Today is the second part of a 3-part series, where I share 2 more clips, this time from former England Cricketer and Senior Leadership Coach, Jeremy Snape and multiple World Champion Martial Artist and Clinical Hypnotherapist, Stuart Wade.  Jeremy highlights the importance of the psychological side to sport and Stuart defines Mental Toughness in Combat Sports.  

Again, I go on to share a case study and another tool that a lot of my clients have found useful, from compassionate focused therapy to help you or your clients manage the voice in their heads.  

Key Learning Points

• Jeremy states “how my biggest opponent wasn’t India, or the crowd or Harbhajan Singh’s doosra, it was actually the voice in my head which was louder than all 100000 people put together.”
• Stuart mentioned how “if you take a good shot, it hurts, immediately we’re hard wired to retreat and protect ourselves and not go forward”
• When we’re activated by fear, it’s similar to the sight of a predator, which goes on to trigger a fear response in the amygdala.
• It then messes with our motor functions, our heart may beat crazy fast, our breathing speeds up and our mind can go into overdrive. 
• In this state a lot of people’s thoughts are self-defeating where they get caught in the past thinking about what has happened, and focus on their weaknesses or they flip forward to the future worrying about what may happen, again looking at it from a negative angle. 
• Some people get into blame mode too, blaming themselves and have a very harsh thought process.    
• Self-compassionate focused therapy and some of the tools from this approach can come to their rescue such as the one I discuss in this episode, when looking at releasing thought balloons. 

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Relevant Podcast Episodes

Ep129: David Charlton - How to Deal with Self-Criticism using Self Compassion – PT1

Ep115: Jeremy Snape - Mental Strength to Succeed: Learning Lessons from International Cricket

Ep081: Stuart Wade – Mental Toughness in Combat Sports

Ep072: Tom Jones – Mastering the Mental Side of Cricket

Ep083: Billy Schwer – Life Lessons from a World Champion Boxer

Other Relevant Blogs and Resources

3 Ways to use Visualisation so that You are Mentally Prepared to Win

Do you focus too much on your opponent before or during a boxing match?

7 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Bowl Every Delivery

Perfectionism in Cricket

Kristin Neff Website on Self-Compassion