EIS Label London Psychological Games

by Rebecca Roberts - 03.02.10

Each Olympic and Paralympic Games has posed a unique set of challenges for British athletes. Unveiling some of the tools being used to prepare athletes for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Performance Psychologists at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) have hailed London as the Psychological Games for British athletes.

Whilst travel and jetlag were key challenges for the Sydney Games, Athens presented logistical challenges to routines, Beijing the physical environment and acclimatisation and the London 2012 Games present the key challenge of managing expectations and performing under pressure.

With one of the world’s leading psychological support systems for high performing athletes, the EIS believes performance psychology will play a key role in ensuring athletes develop the mental toughness necessary to deliver performances.

Developing the ultimate Psychological Games tool-kit, the EIS Performance Psychology team have combined research, experience and sport specific information on home and away Games in order to equip athletes, coaches and support teams with the extra edge.

“The London Games pose unique challenges and opportunities for British athletes” says EIS Head of Psychology, Mark Bawden.

“The combination of home crowds, familiarity with conditions and home based officiating and staffing can all be seen as both advantages and disadvantages. A home Games presents a different environment which athletes need to be ready for and have the mental endurance to cope with, no matter what sport they’re in or what their medal prospects are” he adds.

Not only are the run up to any major event full of intense training, focus and commitment from athletes but for a home Games, the increased media attention, demands from sponsors and national excitement can create a new dimension for athletes to hit head on.

“We have already been working with a number of sports to help equip athletes, coaches and support teams with the necessary psychological tools to take advantages of a home Games” Bawden explains.

“One key tool we have developed is Pressure Training, behind which is the concept of allowing athletes to train in a series of performance situations, targeting psychological demands which athletes would experience at a home Games.

“Ensuring practice of dealing with expectations, judgement, consequences and outcomes are all part and parcel of the training process. A key goal is for athletes to understand their responses to pressure and to coach them to use pressure positively.

“We’re working with sports on making the Psychological Games a success for their athletes, equipping coaches and support staff with the necessary tools to get the most out of the training and key milestone events leading up to the London Games” he adds.

With a large home squad, national pride and expectation, coaching athletes to understand how to embrace pressure and use it positively is a major factor in delivering winning performances.

“Coaches are already skilled in working with and developing their athletes and through enhancing their understanding of how to recreate performance related practice, we work with the coaches to develop mental toughness by manipulating training environments” says Bawden.

“Whilst you can’t recreate thousands of people watching you at an Olympic final, we can recreate the same sensations athletes will go through which in turn will create similar responses in the brain which equips athletes with the tools to deliver their skills when they are most expected to do so"

Photography © Getty Images