Sport Psychology Coaching: How a Sport Psychologist Can Help You Perform Better

By Sean Dickson

I’ve spent a large part of my life playing cricket, and one thing I’ve learned is that being good enough physically doesn’t always mean you’ll perform at your best when it matters.

You can have the technique. You can be fit. You can have spent hours practising in the nets. Then the pressure of an important game arrives, and suddenly things feel different.

Maybe you start thinking about the outcome. Maybe one mistake affects the next few decisions. Perhaps you play freely in training but become much more cautious in competition.

I’ve experienced the demands of performance myself, which is one of the reasons I became interested in the psychological side of sport. As a professional cricketer and performance psychologist, I now work with athletes on that part of performance that can be difficult to see but can have a huge impact.

The mental side of sport is often overlooked

When an athlete wants to improve, the first thought is usually more training.

More time in the gym. More technical work. More practice.

All of that has its place. But what happens when you have prepared well and still can't reproduce your best performance?

That is where I believe sport psychology coaching can be particularly valuable.

The aim isn't to make an athlete think positively all the time. Sport doesn't work like that. You will have doubts, nerves, frustration and days when things simply don't go your way.

The important question is how you respond when those things happen.

What does a sport psychologist actually do?

There is sometimes a misconception that seeing a sport psychologist means something is wrong.

It doesn't.

Athletes can use psychological support for many different reasons. Some may be struggling with confidence after a poor run of performances. Others may want to handle competition pressure better or improve their concentration.

I might work with an athlete who says, “I’m great in training, but I just can't seem to do it in competition.”

That is a very common experience.

Together, we can look at what is happening before and during performance. What are they thinking about? Where does their attention go? How do they react after making a mistake? What expectations are they putting on themselves?

Once we understand those patterns, we can start working on practical ways of changing them.

Learning to deal with pressure

Pressure isn't something I think athletes need to completely get rid of.

If you're playing in an important match, pressure is probably going to be there. You care about the result, your teammates, your selection and your own performance.

Trying to tell yourself, “Don't be nervous,” usually doesn't help much.

Instead, I like to help athletes understand what they can control.

For a cricketer, that might mean focusing on the next ball rather than thinking about the score, the opposition or what happens if they get out. For another athlete, it could be concentrating on their routine before an event rather than worrying about where they will finish.

Small changes in attention can make a significant difference.

Confidence isn't just about having a good day

Confidence is another area I regularly see athletes struggle with.

It is easy to feel confident after a great performance. The challenge comes when things aren't going well.

If your confidence depends entirely on scoring runs, winning matches or getting positive feedback, it can disappear very quickly.

As a performance psychology coach, I help athletes look at confidence differently. We can work on building confidence around preparation, behaviour and the things they can actually control.

You won't perform perfectly every time. No athlete does.

The goal is to become more comfortable with that and avoid allowing one mistake to dictate everything that happens afterwards.

Every athlete needs something different

There isn't a single mental skills routine that I can give to every athlete and expect it to work.

One person might need to work on confidence. Another might need help with focus. Someone else might be dealing with frustration, perfectionism or the pressure of expectations.

That's why I take an individual approach.

My experience in professional cricket has helped me understand some of the situations athletes find themselves in, but every person has their own experiences, personality and goals. The work needs to reflect that.

For me, sport psychology coaching is about helping athletes understand themselves better and giving them practical psychological skills they can take into training and competition.

Performing better starts with understanding yourself

You don't need to wait until something goes wrong before thinking about the mental side of performance.

Just as you train your body and work on your technique, you can deliberately develop the psychological skills that support performance.

If you're an athlete who wants to become more consistent, handle pressure better, build confidence or simply understand your performance more clearly, working with a sport psychologist may be worth considering.

At SD Performance Psychology, I work with athletes and performers to help them develop the mental skills needed to perform with greater consistency and confidence.

If you're interested in exploring what sport psychology coaching could look like for you, get in touch and we can start with a conversation about where you are now and where you want to get to.