This year has been a fantastic opportunity to be partnered with an enthusiastic and welcoming club. Coaches, parents and athletes have embraced my work and taken many opportunities to talk about sport psychology, what it is and how it could help.

Workshop and Training Days Throughout the Year

Several coaches have taken the chance to use my services to help their squad in various ways to try and aid performance and their participation in sport.

Sandra and the sprinting squad have used a workshop, held on the track, to consider what pre-performance routine they do before races and what their ideal mindset would be before sprinting.

Jeremy and his high jump squad have tried out the use of imagery to visualise their jump in a way that they would find most beneficial: be this to focus on specific aspects of the jump, performing well or visualising the ideal environment for them to perform.

Finally, Sam and the pole vault squad have had a series of workshops on two psychological skills. The first, similar to the sprinters, being the consideration of a pre-performance routine to help them prepare for competition. The second was the use of self-talk; using statements or phrases unique to the individual to either aid with focusing on specific form/technique to help their vault or motivational and meaningful phrases to give them the edge in their performance.

There has been one parent workshop this year which looked to inform and promote what sport psychology is and how it may be able to help parents as well as athletes. The insightful questions raised from this session really helped inform the work I have been doing and I hope people now know a little bit more about sport psychology in general.

Running these workshops have been an absolute privilege. I personally have learnt a lot and I hope those who have attended have taken something away which has helped them in competing or training.

As well as running workshops, I have been regularly attending club training on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. During these times it has been informative to chat to athletes, coaches, parents and volunteers and develop an understanding of how much this club means to people and how much everyone enjoys being here.

Furthermore, time has been spent working alongside some of the coaches to apply some of the skills taught in workshops, develop a positive and learning environment and support coaches in the many roles they have.

The Winter Season Ahead

Winter is coming, but I do not plan to go anywhere! During the winter season, which some people dread and some people relish, I will still be offering workshops and my assistance wherever athletes and coaches may find it helpful.

This can be a great time to reflect on how the season has gone, think about your ambitions for next season and find the motivation to train in the colder/darker months of the year. I will be offering workshops on all of these topics if athletes would find this helpful. Please get in contact to show your interest so I can organise these to happen for specific teams or for the whole club.

Next Season 

From everything I have learned this season, and as I progress in the field of sport psychology, there are more and more exciting opportunities where sport psychology may be able to help the club.

For next season there is an aim to have more interactive workshops focusing on different aspects. For example, looking at certain big competitions in the year, discussing transitions in the sport, as well as workshops for parents. Examples of workshops will include for parents “How to deal with the conversation after a competition/the drive home” and for athletes “How to prepare for a big competition”.

Alongside this, I will still be working closely with certain coaches to produce educational and psychologically informed booklets to help in learning tricky techniques and supporting athletes where possible.

I look forward to helping the club as much as I can in the future and hope I can have a meaningful impact to enable as many people as possible to continue enjoying their involvement here.

If you have any suggestions or would like specific work for you, a team or someone you know please email: LewisSportPsychology@gamil.com

Thank you for a great season.

Kind Regards,

Jordan Lewis, MSc, BSc, MBPsS

Trainee Sport and Exercise Psychologist