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It only takes two fingers to count the number of sport psychologists I’ve spoken to about their involvement in coach recruitment. I talked to the first of the pair, Alex Auerbach, last year, as part of a conversation in which the ex-Toronto Raptors Head of Wellness & Development revealed how his behaviour-based questioning and character assessments help…

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Bodies strewn across the turf. Players locked in thousand-yard stares. This wasn't how the last day of Northampton's season was meant to look.

The end of the 2021-22 campaign will live with Jon Brady forever. His side were seemingly set for automatic promotion from English football's League Two. 25 minutes into the final match of the season, their closes…

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“I was interested in how could we move away from the experience of sport psychology we'd had - that I didn't think was particularly impactful - to one really focused on what I believed was the essence of what we were all trying to do, which was drive performance on the field.”

Simon Middleton doesn’t waste words. The former England head coach, who led th…

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Business development. Entrepreneurship. Marketing. Not three of the skills you’d necessarily associate with becoming a sport psychologist, but a trio of competencies that are increasingly important for students and trainees to understand.

That’s the view of Dr Nick Wadsworth, psychologist and senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, who spok…

Childish. Emotional. Tiresome. Whatever your take on the antagonism that marked the end of the fourth test between England and India, it’s difficult to argue that the episode has done anything other than intensify the mental battle that will play out during the series decider at The Oval.

Predicting how the two teams will psychologically prepare for the fifth Test is trickier, though. In this episode of The Mind Room podcast, Harshal Patel, Indian T20 international, and Tim Harkness, Head of Soccer Affairs at the Saudi Pro League and Chelsea's ex-Head of Psychology and Sport Science, examine the strategies and tactics that coaching, backroom and playing staff might employ to gain a mental edge.

The duo look at the situations that both sides could face in the fifth Test, how individual and team characteristics might influence their reactions and what impact this may have on a psychological battle that could define the series.

You can listen to the episode in full via the audio player at the top of this article.

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

“We don’t lack care, but we lack coherence…there’s a lack of clarity, shared language and understanding…and it creates some cracks that might be not beneficial for the players and staff who actually need support.”

Leif Gunnar Smerud might be the only coach in Europe with a UEFA Pro Licence and clinical psychology qualification to his name.

The ex-Crystal …

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 “ Clubs say to coaches, ‘You’ve go to manage all the players, the 50 staff that we have and manage up to the CEO and across’…but there’s really no education (for coaches) …

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Over the course of the 2023/24 season, Spurs defender Christian Romero travelled 162,000km to and from matches for the London club and his country, Argentina (that’s over a third of the way to the moon, for those that like a slightly tangential, space-based barometer).

Almost two years on from the FIFPRO report that highlighted Romero’s journeys - and a…

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It’s hardly news to say that sport has an identity crisis. Article after article berates teams for failing to support athletes seeking to understand who they are away from the field of play. But how can coaches and backroom teams provide the type of help which will turn the tide?

It’s a question football needs to answer. A study of the Spanish youth syst…

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“There’s a robotic element flooding in…where’s the freedom in that football match? The players are scared to death of making a mistake.”

Gary Neville, speaking after the Manchester derby, April 2025

Pundits don’t always get it right, but Gary Neville’s comment seemed to strike a chord with viewers who had the misfortune of watching the last Manchester der…