Activity all over the place. Athletes feel the upcoming pressure. For some the dream of being at the Olympic Games is already realized. Others are confronted with the qualification challenge. Growing pressure is everywhere. Not from the outside but from the inside. The latter have to eliminate ‘I have to qualify’ from their brain. The brain is the fine-tuner of potential and results. Away with the tension, forward with the development process. Training is competition, competition is training, always one in the way to results. Of course athletes always feel the pressure to perform. Often he/she eats continuously the external factors that come in between him/herself and the results. It becomes a brick in your stomach and no pharmacist has a remedy. It becomes exponential and research shows that serial winning and even winning is ruined by that internal pressure. Lying to yourself by rationally convincing yourself installs stress and the perception of the athlete on his/her potential becomes negative, leads to hidden anxiety. ‘Protect me from what I want’ is not only a great piece of art by Jenny Holzer but also a universal truth in the mind of individuals, not in the least top sport athletes. Olympic Games are THE biggest sport event on earth, you have to be there every four years. It needs lots of psychological strengths and competences. Athlete centered, the coach will be in the driver’s seat, surrounded by experts. Within the expert group our task is to nurture the coach in his major task as ‘mental coach’. Explaining the brain as the last station before going in the ring, the brain as fine-tuner of using all the athlete’s potential to deliver results. We support the coach without taking away his crucial ‘mental coach’ role. We like our expert role as performance psychologist.
Gratitude : Coach Damiano Martinuzzi, physio Didier Verhasselt, athlete Toma Nikforov
