It’s Monday night at the Winter Gardens. The first round of the World Matchplay, and local boy Wes Newton is tackling Kevin Painter. Wes reckons, there are around three hundred of his fans in the capacity Blackpool crowd. This should be a good thing. But by the eighth leg, Newton is seven-nil down. There is no rhythm to his throwing. Good darts followed by bad darts. The harder he tries the worse it gets. Its only by the eighth leg, when he has nothing to lose, that Newton finds some sort of form. But by then, its far too late. […]
Read More...Sports Psychology Blog
Welcome to the Sports Psychology blog. Here you will find insights on current sporting events, from the perspective of a sports psychologist.
The purpose of this blog, is to get inside the sporting drama…why the player or team do what they they do…their thinking…mindsets…attitudes…their fluctuating state of confidence…and all the other mental and emotional pieces that create the psychology of sports.
The most recent articles are at the top of the List Of Sports Psychology Blogs Index.
Darts Psychology: Ronnie Baxter – The TV Break
It’s the battle of the super-quick throwers. England’s Ronnie Baxter v Holland’s Jelle Klaasen. After a mere nine minutes, Baxter has captured five legs. He is on fire and Klaasen has no answers. Then, comes the TV break. Time for Klaasen to gather his wits. And time for Baxter to lose his flow. Which is exactly what happens. Klaasen wins six of the next eight legs, and an improbable comeback is on the cards. Only Baxter’s experience sees him over the line. But it’s close. The TV break is often a thorn in the side, of the player in the […]
Read More...Football: Petr Cech – Confidence!
It’s early on, in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final, when Liverpool have a free-kick, thirty five yards out from the Chelsea goal. As Fabio Aurelio lines up to take the kick, Petr Cech drifts off his line, ready to come for a high ball into the crowded box. Instead Aurelio notices the growing gap that Cech has left by his post, and drills a deft left-footer, past him from distance. It’s a big blow to Cech’s confidence, as he then struggles throughout the game. His lack of confidence, seems to impact upon his defence. Chelsea leak another […]
Read More...Football: Rafael Benitez – That Man Fergie!
It’s the day before the big Champions League quarter-final. All is well at Liverpool. The Premiership title challenge, is back on. The team are in prime form. The manager has a new long-term contract. Nothing can go wrong! Then, at his Tuesday pre-match press conference, Rafael Benitez speaks out. Again. He claims that United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, is now running scared of his Liverpool team. Believing that Ferguson is feeling the pressure from his Liverpool team. Given the adverse publicity, that his anti-Ferguson jibes in January brought him, it’s a surprising strategy from the Spaniard. And an ill advised […]
Read More...Football: Liverpool – In The Zone
It’s twenty minutes after the end of Liverpool’s game at Fulham. And Liverpool supporters are still in Craven Cottage singing. Liverpool, after a dominant performance, have snatched it at the death. And are back on the top of the league. It maybe, that with United reclaiming top spot yesterday, Liverpool fail to take their first League title in twenty years. But, their performances over the last month, suggest that Liverpool, are finally moving in the right direction. For this is a team in the zone right now. When a team is in the zone, pressure increases focus, not anxiety. Players […]
Read More...Cricket: England – Leadership!
It’s the third one-day international, between England and the West Indies. England are reeling at 88 for 8. On a winter tour, where the only game they have won, was one where the West Indies coach made a bad mistake calculating the Duckworth-Lewis system, it’s a further example of a team performing without a purpose. This tour, was meant to get England in a positive frame of mind, before the greater summer challenge of Australia. Roll over the West Indies. Build a positive team-ethic. Face the Aussies with confidence. But not any more. This will be a team trying to […]
Read More...Golf: Colin Montgomerie – The Elusive Major
He is known as the best golfer never to win a Major. Triumphant on the European Tour, season after season. Unbeatable in the Ryder Cup. And yet, not a single Major title to his name. In a recent interview with the Sunday Times, Montgomerie, explains that the reason he was not successful in golf’s ultimate tests, was that he approached them in a perfectionist frame of mind. That he needed to play perfect golf. As the Majors were the true measure of a player, Montgomerie presumed that he would need to be playing at his highest level, to match the […]
Read More...Football: Liverpool – Unity!
The pressure was on Liverpool yesterday. After the wins against Real Madrid and Manchester United, questions were being asked as to whether they would blow the opportunity, to close the gap on the league leaders. Well, the Reds answered these questions emphatically. Not only putting five past Villa, but playing with a clarity and sense of purpose, that informs us that this is a team oozing with confidence and self-belief. That confidence reveals itself in the energy and dynamic of the team. The way each player understands their roles. How the team patterns weave together. The ability to make the […]
Read More...Football: Inter Milan – The Special One!
It’s the week of the Champions League clash, between Inter Milan and Manchester United. And Milan manager, Jose Mourinho, is making it clear how he sees the game playing itself out, even declaring the Milan formation, and personnel. It’s a typically bold stroke by Mourinho. Showing no fear ahead of a big match. No sense of trepidation. No fear of failure. Only complete and utter belief in his players and his methods. As if the bigger the occasion, the greater the pressure, and the more certain Mourinho’s belief becomes. Perhaps Jose, needs to raise the stakes. Needs to put himself […]
Read More...Football: Chelsea – Life After Jose
Its the third round FA Cup replay at Roots Hall. Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, has dropped Didier Drogba from the squad. This after a disappointing defeat at Old Trafford on Sunday. With persistent rumours of dressing room unrest, things are clearly not well at Stamford Bridge. The problem for Scolari, as it was for Avram Grant before him, is the lingering influence of Jose Mourinho. Mourinho made an indelible impression on the football club. He showed players, how to become winners and champions. When he left, and Avram Grant took over, Mourinho’s influence lived on in the Chelsea players. […]
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