BANGLADESH cricket team is consistently underperforming these days not because they have suddenly forgotten how to play cricket at the highest level, but because the whole team has lost confidence in their abilities. The remedy lies beyond the expertise of their cricket coaches. The team urgently needs the assistance of sports psychologists to fortify their beliefs in themselves.
Sports psychologists help professional and amateur athletes overcome mental impediments to their sports success. Many top athletes have credited sports psychologists for enhancing their performance and helping them achieve their goals. Entourage of elite athletes like tennis superstar Serena Williams always includes sports psychologists.
Any top athlete knows that sports is not only physical; a lot of it is also mental. Muhammad Ali, “The Greatest,” used to win boxing contests before the opening bell by psyching out his opponents with taunts. Before his title fight against then World Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston in 1964, Ali acted crazy and made Liston believe that he was really crazy! No one likes to fight a crazy guy! Of course Ali won the heavyweight title.
After South Africa won their away series against Australia 1-0 in Australia in 2012, Shane Warne made an astute observation. He said that unlike some other nations, South Africa was not afraid to beat Australia. One of the instances Warne was alluding to was the 2006 Fatullah test when Bangladesh had an excellent opportunity to beat Australia, but lost its nerve and the match.
While a team’s sports coaches concentrate on embellishing the physical and technical aspects of the players’ talents, the sports psychologists focus on what goes on inside the athlete’s head. The athlete may become too anxious and lose focus during critical times. He may have trouble communicating with his teammates, controlling his temper (something some Bangladeshi cricketers are unable to do) or to motivate himself. Worse of all, he may “choke” at critical moments of the game, when confidence deserts and nerves take hold of him.
Sports psychologists can help athletes enhance their performances by teaching them mental strategies such as visualization or mental rehearsals (something golfing great Tiger Woods employs), self-talk (to get pumped up) and relaxation techniques. These help athletes’ sooth their nerves, overcome mental obstacles to their performance and achieve their full potential.
Athletes are under enormous pressure to succeed from parents, coaches, their own expectations, and most importantly, from the high expectation of fans. Sports psychologists can teach them how to mitigate these pressure-cookers of expectations so that these do not negatively affect their performance.
Source: The Daily Star
