Is sports psychology real?

Sport psychology puts huge emphasis on positive thinking, projection, goal setting etc.

In the example I have used above of one of the most feared and dangerous humans ever to have lived talks about how he dreamt of losing, being humiliated and the fear he had in the built-up to fights.

From my experience, I have seen a large proportion of book smart sports psychologists work with individuals with a one size fits all plan. If you told Mike Tyson- the man that did acid aged 10 from the gang-filled streets of Brooklyn about positive thinking you would have had your ear bitten off.

I think you have to be your own coach because most people stick to what works for them or their previous clients and therefore it must work on you. I believe you need to learn to pick and choose the information you get and track everything. This way you can almost coach yourself.

The big takeaway is that I think each athlete is individual. My earlier post shows a quote from Messi and Kobe Bryant. Messi says there are more important things than winning and losing and Kobe says winning takes precedence overall. Both freak winners.

Gotta figure how you work. Sorry that wasn’t the quick fix easy answer you were looking for.