SportsPsychologist.com Blog by Dr Victor Thompson

Italian football match-fixing inquiry story on the BBC today (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18000848 ): 52 active players to answer questions on their behaviour. This got me wondering, some athletes make the decision to take performance enhancing drugs to perform better (by cheating), but how much money would it take for athletes (footballers and others) to perform worse? What would it take for us in their shoes to: to miss a or every shot on goal? to foul another player? to false start in a sprint race? to fail at each attempt at a triple jump? to not finish a hurdle race? to finish outside the top 10 in a sprint in a cycling road race? ... Would we never be tempted? Even by a few hundred thousand pounds? Would our price be high, average, or not so high? Would it be lower if we are more towards the end of our sporting careers, to earn a bit extra, or because it 'doesn't matter'? How would we justify the decision? Dr Victor Thompson www.sportsps...

An important element of self-management is the ability to manage attention, focus or concentration. Skilful performers can shift focus when the situation requires it and at will. One dimension is internal-external: Internal: this is your body, how it feels, your perceived exertion, your heart-rate, tension, but also your emotions and thoughts External: that which is outside your body, the competitive arena, your opponent(s), the weather Practice in training to shift your attention from internal to external and back again, plus to learn when it is helpful to have an internal or external focus. Dr Victor Thompson www.sportspsychologist.com

Sport and exercise – but not competition for most of us – can be a good way to de-stress. This works for several reasons: It takes us away from stressful situations (home or work) We focus on what we are doing (e.g, chasing a football, hitting the tennis ball, running drills…) and therefore not on life’s problems We have endogenous opiates (‘happy hormones’) released into our bloodstream which feel good We might be exercising or playing sport with positive, encouraging people Those of us who exercise know this already. Perhaps we can share the good news to those who don’t exercise or engage in sport?  Dr Victor Thompson www.sportspsychologist.com