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A few weeks ago, I spoke to Alex Auerbach about his spell in the NBA, gaining coach buy-in and sport psychology regulation.

During the conversation, Alex touched on the role he played in influencing the Toronto Raptors’ player recruitment, none more so than during the NBA Draft (an annual event which sees teams from across the league pick players who ha…

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In our last newsletter, Jonathan Harding wrote about a new study examining the link between personality and performance, focusing specifically on how the ‘Dark Triad’ of narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy impacts sporting relationships.

This week, we’re taking a deeper dive into the subject, bringing you a 30-minute podcast based on Jonath…

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“There are so many ways to do sports psychology: it just so happens that I believe an optimal culture for the incorporation of sports psychology bases its language and behaviours around a shared mental model.

“That's because you can help the coaches, the physios, the club doctor, the sport scientists, the strength and conditioning coaches - who do sport…

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You’re 2-1 down to your arch rivals in a game that might decide who wins the league. You’ve played as though you’re chasing only your second title in 25 years: the nerves are palpable. You have 45 minutes to put things right.

The stakes don’t get much higher than Feyenoord’s match against Ajax in March 2023. The game at the Amsterdam Arena setup the pos…

How do you convince an ageing centre back to swap the security of a low block for a high press that might make Ange Postecoglou blush? Karl Marius Aksum may have the answer.

The Mjallby assistant coach, who is part of a backroom team that has helped the Swedish club to the highest position in its 85-year history, was refreshingly honest in an explanation which exemplifies how he’s taken his doctorate knowledge onto the training ground. 

“It's by using video clips in a manipulative way,” he jokes.

“So, it starts with me showing a lot of positive clips where we play a high line and we are successful.

“Then I emphasize how good this is, because maybe we win the ball and we create a chance. So, the clips are very important.

“When it comes to coaching, it's some principles that are non-negotiables - so, you have to play a diagonal pass instead of a sideway pass in this situation - but most of the time it's, ‘Hey, instead of doing that, what about if you do this instead? What if you waited one second, controlled the line first, and then pressed?’

“You're inviting their thoughts because it would be stupid for me to tell a 34-year-old who has played in European competitions and as a professional for 15 years, how to defend in every situation.

“It's a collaboration, it's getting their input, their understanding of the situation with their specific skills, and that is important because maybe I want him to do something but he's not quick enough to do it, in which case he shouldn't do it.”

Aksum’s insight was part of a wide-ranging discussion, exploring the Norwegian’s creative approach to honing cognitive skills, the club-wide culture which has helped propel Mjallby to third place in Sweden’s top-flight and the power dynamics crucial to establishing an effective coaching team.

Here are a few soundbites from the episode, which you can listen to in full via the audio player at the top of this article.

On making the move from academia to professional football:

“I was the one with the doctorate degree who had really never worked daily with a team at this level: all my ideas were mostly in my head and written down on paper, but never used in practice.

“So, yes, there was some scepticism for sure, but I also think that was why I got the job because they wanted someone who really had a deep understanding of how players learn and the game of football.

On what psychological theory looks like on the training ground:

“For me, it’s about making everything specific to the game of football. Every time I start planning a session, I start with the session intention and session design, because I believe that players are learning in their interactions with teammates and opponents in game situations, where you have to perceive a situation, you have to decide and you have to execute.

“Also, you need cognitive intensity in everything you do. You need to be fully committed to each exercise. And then there’s repetition without repetition.

“So, we create a scenario or a situation where we never tell the players exactly what to do because football is too complex. You never, ever play the same situation two times. So we would set up a situation with some principles, and then we will run through that situation 10, 15 or 20 times, where they play and they make decisions.”

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themindroom.substack.com

“Most athletes compete at one Olympics, so they might have been working forever for this one moment, and then, that's it, it's gone.

“There's only one heat that you get to compete in. You've only got one chance to do your beam routine. It lasts a minute, but you've trained for it for 15 years.

“It's about how you prepare for those moments.”

Misia Gervis…

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“If someone calls themselves a sports psychology consultant and they're not licensed, what do you do? There's no punishment. There's nothing you can do to change that. The psychology board can send them something that says, ‘Please don't do this’ and maybe the club can sue them if something goes wrong, but by and large, there's not an accountability me…

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Geir Jordet has spent most of his professional career studying penalties. The Norwegian professor, who has worked with several of Europe's top teams over two decades in football, knows the psychological subtleties of spot kicks as well as anyone. 

All of which means that, as Euro 2024 moves towards the knockout stages and the drama of penalty shootouts, …

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Barely a week goes by without mentions of ‘culture change’ within sport. Some of the commentary is vital: in sports ranging from rugby to swimming, there are serious issues to confront, requiring systemic reforms and widespread behavioural change. In other instances, the term is in danger of becoming a buzzword, meaning anything from dressing room camar…

We've launched a new sister newsletter, bringing you the latest football psychology stories to your inbox - for free - every week. To subscribe to The Mind Room, just visit https://themindroom.substack.com/, where you can also find a back catalogue of articles and interviews. We'll be back with a new pod in the near future, but if you want to get in touch with us in the meantime, our Twitter DMs are open: https://twitter.com/soccerpsychshow.  

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit themindroom.substack.com/subscribe