I’ve skipped a couple of days updates as I finally made it down to London to see some of the games. While I was there I had the pleasure of meeting some of our ex-Olympians among other ex-swimmers and current coaches and support staff. Obviously the disappointing medal tally and lack of great individual performances [...]
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
Kit Day: Pride and Excitement for Team GB Swimmmers
June 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday was another busy day on twitter for Team GB’s selected swimmers. Why? It was the day that they got their official Olympic team kit. As a bystander, it really feels like ‘kit day’ was an enormous success. Whether by accident or design, the opportunity was taken to build a real sense of pride and [...]
Managing Pressure
April 7, 2012 by 2 Comments
All of us experience pressure from time to time, and often it’s no bad thing. Pressure can help focus the mind and, at healthy levels, can help us to perform. Many people, however, experience unpleasant levels of pressure and find that their performance suffers as a result. So, how can you go about ensuring that [...]
Can Swimmers Choke?
March 22, 2012 by 2 Comments
We see it in sports like golf and tennis, where an elite athlete’s skills fail them, often dramatically, under pressure. There are many different explanations for choking in sport, but can it happen in swimming? What is Choking? Simply put, choking occurs when an athlete’s performance suffers under pressure. Most often we associate it with [...]
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