Getting to know your Chimp

Like many people I've spoken to, all my best intentions of productivity during the Olympics went out of the window once the action started and I found myself propelled along from one unmissable event to the next. While the achievements of our outstanding athletes has rightfully been given massive coverage, a lot of credit must go to the outstanding coaches whose work in preparing the athletes mostly goes unheralded.

Three sports in which Team GB were especially successful were cycling, rowing and boxing and in these sports Britain has three of the best coaches in the world in Dave Brailsford, Jurgen Grobler and Rob McCracken. Brailsford is famous for leaving no stone unturned in his relentless pursuit (pun intended!) of success. His philosophy of "the aggregation of marginal gains" means looking for tiny gains in many different aspects of the sport, that when put together, represent a significant advantage. While many areas of improvement might be obvious, Brailsford looked at other areas where advantage might be gained. For example the sleeping positions of all British cyclists were analyzed and the optimum type of pillow for each athlete was provided to ensure they all got the best possible rest. Also, they were all given instructions on how best to wash their hands (especially the area between their fingers) to ensure they were less likely to pick up any infections: a couple of days off through illness is a couple of days lost training.Many of the Olympic athletes paid tribute to the massive contribution by the team psychologists. Over the past couple of years I've been reading a number of books on sports psychology and have found it a great help with my ski teaching. One book I found most helpful was "Bounce" by Mathew Syed, an ex-international table tennis player and now a columnist on the Times newspaper. Bounce is subtitled "the Talent Myth" and deals with the belief that some people are more gifted than others when it comes to learning new skills. Syed's conclusion confirms with what I've found as a ski teacher; it comes down to how much of the right type of purposeful practice we put in. Practice does not make perfect; it makes permanent. We have to be doing the right practice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zdsULCgqflE

The best known sports psychologist is Dr Steve Peters. He has been working with British cyclists since before the Beijing Olympics. He has also worked with a number of other sportsmen, most notably Ronnie O'Sullivan on his recent run to success at the World Snooker Championship. I'd thoroughly recommend Steve Peter's new book  "The Chimp Paradox" to anyone wishing to better understand how their mind works. I have already used it to great effect on myself in my music performance and in helping my trumpet students perform to the best of their ability. So now looking forward to next winter and to see how we can all get to know our chimps better.Michael.