Ruta Meilutyte Wins Gold Day 3 in the Aquatics Centre was all about Ruta Meilutyte for me. In the heats she shocked herself and the world with an outstanding swim and backed that up in the semi-final with a European record. She endeared herself to many with her genuinely humble response and will have had [...]
Olympics Day 2: Expectations, choking and Weapons of Mass Destruction
July 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Two days in to the London Olympics swimming and again expectations are on the agenda. While I ate my breakfast they were talking about the risk of raising expectations in the media and creating pressure, rather than support, for home athletes. Yesterday, the Australians were expected to win and win well. Their own media (not [...]
Day 1: TeamGB Carrying the Weight of Expectation?
July 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Rebecca Adlington Planning for Retirement
July 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment
“Career transitions’ are a major topic of study in sport psychology and none arguably has a bigger impact on sports people than retirement. There have been many examples over the years, borne out by the research, of professional athletes that have struggled to deal with retirement. Alcoholism, drug abuse and depression have all been recorded [...]
Breaking the 10000 Hour Rule
July 11, 2012 by 3 Comments
What is the 10000 Hour Rule? According to Anders Ericsson, it takes a minimum of 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become a genuine expert or, in the case of swimming, to become a world class swimmer. Can you break this rule? Performers are made, not born What the 10000 hour rule is really saying [...]
Case Study: Race Preparation, Control and Confidence
July 6, 2012 by 2 Comments
I was recently approached by a male senior swimmer ‘G’ who wanted help preparing for competition, because he was experiencing issues with anxiety and confidence, and losing time from starting the race feeling tense. The senior Nationals were around 6 weeks away and he wanted some help preparing for the event and races beyond. Presenting [...]
Performance Mindset Infographic
July 1, 2012 by 1 Comment
My first attempt at an infographic. It’s not a thing of beauty (just as well I’m a psychologist and not a graphic designer!) but hopefully gets the idea across. Performance mindset is a choice The performance mindset is a choice. Specifically, it is about choosing to focus on your own performance, valuing effort and determination, [...]
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