From the golf greens to a sports and performance psychologist – A personal narrative
From Lockdown to Playing Grounds: Psychological Strategies to Help Athletes Cope with the New Normal
The sudden and unforeseen outbreak of the novel coronavirus has deeply obstructed the daily lives of individuals all across the world. While the majority of the population is discussing, debating and deliberating about tanking economies, fluid government policies, overburdened healthcare systems and several thousands of casualties caused by COVID-19, there is also a large population of sportspersons suffering from a sense of uncertainty about their future.
Over the past few months, the cancellation and postponement of major sporting events and the closure of all training facilities have disrupted orderly regimes of athletes and restrained them within the walls of their homes. The sense of confinement that has come from the quarantine period has had a debilitating impact on the psychological well-being of athletes. Sporting legends like Serena Williams, Clarisse Agbegnenou, and Michael Phelps have shared their personal experiences of undergoing a turmoil of emotions, accompanied by instability and confusion.
Nonetheless, now as countries begin to ease restrictions and lift the lockdowns, professional sporting events are recommencing with athletes carefully returning to their playing arenas. With the football leagues, Formula One, golf and cricket restarting its season behind closed doors, players are beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel.
While for some athletes returning to sports might seem like a breath of fresh air, others might be grappling with the mayhem and distress inculcated by the virus. Despite the lockdowns, the number of COVID-19 cases continue to surge rapidly across the sphere, leaving athletes on the horns of dilemma. Moreover, the increase of COVID-19 cases within the sporting fraternity with some prominent athletes like Novak Djokovic and a few others contracting the virus has further magnified the paranoia amongst sportspersons.
However, amid the pandemic, sporting authorities and organisations are making all the necessary efforts and leaving no stone unturned to create a physically safe and bio-secure environment for the athletes to compete in.
While all the necessary precautions are being taken and athletes are preparing themselves to return to sport, it is also necessary for them to work on the mental aspect of their game alongside fine tuning their technique and physically strengthening their bodies in order to manage the psychological demands of the current unprecedented situation.
As a Chartered Sport and Performance Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS), I outline the following psychological strategies that can help athletes adapt to the new normal and assist them in getting back to the field successfully:
Establish a re-entry plan by setting realistic goals
The journey of athletes returning back to sports after a prolonged period of sedentariness might be challenging with the path being obstructed with potholes and barriers. For instance, athletes might struggle to get back into their earlier fitness levels and also feel rusty while stepping out onto the field after a long break.
However, to safely return to training and avoid any injuries, it is important for athletes to have a re-entry plan by recalibrating their short-term and long-term goals with the assistance of their coaches and other support staff members.
When resuming practice, some athletes might find themselves feeling disoriented, lacking motivation and experiencing frustration, as the goals that they had set earlier have now diminished. Therefore, re-setting goals will help them navigate their way back into play proficiently, as it will provide them with a sense of direction and clear focus. Further, setting goals will have a positive impact on their motivation levels and will allow athletes to remain energised and productive during training and competitions.
Overall, setting realistic goals and progressing forward step-by-step will prevent overexertion and burnout among players, permitting them to gradually reach their optimal level of preparedness for future upcoming events.
Control the controllables
In times of such uncertainty, many athletes might find themselves experiencing immense stress and anxiety by focusing on things that are not directly in their control. For instance, When will this end? What if I contract the virus? What impact will it have?
While these kinds of thoughts are valid and understandable, they can result in excessive stress and anxiety, fear, anger and disappointment, as athletes are investing a great deal of their time and energy over aspects that they have no control over. Therefore, it is essential for sportspersons to divert their attention to things they can control in the current bizarre situation.
Instead of constantly worrying about the unpredictable scenario and fearing contracting the virus, the athletes should divert their focus and energy on aspects that are within their control. For instance, athletes should take care of their nutrition and sleeping patterns, focus on exercising and training safely, follow physical distancing protocols and wear a mask and sanitise their hands when required.
During these challenging times, athletes should ‘control the controllables‘ to keep their stress and anxiety levels at bay.
Learn to cope with the absence of crowd during competitions
The sporting events, besides being defined by which player shines or team triumphs, is also characterised by its exhilarating atmosphere with the cheering and elated shrieks of the crowd when athletes exhibit mastery in their performances.
Within sports, it is believed that the presence of a crowd can facilitate performance, as athletes tend to push themselves and aspire to perform to their best abilities when friends, family or others are watching them. The presence of an audience is often believed to increase the arousal levels and in turn, enhance performance among skilled sportspersons.
Though the games are commencing after the hiatus caused by COVID-19; this time in the absence of spectators. The establishments are trying to reconstruct an illusionary experience by incorporating fake crowd noise, cardboard banners of fan cut-outs and creating Zoom walls via video calls on big screens. Nevertheless, some players and teams might still experience psychological challenges due to lack of viewers that can have a drastic impact on their performance. For instance, the performance of all the home teams in the German domestic circuit was impacted with them performing poorly compared to pre-Covid-19 games, by having scored fewer goals than they did in jam-packed arenas.
The show must go on
Under such circumstances, it is important for athletes to intrinsically motivate themselves in order to be aroused and stimulated throughout the competition. The athletes should concentrate on improving their performance rather than focusing on the final outcome of the sporting event. For instance, the players should focus on their personal performance goals and challenge themselves to outdo their own previous records. This way, the athletes will feel more in control of their performance and the personal satisfaction of attaining their goals will keep them involved and determined throughout their participation in sports.
First published in Psychreg on 2nd October, 2020
We’re Still in the Midst of COVID-19. Here’s How We Can Support Athletes
With the worldwide lockdown and mandates to maintain physical distancing, athletes are quarantined or isolated in their houses in an attempt to curtail the virus. While some athletes are recouping by engaging in activities like cooking, painting and watching films, others might be struggling to cope with the disruption in their normal training routines and experiencing excessive anxiety and stress.
During such an unprecedented time, there is a constant influx of information concerning the impact of the current pandemic on athletes’ mental health and some athletes have shared their concerns as they go from being extremely active to a sedentary lifestyle.
In a recent article, Serena Williams expressed that: ‘Now, I’ve been social distancing for actually a really long time, for probably two weeks now, and every little thing makes me go crazy. And by anxiety I mean I’m just on edge. Any time anyone sneezes around me or coughs I get crazy. I don’t hang out with anyone, and when I say anyone I mean my daughter.’
Also, Clarisse Agbegnenou, French judoka and Rio 2016 silver medallist shared a similar reaction: ‘[The uncertainty about when we will be able to train and compete] is very difficult to handle; I like to schedule things in advance. Being in the fog really turned me down. I’m learning how to be another person, to live day by day, which is not easy. I’m learning how to be patient in uncertainty. This is not easy.’
The sentiments shared by the athletes regarding the impact of the pandemic on their mental well-being is something that athletes all across the globe are grappling with and is a concern that needs to be addressed.
In the current scenario, video technology has come to the rescue and is being used by sporting personnel to minimise the impact of lockdown on athletes who can now be socially connected. For instance, Special Olympic Texas launched an initiative where athletes, coaches and families are staying connected online through conversations, posting entertaining videos and engaging in daily puzzles to eliminate the sense of isolation.
Similarly, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) introduced an online education programme for athletes and coaches, with prominent speakers delivering online lectures on various topics related to strength and conditioning, physiotherapy and injury prevention, sports medicine, nutrition, and sports psychology.
Overall, a novel initiative to keep athletes and coaches engaged in the wake of the nationwide lockdown.
Delivering sport psychology through virtual means
During such an extraordinary time, I as a sport and performance psychologist find myself extending psychological support to athletes through virtual means, such as video calling, phone calls, e-mail or text messages, and web-based programs.
Telepsychology or teletherapy has been around for more than a decade now, but the outpouring of mobile phone users and easy access to fast broadband connections has created greater opportunities to provide psychological support to athletes while adhering to the physical distancing norms. Although, engaging in a traditional face-to-face interaction with athletes is always preferred.
Nevertheless, in the midst of the current pandemic, providing support to athletes by video-call, or simply over the phone helps to mirror the traditional one-to-one consultation to some degree.
Advantages of delivering sport psychology through virtual means
In the midst of the lockdown, the delivery of sport psychology using technology will allow practitioners to provide psychological support to athletes not only close to their region, but to athletes located all across the globe, while they attend sessions from the comfort of their own homes. Practitioners can also conduct team sessions by having teammates communicate and participate on common platforms (e.g., Zoom, Cisco-Webex, and Google Meets), while being thousands of miles apart from one another.
Also, the sudden outbreak of the pandemic has brought a set of challenges for para-athletes and imposes immense strain on them. In a recent article, Sundar Singh Gurjar, the World Para Athletics champion, emphasised to maintain good psychological health during lockdown: ‘Practising at home is different from handling the pressure on the field. It can affect your mind if you are not competing for a long time. Disabled athletes must regularly practice yoga and meditation.’
Therefore, in such challenging times, providing psychological support to para-athletes is also necessary, and can be done through an innovative online platform called Microsoft Teams, which with its various unique features makes it accessible not just for persons with restricted movement but also for individuals with vision or hearing disabilities.
Indeed, Nipun Malhotra, the CEO of Nipman Foundation, and a disability rights activist endorsed that: ‘Having tried at least half a dozen such video communication technologies, I find it safe to say that Microsoft Teams is miles ahead when it comes to accessibility and persons with disabilities.’
Disadvantages of delivering sport psychology through virtual means
Though online delivery has its advantages, nevertheless, it comes with its own limitations. For instance, there might be instances where poor connectivity and technology glitches interrupt the session, hence, compromising the quality of these sessions and resulting in an exasperating experience for the athlete.
While technology is empowering, it can also be restrictive, especially in a country like India, where the digital disparity is so stark that access to technology for athletes living in rural areas is a challenge. In a conversation with Viren Rasquinha, the CEO of Olympic Gold Quest and former Indian hockey captain, mentioned that: ‘Most athletes that I have seen, specially in sports such as boxing and wrestling, do not come from privileged backgrounds, and internet connectivity is a problem in rural areas.’
Moreover, online sessions might not be for everyone, as some athletes might find it challenging due to lack of space and privacy in their homes. Whereas, others might find it uncomfortable to interact with the sport psychologist for the first time through a mobile or computer screen.
This view was concurred by Viren as he stated that: ‘Some athletes find the first session difficult online without knowing the sport psychologist from before, which impacts their working relationship. Also for some, privacy is a concern, especially for those who are based in an academy or hostel.’ Further, it becomes difficult for the practitioners to observe non-verbal cues during an online session that otherwise can aid in building rapport and gaining a more accurate understanding of their needs.
Although the amalgamation of technology with sport psychology practice presents unique challenges, nevertheless, sport psychology sessions’ being digitally accessible to the sporting population is currently the need of the hour and the ‘new normal’ of the lockdown period.
First published on Psychreg on 21st May, 2020.
Investigating Irrational Beliefs, Cognitive Appraisals, Challenge and Threat, and Affective States in Golfers Approaching Competitive Situations
Psychological Strategies for Athletes in the Time of COVID-19
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a maelstrom all across the globe, bringing the world to a standstill. The sporting industry has seen the postponement and cancellation of sporting events, and the subsequent closure of training facilities has caused uncertainty and immense stress and anxiety among the athletes.
In such an unprecedented time, some athletes might utilise the time to recuperate from their hectic competitive schedules, whereas, others might struggle to cope with the unexpected disruption in their preparations. Also, this sudden halt in sports has thrown some athletes off their stride and sent them into a wave of emotions (like experiencing excessive anxiety and stress, fear, anger, frustration, and disappointment).
Mental health is a serious concern within the high-performance sporting environment, and some athletes have voiced their concerns with regards to the mental well-being of athletes. In a recent India Today article, Michael Phelps said that: ‘As athletes, we’re so regimented. At this point, all the work is done. We’re just fine tuning the small things to get to this point. Now it’s like, “Oh … we’re not competing,” All these emotions start flaring up. I really think mental health is so important right now.’
Similarly, the Australian cricket coach Justin Langer advocated the need to ‘keep an eye on players and staff living alone‘.
The emphasis of mental well-being from both men is an issue that must be addressed, and, as such, cannot be accomplished without providing athletes with adequate psychological support.
As a sport and performance psychologist, I also had an opportunity to chat with the former Indian cricketer and now a coach and commentator, S. Badrinath and understand his perspective on how athletes can best utilise their time and focus on their mental well-being during the lockdown period.
From the conversation and my work in sport and performance psychology, I sketch out a few strategies below that athletes can adopt to cope with the current scenario.
Control the controllables
During quarantine, many athletes, parents, and coaches might find themselves experiencing immense stress and anxiety by focusing on things that are not directly in their control. From my discussion with athletes and coaches the thoughts that came forefront were: ‘When will this end? When is our next event? What will happen? When will a cure be found?’ Thus, individuals are investing a great deal of their energy on aspects they have no control over.
While these kinds of thoughts are valid and understandable, they can result in excessive stress and anxiety, fear, anger, frustration and disappointment, athletes have no control over the current situation. Therefore, it is essential for athletes, parents, and coaches to divert their attention to things they can control.
In sport psychology, we as practitioners often find ourselves reminding athletes to focus on things that they can control within their performance environment. Indeed, Michael Phelps echoed that: ‘Just control what you can control. We’re in such uncharted waters. We’re getting all these big questions thrown at us: What if? What if? What if? It’s so hard to understand. We’re having a hard time just wrapping our head around it.’
Further, in my conversation with S. Badrinath he reiterated: ‘What has happened is beyond the control of athletes, they cannot do anything about this. It is non-controllable. So they have to just let it go and see where they stand, and keep themselves motivated.’
Therefore, encouraging athletes to shift their focus on things that are under their control such as solidifying a new daily routine by incorporating activities that are essential for an athlete’s sport (such as proper sleep and diet, self-care, some form of exercise, etc.) can help them come up with a structured plan which will allow athletes to focus on the right things and help them overcome their internal negative dialogues.
Also, re-calibrating their short-term and long-term goals with the help of their coaches can provide athletes with a sense of direction and clear focus, which can have a positive impact on important psychological states such as confidence and motivation.
Badrinath further supported these strategies and emphasised on the importance of resetting goals for the athletes and stated that: ‘Goal-setting is really really important. The board is clear again, have to erase everything and start a fresh.’
He also added that athletes could cope with their stress and anxiety by incorporating some form of exercise in their daily routine. Additionally, athletes watching their previous performances and replaying the successful matches and innings in their mind can help athletes maintain their self-confidence and remain positive under such circumstances.
For athletes, it is natural to experience an array of emotions in the current situation. However, it is essential for them to realise that their feelings are stemming from the way they are thinking or perceiving the current adversity. For instance, athletes might be engaging in unhelpful and misguided thoughts (‘This is absolutely awful,’ ‘I cannot stand this,’ and ‘This is terrible for my future,’ etc.) might be experiencing immense stress and anxiety.
Therefore, it is crucial for athletes to recognise their unhelpful thoughts and defuse them by thinking in a more logical and helpful manner about the situation. They need to understand the condition is currently difficult and unpleasant for everyone and accept their thoughts for what they are – just thoughts and not reality.
Further, with cities and countries being locked down, alongside authorities urging social distancing, a feeling of isolation can spread amongst the athlete population. However, coaches, parents, and indeed anybody working in sport, may experience stress and anxiety during such times of difficulty. In such times, it is in the control of the athletes, and everyone else, to stay connected, and not isolated.
While, we are limited to our physical interaction with individuals, the current technological era makes it possible for athletes to be virtually connected with their support networks. Therefore, being connected with their peers, teammates, and coaches can help athletes feel supported and eliminate the sense of isolation.
During such an extraordinary situation, athletes should acknowledge and accept that there are things that are not in their control. Hence, they should invest their mental energy and resources on aspects that are in their control.