Breakthrough for Sports Professionals
People come to Breakthrough for Sports Professionals for all kinds of reasons. Some are incredibly vague, whilst others are very specific. Many have tried lots of different courses and training – some even spending six-figure sums! Some have done nothing before at all.
One reason for sport to be so compelling is the pressure of performing in the moment. You either win or lose in the moment. You can’t go back and have another go. Sportspeople know they have to peak under the most intense pressure without buckling or choking. Here is where the drama of sport lies.
If you are that elite sportsperson, you’ll be expending a lot of energy trying to maintain your concentration, training yourself and listening to your coach with the objective of being in the best possible shape for the next game or event.
There is a whole industry around performance psychology covering all the tricks and tactics that you need to know to be at the top of your game. But here’s a question for you. If these performance people are so good, why do so many top performers still have such big challenges? Why do Jonny Wilkinson, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Tyson Fury, Victoria Pendleton and many others talk about mental health challenges?
I should declare, at this point, that I’ve had training from some of the best people in the business. The late Sir John Whitmore was known as the ‘father of coaching and associated with the now famous GROW model. Sir Clive Woodward from England Rugby and UK Olympics. Frank Dick still a senior coach at the highest level in sport after a long career in British Athletics. James Vincent, who used to be a coach at Elite Level in UK Badminton. Mark Bawden and Pete Lindsay who work with Olympic Athletes and with English Cricket.
What’s interesting about all these guys is that they all work with the conscious mind. The difficulty is that all the problems that athletes (and everyone else) have lie in their unconscious mind. It’s obvious really. If the performance guys had the answer, no one would have any difficulties. What the performance guys are doing is helping you to cope better. What they are not doing is solving your problems.
Breakthrough works with your unconscious mind to release unresolved emotions and limiting beliefs such that you don’t have any problems. Now you’ll be able to work with your chosen performance coach and implement whatever strategy you agree to.
I should point out that when we started working with athletes, it wasn’t to solve a sports problem. What we found though, was that their sports performance was suddenly significantly better post-breakthrough. The feedback we received was that it felt like they had more time, even though the game was being played at the same pace as normal. Having more time allowed for different decisions to be made. We were also told about a reduction in heart rate and in calorie consumption. So far, we haven’t worked with enough athletes to have definitive answers. All we can say for sure is that Breakthrough will have a significant impact on your performance.