Psychological Factors in Sports

Today I chat with HCPC Registered Sport Psychologist, Jack Hicks-Flynn about his love for the profession.  He goes on to offer helpful insights into to the role of a sport psychologist in professional football clubs, drawing on experiences of working as an applied practitioner and a researcher in Southampton FC, Luton Town FC, Portsmouth FC and West Ham United FC. 

We go on to discuss the complexity of our role, cultural beliefs in football, common misconceptions about the role of sport psychology, we also chat about interpersonal confidence and the importance of it in a football environment and a lot more.    

What You Will Learn In This Episode: 

• It is vital to gain a deep understanding of the football club values and culture.
• A sport psychologist spends time on the pitch working collaboratively with coaches to improve players.   
• Building relationships with the multi disciplinary team (MDT) is essential.
• Jack highlights the 3 R’S, rapport, relationships and respect as important aspects to succeed in the role.
• He helps players raise their level of self-awareness so that they have the ability to think more flexibly in different situations (psychological flexibility).
• Players have to deal with selection biases, relationships with coaches, parental influences, contractual issues, agents which can have a huge impact on their experience within the sport.
• It’s ok to be vulnerable at times which culturally go against what people consider mental toughness to be.
• Statistics are a vital part of football, tracking distance covered, walking distance etc, however how this is communicated with individual players is vital unless confidence can be eroded.
• It’s worth considering that statistics can provoke comparisons with other players and a level of toxicity.
• Mental health screenings, mental health action plans and a clear referral process is vital in clubs.

Connect with Jack Hicks-Flynn:

Website

Twitter

LinkedIn

Connect with David Charlton

Download THE FOCUSED ATHLETE CHECKLIST

Join David @ The Sports Psychology Hub

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Helpful Podcast Episodes

Ep027: Natalie Henderson – How to Develop Mental Toughness with Young Footballers

Ep064: Edu Rubio – How to Support Young Footballers

Ep096: Gary Curneen – Developing Mentally Strong Footballers

Ep102: 30 Mental Game Secrets to Improve Your Soccer

Ep105: Hannah Bromley – Overcoming Psychological Challenges in Professional Women’s Football

Ep111: Michael Caulfield – How to be an Effective Sports Psychologist in Elite Professional Football 

Other Useful Resources 

Blog – A Common Mental Game Error Many Footballers Make

Blog – Coach Development: Helping Athletes Overcome Fear of Failure

Blog – 5 Tips to Help You Perform Fearlessly When You Compete

Case Study – Supporting a Young Footballer to Overcome his Fears

Library – Soccer Psychology | Mental Skills for Football

Today’s podcast episode looks at long-term serious injuries, the psychological impact and helpful strategies to help you manage your mental health during the rehabilitation process and afterwards.  My guest, doctor of occupational therapy, Keagen Hadley has recently released a book called Torn: Overcoming the Psychological Challenges Post-ACL Injury which we go on to discuss too.  

Keagen shares his backstory, the motivation behind writing his book, his definition of mental toughness when faced with a long term serious injury, like an ACL.  We also chat about Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a potentially helpful solution and much more. 

Key Learning Points:

• Keagen didn’t intend to write a book initially however he found it became a cathartic process helping him process his thoughts and emotions.
• He personally had two long term ACL injuries which occurred whilst playing American Football, as well as experiencing battles with depression and anxiety.
• Being part of the group was difficult for Keagen when he was injured.
• His identity of who he was shifted hugely.
• Mental toughness in this context is about learning to face and sit with difficult thoughts and emotions.
• Seeking support and discussing your problems is important to process the emotions.
• Acceptance Commitment Therapy helped Keagen greatly during the difficult times and is something he advocates in his work with athletes too.

Connect with Keagen Hadley

LinkedIn

Website 

BOOK: Torn Overcoming Psychological Challenges Post ACL 

Connect with David Charlton

Download THE FOCUSED ATHLETE CHECKLIST

Join David @ The Sports Psychology Hub

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

To Listen to the Full Podcast Episodes

Ep011: Dave Algeo – Mental Toughness, Mental Health and High Performance

Ep018: Kieron Brady – From Professional Football to Alcoholism Consultant

Ep075: Grant Phyphers – How to Rebuild Your Identity

Ep113: Polly Brennan – The Relationship Between Mental Fitness, Mental Health and Mental Toughness

Ep124: Richard Dorney MBE – Supporting People: What Can You Learn About Resilience From The Military

Other Useful Resources linked to Mental Health

Blog – Make Better Decisions to Help Your Sport Performance

Blog – 5 Ways to Create a Psychological Safe Sporting Environment

Blog – 3 Tips to Deal with Bullying in Sport

Blog – How to Find Your Why 

Blog – Mental Health Guidance for Coaches When Supporting Athletes

In today’s episode I speak to Richard Dorney MBE.  Richard served in the military for almost 39 years and has a wealth of experience in dealing with high stress situations.  He’s now the Director of Strongmind Resiliency Training, a company that works to improve mental health support, trauma management and resilience mainly in public sector organisations exposed to stress and trauma.  Richard goes on to share his background and lessons that he’s learned.  We discuss resilience development and leadership in the military, Trauma risk management (TRIM) in the military and in healthcare and corporate settings.  

Key Learning Points:

• Resilience is not innate, it isn’t just something you have, you can develop it.
• The mission comes first in the military.
• There is a focus on the preservation of quality, power and capability. The military does very well in understanding it’s people and their capabilities.
• Leadership in the military is very good, they invest a great deal of time and effort training leaders at every stage of their leadership development.
• Peer support is a vital component when dealing with Trauma.
• A strong mind is about mental resilience, robustness, thinking, attitude and behaviour. 
• A fundamental key of a strong mind is self-awareness.
• Psychologically informed, empathetic and compassionate leadership is vital when managing people.

Connect with Richard Dorney MBE

LinkedIn

Website 

Connect with David Charlton

Download THE FOCUSED ATHLETE CHECKLIST

Join David @ The Sports Psychology Hub

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Other Useful Podcast Episodes

Ep065: Dr Amy Izycky – Encouraging Mentally Healthy Cultures in Sport

Ep066: Marilyn Okoro – Mental Health and Resilience: Lessons from an Olympic Medalist

Ep075: Grant Phyphers – How to Rebuild Your Identity

Ep113: Polly Brennan – The Relationship Between Mental Fitness, Mental Health and Mental Toughness

Ep114: Tim Bradshaw – Because I Can – How To Get Out Of Your Own Way 

Other Useful Resources linked to Mental Health

Blog – 5 Ways to Create a Psychological Safe Sporting Environment

Blog – 3 Tips to Deal with Bullying in Sport

Blog – How to Find Your Why 

Blog – Mental Health Guidance for Coaches When Supporting Athletes

Today’s guest, Camilla Knight is an associate professor in sports psychology at Swansea University in Wales, United Kingdom, and she is an expert in youth sport.  One of her key research interests is in understanding the role that parents play in the lives of their young athletes.  In episode 122 of Demystifying Mental Toughness we discuss the role of parents in sport, the challenges and stressors that they experience.  We also chat about the parent/coach relationship with their children and give you some ideas on how to improve your communication with your children.  Coaches and teachers may also find this episode helpful.

Key Learning Points 

• By understanding the youth sport experience more we can support young people involved in sport better so that they enjoy it more and have a better chance of achieving their potential.
• It’s easy to separate enjoyment and competing however many children enjoying sport because of the competitive element and want to strive to improve. 
• It’s important for parents to recognise why their children take part in sport and reminder themselves from time to time.
• As a parent you invest a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of emotion, it can be a stressful experience for many parents.
• In terms of mental health in children, it’s helpful to notice if your child’s typical behaviours go on to change.  
• Having open and honest conversations with children is very helpful.
• Knowing as a parent when you are out of sync and what stresses you out and how it shapes your communication with your children is beneficial.
• The parent child relationship is a bi-directional relationship.
• If you’re a parent and coach your children setting some boundaries is helpful for journeys.

Connect with Professor Camilla Knight

Email 

Website

Connect with David Charlton

Download THE FOCUSED ATHLETE CHECKLIST

Join David @ The Sports Psychology Hub

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Relevant Resources

Sports Psychology Resources for Youth Sport (Blogs, Podcasts, Video’s)

Sport Psychology for Children and Parents 

Child and Youth Motivation for Sport Quiz

Parent Motivation for Sport Quiz

Today marks a landmark in the Demystifying Mental Toughness Podcast where the show has been running for 2 years without missing a week.  As a result, 2 very special guests and pioneers in the field Doug Strycharczyk and Dr John Perry join me.  Together we discuss the third edition of their book alongside Professor Peter Clough, Developing Mental Toughness, we chat about new developments to the 4C’s Mental Toughness model.  Doug and John also share their thoughts on where research and practice is heading sharing insights into Mental Toughness and its relationships with innovation, trust and Mental Health.

Key Learning Points:

• The development of the eight factors in the four Cs Mental Toughness model include the introduction of goal orientation, achievement orientation, risk orientation and learning orientation.
• The eight factor framework for mental toughness has brought a new lens to understanding how other people behave.  We’ve been looking at things like trust, innovation, curiosity and more recently vulnerability.
• Goal orientation is the extent to which you are likely to be motivated by targets.
• Achievement orientation is the extent to which you make sure that you stick in to meet that target or goal.
• Learning orientation links to the question – do you keep making the same mistakes?
• In sport a lot of people struggle with reflection and repeating mistakes.  Age may have something to do with this.
• There is potential for developing some really interesting solutions for lots of people through the Mental Toughness lens moving forwards.
• The 4C’s model is sufficiently complex, in that it represents people and the future is very exciting where we have many options to continue on the great work already done.

Connect with Dr John Perry:

Twitter: @johnperry81

Email: John.Perry@mic.ul.ie

Connect with Doug Strycharczyk:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougstrycharczyk/

Email: headoffice@aqr.co.uk

Connect with David Charlton

Download THE FOCUSED ATHLETE CHECKLIST

Join David @ The Sports Psychology Hub

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

To Listen to the Full Podcast Episodes

Ep001: Doug Strycharczyk – The Importance of Mental Toughness

Ep028: Peter Clough MBE – Why is Mental Toughness Important?

Ep035: Dr John Perry – Thrive, Don’t Just Survive 2021

Ep050: Doug Strycharczyk, Peter Clough MBE & Dr John Perry – Mental Strength Does Not Guarantee Success 

Ep109: Maria Jeffers – How to master the mental side of horse riding

Other Useful Resources

5 Reasons team captains should work with a Sports Psychologist

Blog – Mental-Toughness is a Hugely Valuable Trait

Blog – Make Better Decisions to Help Your Sport Performance

Blog – 5 Ways to Create a Psychological Safe Sporting Environment