About the Sport Principle Social inhibition in sport is a huge area of academic study in PE and Sports Science. Put simply, the term means that some people’s performance is improved by the presence of an audience (social facilitation), but some people feel the pressure and the presence of the audience makes their performance worse […]
About the Sport Principle This principle is all about the ‘f’ word: focus, of course. Sportspeople, like all of us, sometimes get their understanding of how we focus wrong, and it costs them dearly. They may talk about their momentary loss of focus costing them the game. For example: ‘I lost my focus for a […]
About the Sport Principle In these days of sky-high expectations from the British public following three hugely successful Olympic Games from our athletes, and where there is more government money through agencies like Sport England funding sport than ever before, the podium performance (or elite performance) contract has become increasingly popular. The idea is that […]
The Sport principle: Imagine being a child supporter of Manchester United, whose first game at Old Trafford was the 5-0 defeat to Liverpool earlier this season. All your short life, you’d have looked forward to an experience that should have been a happy memory for the rest of your life, but it was forever ruined […]
About the Sport Principle Sports scientists used to think success was achieved by being focused, but not obsessed. They are now convinced you need to be obsessed. Four years before the London 2012 Olympics, one of our fencers made a big choice to make sure every last little decision in her life was made with […]
About the Sport Principle Combat is a popular metaphor for describing any kind of conflict in life, whether physical or not. So, we may wrestle with our consciences as we get to grips with a problem. We often don’t realise we are borrowing grappling imagery as we try to gain the upper hand, and get on top of the situation. Persuasion can […]
About the Sport Principle Talk is cheap, action is what counts. Professional boxers are brilliant at this, especially heavyweights. Most boxing matches fail to live up to the pre-match hype of the televised conference, with the carefully choreographed trash talk alongside the relatively recently introduced party piece of furniture throwing! How could the reality live […]
About the Sport Principle There is no other sphere of life where it is clearer than in sport to see that if you enjoy something, you excel at it. Very few top-level sportspeople are reluctant athletes. They don’t struggle to get out of bed in the morning because they are doing what they love. It […]
About the Sport Principle I love rugby league. But this hasn’t always been the case. It took my youngest son joining a local club, and then his coach to organise a trip to watch his club, Wigan Warriors, followed by an international at Anfield, for us to be hooked! We’re now fully paid up long […]
About the Sport Principle All the sports research points to this. Being confident leads to sporting success. Always! It is generally believed that there are two types of confidence in sport: one is innate and could be described as a natural disposition. It is a generalised belief to do with the extent to which an […]
