Demystifying Mental Toughness

In this solo episode, I discuss a challenge that many young athletes often come across and something that we get approached by parents and the athlete themselves about on a regular basis.   Dealing with physical insecurities.   I go on to share some exercises, that I often use citing a case study of Harry (pseudonym) the goalkeeper who was small for his position, which impacted his focus and confi...

This week I chat with HCPC Registered Sport Psychologist, Michael Caulfield about his route into the field and his work in elite professional football with managers, players and multi-disciplinary teams.   He shares fascinating insights into his work, the importance of being courageous whatever your role.   Michael has been fortunate to work with Gareth Southgate, Steve Bruce and Dean Smith in the...

Our guest today is very inspirational, Dan Steele was an excellent decathlete and an Olympic bronze medalist in Bobsleigh.   He was also one of the most successful collegiate track and field coaches in America.   In this episode, we discuss his journey, some obstacles that he overcame along the way as an athlete.   Psychological strategies that he used to keep himself going in difficult times were...

Today's guest Maria Jeffers has a background in psychometric testing and is the Business Development Manager for AQR International, who holds the licensing for the 4C's Mental Toughness model.   Maria has a passion for mental toughness as well as horses.   In this episode, we discuss how mental toughness applies to horse riding and the challenges of parenting a child who enjoys competing on her ho...

In this solo episode, I again look at commitment, a measure of mental toughness, from different angles with the aim of helping you stay on top of your goals. Finding ways not to be derailed so easily when the inevitable setbacks and obstacles find you. I also touch on the importance of emotional control and managing your emotions on your journey.   Where I go on to share excerpts from 2 previous e...

In this solo episode, I look at commitment, a measure of mental toughness from different angles.   Sharing excerpts from 2 previous episodes of Demystifying Mental Toughness with Steve Hackney and JJ Vallely, as well as discussing a quote from Arsene Wenger's book "My Life in Red and White."   Additionally, I talk about what I see as a common challenge for youngsters who play in team sports.   Hav...

This episode looks at an important element of Mental Toughness, commitment. With my guest, Amy Rowlinson, the host of the fantastic Focus on Why podcast.   We dig deeper and talk about why we do what we do.   Living a purposeful life, not simply drifting, responding to challenging times, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, our core values, and how you can go about finding your why are some of the...

In this episode, I was joined by former professional footballer Hannah Bromley where we had a fascinating conversation.   We discussed the pressures of playing international football, playing overseas in different cultures and how this went on to impact her performance levels.   Coach communication was part of our conversation too as well as mental health, bulimia, bullying and her passion for spo...

Today I'm joined by a South African professional rugby player, Sebastian De Chaves, who is currently plying his trade in the USA with Austin Gilgronis and has represented a number of Premiership Rugby clubs.   We discuss mental toughness in elite professional rugby, the use of sport psychology, typical challenges that rugby players and coaches face and common psychological demands of the sport. Ke...

Welcome to episode #103 of Demystifying Mental Toughness.   This is the final part of four specially created episodes to celebrate reaching our century!   The episode is hugely insightful with a number of our guests to date, again sharing many fantastic takeaways. The messages come from the world of marathon running, rugby, tennis, cricket, combat sports and refereeing and can only help athletes,...

Welcome to episode #102 of Demystifying Mental Toughness.   This is part three of four specially created episodes to celebrate reaching our century!   This time the episode is created with soccer and football fanatics in mind where the great guests that have been interviewed on the show to date, and with experiences in soccer or football, go on to share their key take home messages.   As you'll no...

Welcome to episode #101 of Demystifying Mental Toughness. This is part two of four specially created episodes to celebrate reaching our century! This time the episode is created with golf enthusiasts in mind where the nine first class guests that have been interviewed on the show to date about all things golf and mental toughness share their key take home messages.   You'll hear about managing you...

Welcome to episode #100 of Demystifying Mental Toughness! One hundred episodes are something that I would like to celebrate because I feel incredibly proud of what I've done with the show. So in this episode, I've collated a large number of take home messages from our guests to date and pieced them together into this episode.   There are lots of hugely inspiring messages for you.   You're going to...

Do you get caught up overthinking when playing golf? Do you suffer from paralysis by analysis? Or maybe you stand overpressure shots and visualise topping the ball, thinning the ball, or even shanking it!   If you do, it's OK even the best players in the world think this way every so often! In this episode, Trevor Jones a PGA Professional Golf coach and mental performance coach and I have great ch...

Today's episode will help you reflect on how you want to behave moving forwards.   My guest Jon Bartlett, who works as a Performance & Program Operations Advisor for the National Basketball Association (NBA) and I go on to discuss his why.   He tells me about his background in Premier League and International Football, Australian Rules Football and a lot more, explaining what has shaped his why.  ...

This episode of Demystifying Mental Toughness is going to help you learn from the past year so that you can make 2022 a better year.   Included are different exercises and important questions that you can consider and reflect on.   Improving your own or supporting your clients or athletes to improve their learning orientation, a part of Mental Toughness, where you look to seek the learning out of...

Today I'm joined by Gary Curneen a football or soccer coach, an author and a coach educator who shares with me some great nougats of advice for coaches involved in a range of sports.   Gary and I go on to chat about his experiences as a football coach and how important the psychological side of the game is, as well as how effective it is used.   We chat about the role of video analysis and sport s...

If you are an athlete, do you struggle to transfer your skills from training or practice to competitive situations?   Or if you're a coach, does your team or athletes fail to express themselves fully when the pressure is on? In this solo podcast episode, I address this hugely common challenge that athletes young and old, amateur and professional have, where I review recent podcast episodes and art...

In this episode of Demystifying Mental Toughness, I'm joined by Professor Adam Nicholls where our conversation is mostly based around the sport of Rugby, though there are crossovers into other sports.   We discuss how do you define Mental Toughness in rugby terms, coping with stressors and pressure in professional rugby and at a youth level.   How coaches can best help players to develop their men...

Today I chat with leading Sport Psychologist Dan Abrahams about the mental blocks that footballers present that can go on to influence why they struggle to replicate their form from the training pitch to match days. Despite our conversation in the main, being football related it does crossover to other sports where we touch on performance anxiety, Dan's approach to the use of mental skills and how...

In today's episode I introduce the concept of Acceptance Commitment Therapy or Training (ACT) and Mindfulness with co-author of an excellent book on the topic Dr James Hegarty.   In sport it is very easy to get ahead of yourself or dwell on past mistakes impacting on your performance levels.   James and I go on to unpick how ACT and Mindfulness principles and tools can support you in this regard s...

Whether you're a batsman or bowler, a wicket keeper or a fielder the psychological challenges in cricket are vast.   The game is unique where despite being a team sport, it can also be a very lonely place when you experience repeated failures as a batsman or get embarrassed as a bowler being smashed out of the park on a regular basis.   Today, Jarrod Leathem who enjoys supporting batsmen, in crick...

Today's Mental Toughness compilation episode includes short snippets of advice from our most recent 9 episodes.   We touch on many aspects of Mental Toughness from how you deal with challenges, learning from difficulties, setting appropriate goals, as well as ways to improve your confidence so that you can express yourself under pressure. Key Learning Points: Stuart Wade discusses mentally prepari...

There's a common theme across a lot of sports where athletes find it hard to transfer their skills from training or practice to competitive events and tournaments when the pressure is on.   Today I chatted to Will Shaw, a highly qualified PGA golf professional and sport's scientist who shares with me his insights.   It's a must listen if you're into golf or if you're looking to understand better w...

In episode 88 of Demystifying Mental Toughness, I had the pleasure of talking to a former professional basketball player, serial author, and entrepreneur Dre Baldwin.   Dre has written 27 books, one of which is called 'Playing As Well As You Practice'.   Today we dig into this topic as it's a common challenge many highly driven and motivated athletes, young and old, amateur and professional can st...