Chronicles of a sports psychologist

Also, many a times, the issue is technical and athletes/parents avoid seeing this and try every possible approach from psychology to yoga to deal with the issue. In such cases, more often than not, the psychologist is used as a last resort!

Fortunately, the ‘last minute’ trend has changed and players, coaches and parents now approach psychologists at least a month or so prior to the events, which is a welcome change. This gives the player ample time to open up to the psychologist and work on key areas. Of course, ideally it is better if sport psychology or mental skills training are an integral part in sports training, the way it is in sporting nations such as Australia. This is best explained by the noted German mental trainer Thomas Baschab who stated in the popular German football magazine Kicker, “no athlete would ever stop conditioning training just because he/she has a good level of fitness already; so why should it be any different with mental skills training? You have to constantly practice and update your skills in order to ensure and improve their quality.”

I vividly recall a former Indian basketball player who would hide and come for her sessions, as the coach would say ‘kya psychology!’ The Indian coach apparently believed psychology was for crazy people or problem-stricken athletes alone.

That attitude is pretty widespread among India’s sporting bureaucrats. In an article that appeared recently in TOI, India’s archery hopefuls Jayanta Talukdar and Deepika Kumari said that they ‘lost out due to lack of mental preparation’. Apparently, they had sought the services of a sports psychologist but the Secretary, after initial promises of hiring one, finally made the following comment: “I am your psychologist. Ask me whatever you want”, and they dropped the matter. Sadly, as a result of that, India’s results dipped in archery. It’s disconcerting that even athletes competing at the highest level are not provided with essential support they require. How then can we blame them for not winning medals?

Sport psychology is not just for athletes who have some concerns, but it is to enhance the psychological skills of players to perform to their optimal potential. W. Timothy Gallwey, the author of the Inner Game series of books on tennis, golf and skiing, uses a mantra to explain the importance of the mind. He writes that “Performance equals potential minus interference.” The aim of sports psychology is to get athletes to perform at their best.

A very reassuring trend in India is that coaches and parents of young athletes are realising the importance of training the mind and are trying to provide support to their wards in all areas of sports training. The best group to work with is the younger group; not just for their receptivity, but also because they are not yet conditioned to set patterns the way senior players are.

Sadly in India, most athletes do not want to admit there is a problem; this could be due to the ‘image’ they need to preserve. But at what cost? Will they wait till there is a severe problem? Look at the example of cricketer Praveen Kumar having issues with anger management. My point is, why wait till it gets so bad? Also, a few of them have an ‘I know it all’ attitude, even if they’re not getting the results they want. It’s a little tough to break through this barrier. On the other hand, my experience with Australian cricketers during my doctorate (PhD) was delightfully uplifting. They knew the importance of ‘the mind’ and even senior players were eager to learn more to help stay focused and perform better. One of the reasons for this acceptance could be the importance given to sports science in Australia and UK. If you recall, the Aussies had trouble with their players while touring India this year, and promptly a psychologist was flown in. This explains how essential it is to have a psychologist on board at all times.