becomes about doing enough to not fail and not about doing as much as you can to succeed, which stifles you from actually succeeding.

Mentally, what sets apart a talented village cricketer from an international superstar?

A number of different things, to be honest. A superstar however has a life that revolves around cricket whilst the village cricketer has some cricket that revolves round his life. When something is your job, you spend hours and hours mastering that art and therefore get better and better through practice. This practice builds confidence, and the experience you get from playing lots of cricket enhances learning and makes you a more aware cricketer.

The village guy will play so little and not immerse himself in the game and will therefore grow at a far slower rate, will in all likelihood make the same mistakes often, and won’t train nearly as hard as the superstar. He probably won’t be as dedicated as the superstar and therefore won’t maximise his talent. But I think deep down, you’ll find a lot of talented village cricketers suffer from a lack of confidence and enjoy the comfort of being excellent at ‘their’ level. Not much great is achieved through being comfortable, and therefore they plateau. He’ll probably also drink far too many beers!

Sorry to have to open old wounds, but you’re a South African fan…to what do you attribute South Africa’s constant failures at key pressure moments?

We’ve just butchered an opportunity to beat the Aussies at home and you have ask me that!! I can only offer an opinion here, as I’m not sure there is one main reason that everyone has agreed upon. I can tell you that a conference was put together in SA with some sports psychs who’d worked with the team, to come up with a blueprint to cure the ‘choke’ – I’m not convinced how much this will help, but I suppose people are starting to worry enough to do something about it.

Ab de Villiers and Mark Boucher in a fancy dress

We as a nation love to be the underdog, it fits into our nation’s psyche which may have been built during the dark days of Apartheid where we always had to fight our way to prominence internationally, having been the black sheep for many years. You’ll hear motivational speeches across the nation on any given Saturday, about “showing them how good you are” and “they’ve written you off already”. Often in these big tournaments we have been expected to win and this therefore does not sit well with us. I’m also not sure if we are learning from past experiences or whether we are skimming over them and choosing to look ahead. I am sure if we did some honest learning we’d be in a better space to manage these moments. But when winning is everything as it is in SA, pressure is always going to mount. Let’s see what Gary [Kirsten] can do next year in the T20 World Cup – I feel his more process-based approach and calm demeanour will have rubbed off on the team by then.

MS Dhoni is widely acknowledged as the best leader in the past few years – what makes a world-class leader in sports, and how is it different to say, being a leader in business or politics?

Yes, he is a great leader – but before that he is a great person. I don’t think it needs to be too different to the political or business leader. Essentially it comes down to someone who is authentic and true to themselves and thus commands respect through being real, someone who can inspire either through words or actions, and someone who can adapt their style to whatever the situation demands. There are no manuals for each different scenario that may eventuate in the world of international cricket and thus if you err on the side of being real and true to what you believe in you will more than often succeed. Where I believe sports teams truly succeed is where the captain has more than one vice-captain (even if not by name) and have a leadership core. This must never become a seniors clique but rather a leadership core who all have an area of responsibility. This takes pressure off the captain, covers all bases and often creates a more engaged, happy team.

Personally, what sort of methods do you employ to help sportsmen?

As a mental coach, I believe in adapting to the needs of the client. I largely base my work on increasing the self-awareness of the client that enables him/her to be more prepared for a variety of different scenarios. By knowing how you react in different situations and then having identified chosen ways of reacting to them you have ticked another box of preparation. I also firmly believe that any process needs to be guided by the sportsman, there is no use in me telling and just being an advice-giver, as this could actually disempower the sportsman. Therefore together the client and I come up with plans and solutions for his/her own success. I believe in guiding, facilitating and coaching people to becoming better people and players (in that order). In a team environment, I work as much with the coach as with the players, as this is where you get true value and success.

Dale Steyn needs a single off the last ball of a World Cup final to tie, or two runs to win. What do you say to him?

I tell him to go and chat to his bowling coach – Allan Donald!

I’d tell him that a pressure situation is just another great opportunity to be a hero so go and identify areas where you can score, communicate properly with your partner, trust yourself to watch the ball, hit it and enjoy it. This is all process focused and thus if he focuses here it gives him a better chance of achieving his desired goal.

Tom is a sports mental performance coach in Cape Town, South Africa who runs Head Start Sport. They work across a number of different sports in optimising human potential at player, coach and administrator level. He has worked this year with the Stormers rugby team, Ajax Cape Town football club and does mental coaching work with clients of the Gary Kirsten cricket Academy amongst others. He lectures, talks and facilitates in the field of sports performance and is currently completing a Masters degree in Organisational Psychology.