ATHLETES

In high-performance sport athletes have to overcome a wide variety of challenges. On an intrapersonal level, it is important to build self-efficacy, reduce competitive anxiety, improve concentration and attention in training and competition, and to handle failure and even success. Further challenges exist on an interpersonal level; for example, an athlete may feel dissatisfied with the quality of interactions or communication with their teammates or coaches. If athletes do not deal with these or similar factors their level of performance might stagnate or even decrease, which is likely to have a negative impact on their psychological well-being.

The aim of counselling and coaching in the area of sport psychology is to support athletes in their self-determination and self-responsibility. This is achieved by developing the ability in the athlete to become his or her own sport psychology expert. With this in mind it is essential that counselling and coaching always ensures that a) the athlete learns basic psychological techniques and methods (e.g., relaxation techniques), b) we collectively work on the athlete’s individual resources and potentials, and, if necessary, c) the athlete learns to react appropriately to crises (Beckmann & Elbe, 2008). At all times the focus is on the athlete and the consideration of his or her personal environment, goals and needs (Kleinert & Brand, 2011).

Topics that are relevant for counselling and coaching in the area of sport psychology – and that can be transferred to other contexts – include:

• Relaxation & activation
• Motivation & goal-setting
• Stress & recovery
• Mental training & visualization
• Self-talk
•  Psycho-regulation
• Self-efficacy & competitive anxiety
• Preparation for competition
• Handling failure and success
• Dealing with injuries
• Communication
• Concentration & attention

TEAMS

Besides coaching and counselling individual athletes, team counselling is becoming more and more important. The atmosphere within a team is likely to be positive as long as the team is successful, however, should a negative perception of team performance begin to emerge – likely in conjunction with a drop in the standings – it becomes apparent whether the group of athletes is really a team or, rather, a collection of individuals. Interpersonal and intrateam conflicts are typically only discussed when they can no longer be prevented. However, with the support of sport psychology counselling and coaching on the team level, negative impacts on team performance can be avoided or, at least, reduced in their intensity. To this end, at least nine intra-team processes can be defined that are inherent to optimal intra-group functioning (cf. Zepp, Ohlert & Kleinert, 2014):

• Identity
• Identification
• Collective efficacy
• Group cohesion
• Role ambiguity
• Leadership
• Motivational climate
• Trust
• Communication

In my experience, successful results can be achieved through sport psychology coaching and counselling over the course of six sessions – in many cases even faster. Nevertheless, frequent sport psychological coaching and counselling, across several different competitive phases, is especially effective, e.g. to build resilience to stressors before situational demands change..

If you’re considering sport psychology coaching or counselling, or would like to know more, please contact me to discuss individual questions.