269 Do You Want to Make Next Year a Great Year? Why Contact A Sport Psychologist!
Release Date: 12/20/2024
289 How To Support Children To Enjoy A Positive Relationship With Sport
Demystifying Mental Toughness
In episode 289 of Demystifying Mental Toughness, the founder of Parents in Sport, Gordon MacLelland, shared his journey from having a promising sports career, to coaching and teaching to supporting parenting in sports. He emphasized the importance of understanding individual children's motivations when considering their sporting experience. Also highlighted were the challenges of balancing fun and competitive pressures. The conversation underscored the importance of self-awareness as a parent and being an intentional in the love and support that you offer your...
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288 How To Overcome Intense Emotions From Football
Demystifying Mental Toughness
In a continuation of last week’s conversation, David Charlton and Duncan O'Brien discuss the impact of shame on athletes, particularly footballers. Self-esteem, the self-recognition of multiple-selves and self-compassion are also features of the conversation. They go on to discuss the impact of poor performances on an athletes’ mood. Solutions to shift perspective are discussed to aid the understanding of sport coaches and parents to support athletes effectively. They also touch on other strong emotions, such as anger and how to harness it. Key Learning...
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287 Is A Blame Culture In Team Sports Helpful For Performance?
Demystifying Mental Toughness
David Charlton and Duncan O'Brien discuss the emotional challenges in football, focusing on blame, shame, guilt, and anger in this week’s episode of Demystifying Mental Toughness. Duncan, influenced by Brene Brown's work, emphasizes the importance of vulnerability and collaboration in coaching. He highlights the need for coaches to create supportive yet challenging environments, using tools like Clean Language to foster self-awareness and resilience. They explore how emotions like shame can manifest in players, affecting their performance and behaviour. The...
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286 How To Understand Neurodiversity Better In Football Refereeing
Demystifying Mental Toughness
Today, the conversation delves into the experiences of a neurodiverse referee, referee educator and coach, Nathan Sherratt, the owner of The Third Team. We discuss the challenges faced in education, the workplace, and on the pitch, highlighting the importance of structure and accountability. David and Nathan also emphasise the need for understanding and support, particularly from clubs, organisations and governing bodies such as the FA, to better accommodate neurodivergent individuals in sports. Nathan goes on to share personal strategies for managing sensory...
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285 Football Coaches: How To Help Neurodiverse Players Thrive
Demystifying Mental Toughness
In today’s episode David Charlton and his colleague Adam Batstone emphasised the importance of psychological support in football and sport coaching with children. They particularly acknowledged the need to foster rapport with parents to address their concerns about disclosing their child's challenges. David and Adam highlighted the need for adaptability in coaching methods, especially for neurodivergent children, who may require more personalised approaches. They discussed strategies like framing sessions, providing clear routines, and using non-confrontational...
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284 What’s To Come This Summer – Contemporary Issues in Sport
Demystifying Mental Toughness
David Charlton introduces the next phase of the "Demystifying Mental Toughness" podcast, where episodes will address various contemporary issues, including diversity, equity, and inclusion, particularly for underrepresented groups like BAME athletes and neurodivergent individuals. The podcast will also discuss the impact of social media and the problematic cultures of blaming and shaming in sports. David emphasizes the importance of recognizing individual differences and avoiding stereotyping, advocating for a more inclusive and supportive approach to enhance the everyone’s...
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283 How To Help A Swimmer Who Is Online A Lot Checking His Rivals Out
Demystifying Mental Toughness
Today, the case study that David Charlton and his colleague Colm O’Donoghue discuss is connected to a 16-year-old swimmer who spends a lot of time online checking his rivals out, be that on social media or reviewing stats and results. The implication is that his motivation and focus when training fluctuates and negative emotions such as jealousy and anxiety are triggered. As well, potential challenges with his own self-esteem and how he feels about himself can be evident. David and Colm offer some ideas to shift his focus so that he is able to enhance his motivation...
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282 How To Help An Emotional Tennis Player Perform Better
Demystifying Mental Toughness
In this episode, David Charlton and his colleague Colm O’Donoghue discussed a case study of a 12-year-old tennis player who struggled with her emotions on the court. She often became overwhelmed by with anger and frustration or disappointment after making mistakes or losing points, leading to a loss of focus, poor performance and less enjoyment. Her parents also found it very difficult to watch her play and contain themselves as a result too. David and Colm go on to offer some advice for managing these strong emotional responses so that she can perform better and...
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281 How To Help The Golfer Who Searches For The Perfect Swing
Demystifying Mental Toughness
Does the perfect golf swing exist? NO. Does the perfect golf swing equal lower scores in golf? NO – Yet many golfers continue to strive to attain the “perfect swing.” This is the topic of conversation today, where David and colleague Colm O’Donoghue talk about the problem with this approach and the implications for your golf game. They also share some advice on what you could consider doing to improve your scores and your enjoyment of the game. Key Learning Points: Studies suggest that the variation in technique between low handicap amateurs and...
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280 How To Help A Golfer Who Struggles Playing Strokeplay
Demystifying Mental Toughness
David Charlton hosts the Demystifying Mental Toughness podcast with his colleague and a fellow competitive amateur golfer, Colm O’Donoghue today. Colm discusses his journey from playing golf as a child to returning to the sport in his mid-20s, driven by an interest in the psychological aspects of golf. He shares his struggles with perfectionism and the importance of maintaining a present-focused mindset. Together they talk about a case study of a young golfer, who excels in match play but struggles with stroke play due to focusing too much on the score. Colm and David...
info_outlineIn episode #269 David addresses the question, “What Can I Expect When Working With A Sport Psychologist” for the final time as this episode marks the end of an 8 part series. This time he focuses on the following statements “Performance Enhancement: The sports psychologist will help you identify and overcome mental barriers that may be hindering your performance” and “Feedback and Reflection: Expect regular discussions about your progress, experiences in training or competition, and adjustments to your mental training plan.”
David highlights that a high percentage of athletes who contact sports psychologists are reactive often acting on emotion seeking to deal with challenges they are going through. Whilst proactive clients, especially top performing elite athletes, contact sports psychologists when they are in a good place, seeking continuous improvement and looking to embrace a marginal gains approach. He concludes by encouraging listeners to reflect on their 2024 achievements, failures, and lessons learned, offering a blog post with additional questions for self-analysis so that you can make 2025 a great year.
Key Learning Points
- One typical challenge athletes bring to sports psychologists, link to not performing at the level that they train at, which can be caused by the need for social approval, perfectionist tendencies, questionable culture and processes at a club or organisation, with fear then kicking in for the athlete.
- Sharing surprising statistics about elite athletes such as Harry Kane’s goal scoring success rate and Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross accuracy can help perfectionists recognise how many times elite performers do actually miss or fail, forcing athletes to revisit their own expectations.
- He shares a case study of a proactive top cricketer who used detailed performance profiling to benchmark and measure progress, therefore challenging them to get out of their comfort zone.
- A skill of a sports psychologist is to ask athletes great questions so that they go on to assess how they can continually strive to improve their methods and performance levels.
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To Listen to Related Podcasts To Help You Improve Your Performances Next Year
Ep264: David Charlton - How to Enhance Focus, Motivation and Confidence
Ep260: David Charlton - What Can I Expect When Working With A Sport Psychologist
Ep144: Jon Watkins – Mental Strength: What You Can Learn About Resilience From The Special Forces
Ep106: Amy Rowlinson – Why is knowing my WHY important?
Ep086: David Charlton – Observations: How to Learn from Setbacks
Relevant Blogs and Resources To Help You Make Next Year a Great Year
Blog: How To Learn From Last Year
Blog: What Did You Learn From Last Year?
Blog: Make Better Decisions to Help Your Sport Performance including VALUES LIST