Sport Psychology - Inside the mind of a champion

I’ve been looking into improving my knowledge and skillset for high performance in sports and have been enjoying some great books and podcasts lately. I highly recommend checking out ‘Finding Mastery’ podcast with Michael Gervais.

While Podcasts and books are providing a nice introduction to topics surround sports performance, nutrition, training and psychology, I still feel a desire to go deeper. To learn more of the science behind it. To improve my skills.

So I’ve started studying. I’m currently undertaking a course in ‘Sports Psychology - Elite Sport Performance’.

The course has lots of materials and videos and one of the ones I came across, I wanted to share as it is a great resource for anyone looking to improve their understanding and performance with elite sport.

This TED Talk is presented by Professor Martin Hagger of Curtin University and talks about ‘Sport Psychology - Inside the Mind of A Champion’.

He touches on motivation, confidence, performance knowledge, routines and anxiety management. All areas which relate to optimal performance. It’s a short 12 minute talk which gives a great overview on the importance on psychology and how it can be the difference between winning and losing.

It immediately made me think of watching Pro Surfer Mick Fanning before he starts a heat in competition. After a warm up and stretch with music he goes down onto the beach, sits quietly, eyes shut, rubbing sand between his hands just breathing, and visualising. A perfect example of a psychological approach to winning.