Sports psychology to many is about helping professional sports individuals to improve their performance: supporting people and behaviours, the way they think, the way they behave. It’s been put into different areas by the actual professionals in the field.
One is around player development: helping players develop and transition into the first team. Another is supporting the environment that surrounds the players: the culture, the staff, the general climate. And then there’s counseling: supporting a player and dealing with any issues or crises or challenges are faced with such as injury or death.
Are football teams doing enough to explore this aspect of development? Research from Brunel University revealed that while there are a number of part-time psychologists working within academies in the United Kingdom, only around a quarter of clubs responding to the study had a full-time psychologist in place.
A look around national teams, especially in the Concacaf, suggests that there is to a lesser extent, some use of psychologists either attached to the teams or working part-time.
The 1989 Trinidad and Tobago "Strike Squad" had Shirley Rudd Ottley around its camp but generally, over the past two decades, I can tell you there’s not been much input from psychologists around the Senior Men’s team. There was the odd visit by icons such as Brian Lara to the team camp during the 2006 campaign to offer words of upliftment but never really an actual psychologist attached to the team.
There’s been the general feeling that the head coach has enough in his package to have such influence when and where needed. And quite possibly so. If you ask any of the 2006 squad members, they would tell you Leo Beenhakker was so good at getting into the player's head that there was no real need for a 'second' psychologist in the camp.
A sports psychologist role is more accepted today as a part of the regular coaching staff for teams and for individual athletes–than 10-15 years ago. Sports psychologists can offer numerous services, but they primarily teach athletes mental game skills to improve their performance and learning. What sports psychologists teach or advise on vary from one person to another depending on their experience and qualifications.
The current Trinidad and Tobago women’s senior team has Alexandria Olton, a qualified sports psychologist attached to the staff which head coach Kenwyne Jones has said he fully endorses.
Sports psychologists can help athletes overcome fears, such as fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, and general performance anxiety. This is common among athletes who are perfectionists or highly dedicated athletes who worry too much about what other people think about their performance.
Sports are a microcosm of society, as the old maxim goes—and that’s never been more apparent. When elite athletes such as tennis player Naomi Osaka, swimmer Michael Phelps and basketball player Kevin Love speak out about their mental health struggles, it reflects a growing awareness of mental health among society at large.
Technically, only licensed clinical and counseling psychologists can describe themselves as “sport psychologists. But this field is growing as today’s athletes realise that psychologists can help them gain a mental edge that translates to better performance.
As one professional from Mexico told me, “You are always going to have a head coach, a physio, a doctor, a strength guy, kit guy and even a media officer but psychologists have never been a real priority. But that thought is slowly changing.”
Matt Shaw, a performance psychologist in the UK with InnerDrive, highlights the fact that many organisations are still playing catch up when it comes to a key factor in player performance.
"If there was a new revelation within strength and conditioning or sports science or nutrition or physiotherapy that indicated it was possible to get more from players then I think football clubs would rush to it," Shaw told Sky Sports.
Shaw pointed out there was a growing number of clients who came to him privately for help which is a clear indication that it is a necessity within the team set up.
"Players come to us for one of two reasons," he says. "Some come if there is a problem that they want to fix. It could be their confidence or their nerves in game situations. It could be that they just cannot see themselves improving as they would like. They have an issue and they want us to help them with it. Now though, there is quite a nice shift with the younger players coming through. They just want to develop.”
Brunel University's report noted that there is a "culture within football where psychological support is stigmatised and not understood.
"I still think there's this taboo around psychology whereby if you are speaking to a psychologist it is because something bad has happened. But if you look at some of the best players in the world, they see psychologists and nothing necessarily bad has happened to them. They just recognise that it is on their development path,” Shaw added.
The most common role for a sports psychologist is to teach mental skills for enhanced performance - improve confidence, focus, composure, intensity, and trust in athletic performance. These mental skills help athletes improve performance and can help in other areas of an athlete’s life. Not a bad addition when you really think of it once it's adopted and used in the right form.
Shaun Fuentes is the head of TTFA Media. He was a FIFA Media Officer at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey. The views expressed are solely his and not a representation of any organisation. shaunfuentes@yahoo.com
