The mental toughness training athletes undergo before reaching the Olympic stage is not typically well documented or understood. In this article, I will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the psychological preparation athletes go through before the biggest event in sport. Mentally Preparing for the Olympics For the past year, I have had the opportunity to…
Burnout in our youth is a very real and prominent dilemma. Times have changed for young student-athletes (8-15 years old), training regimes have progressively become more intense, international competition exposure is not uncommon, and competing demands of homework and tuition is ever increasing. The fear of losing out (Kiasu), stemming from the Asian value of…
The Athlete Development Program (ADP) at the Australian International School is one-of-a-kind in Singapore schools, offering student-athletes the opportunity to train and be coached on a path to university scholarships and elite level sport. This semester, the ADP students added a new form of training to their repertoire, making further strides through sport psychology training…
Over the past few years, there has been an increase in visits to my office by parents with young athletes between 11–13 years of age. At first, this seemed like a positive movement, perhaps motivated by a desire to introduce mental skills training to help their children get ahead. However, there is one glaring dilemma…
In my work as a performance psychologist, the conversation about raising self-confidence naturally comes up. I often here athletes tell me, “I know I need to be more self-confident, but I don’t want to be seen as cocky.” Some athletes have said they would rather be unconfident forever than be grouped into the cocky bunch…
The New Year can inspire feelings of renew and motivation to change, and gyms, trainers, and diet fads are ready to cash in on our New Year’s resolutions. Well, NOT this year. In this article, I share how to create powerful goals and resolutions using four key pillars of meaningful change that can shift our…
There are certain patterns in a player’s performance that characterize a lack of self-belief and mental toughness. For instance: Do you typically start the round off “cold” and settle into a groove after a few holes? Do you need to have your swing “just right” before you feel ready to put a good score on…
Over coffee on the terrace, I sat down with Laguna Country Club’s Tour Professional Scott Barr to find out his view on consulting a sport psychologist and how mental skills training has raised his game at various points in his career. When did you start mental skills training, and who got you involved? “It was…
I know sport psychology…said the coach, the trainer, and everyone in between. How can a sport psychologist add value to my team? There’s no doubt that a top coach understands the psychology of their sport in intricate detail. There are cases when an experienced coach may have stronger knowledge of the sport than the sport…
As a former Division-1 collegiate athlete I understand how challenging it can be to balance sport at a high level and maintain good grades. Late nights, early mornings, and taking exams on the road doesn’t make it easy to strike a balance between the two areas, but here are three reasons why it’s crucial to…