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Mental Training for Athletes: Insights and Strategies
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The repayments of a rivalry
If you don’t try to win you might as well hold the Olympics in somebody’s back yard. Jesse Owens, American Olympic gold medallist for...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Feb 1, 20243 min read
Sometimes a coach’s anger can bring out the best performances
Human feeling is like the mighty rivers that bless the earth: it does not wait for beauty — it flows with resistless force and brings...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Feb 1, 20243 min read
There is a place for ‘Me’ in team: Recognising the individual helps the team
If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologise. Muhammad Ali, American professional boxer, activist and...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 31, 20243 min read
Do we need time or data to diagnose poor performances in football?
Success is a choice not a chance. Joe Simpson, English mountaineer whose near-fatal climb in the Andes became the subject of a book and...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 31, 20243 min read
Do the short-term goals we set now lead to success down the line?
My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces. Wilma...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 30, 20243 min read
Are we all productive procrastinators? And how do we get back to work on the right things?
What is productive procrastination? It is replacing one adaptive behaviour with another adaptive (but less important) behaviour. An...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 30, 20243 min read
The Triple P Guide to Personal and Team Success: Purpose – Process – Progress
Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement. Matt Biondi, American Olympic swimmer (1965–). Succeeding seems gruelling....
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 29, 20242 min read
Successful athletes: It is all in how they see it (and work through it)?
When I type here about successful athletes, I focus on the psychological skills and techniques they learn to separate themselves from...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 29, 20243 min read
Remember and forgive: Self-compassion increases self-improvement motivation
Athletes scatter mistakes throughout sports practice and competition. Mistakes are an avenue for learning; however, how many mistakes...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 27, 20243 min read
Grief in sport – At a loss to explain how you are thinking and feeling?
When we think about grief, we often think about bereavement – losing a loved one to death. The pain of loss influences us physically,...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 26, 20243 min read
Does your personality matter to get to the top in sport?
You see things; and you say, “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say, “Why not?” Methuselah (1903) George Bernard Shaw,...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 24, 20243 min read
Put ‘em under pressure! Pressure training to prepare for competition
To love truth for truth’s sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world and the seed-plot of all other virtues. John...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 23, 20243 min read
Should I dare to win or dare to lose?
You know what luck is? Luck is believing you’re lucky. Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, 1947 (Cooper, 2022). How do you...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 23, 20243 min read
How setting the tiniest goals helped John Naber win gold at the Olympics: Tiny goals bring Olympic golds
Sports performers logically set challenging, specific goals to stretch them towards success. The research to date argues in their favour...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 22, 20242 min read
Building the spirit back into your team: Team spirit
Sport psychologists receive enquiries from coaches and managers about how they can get their team to function better. The coaches and...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 22, 20243 min read
When goals become habits in sport – pleasant and rewarding in and of themselves
When we think about our habits in sport, we might feel that they are routine behaviours we do without thinking or paying much attention...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 19, 20243 min read
What we feel when we feel self-conscious? The footballer on the pitch
At one stage or another, we feel the self-conscious emotions of shame and guilt inside our heads. Shame and guilt are self-conscious...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 19, 20243 min read
Shame in Gaelic football – what’s that all about?
Shame is an unwanted feeling that we associate with avoiding and withdrawing. When people feel shame, they just want the floor to open up...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 19, 20243 min read
Online sport psychology services – Are you ready?
We are now in the decade of the 2020s and much has changed in the world of sport and sport psychology support for the masses. The number...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 18, 20242 min read
How can I ensure I’m becoming a better golfer when I practise? Think FIFA
All athletes practise their skills daily or weekly in pursuit of excellence. But the question they all have about practice is a simple...
Dr Paul McCarthy
Jan 18, 20243 min read
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