Sports Psychology

Our guest writer this month is Debashree Marathe. Debashree is a Sports and Exercise psychologist, she has been working with some kids in the deccan Gymkhana Tennis coaching scheme.

"With great players from India advancing ahead in ITF and grad-slams, proves that these players are not just physically fit and have good technique, but also that these players have a tough mind; a pre-requisite for any champion. Mind plays an important role in winning and in losing. A confident mind, with good level of motivation and determination balances out the negativities and self-doubts and even over-powers them to actually help a player achieve what he/ she wants.
Factors like confidence, focus, body-language, attitude that player hold before and after the game, nervousness, pressures, worry, fear of failure and fear of success affect the way anyone plays. For example, a player with great technique and a good posture might not be a winner because he/ she loses focus at the crucial time of the play; gets angry upon a miss or bad calls; is not confident enough to play in front of people or when not in lead etc. So even if they have the basics to be a good player, they lack in the pre-requisites that is the having a strong mind to take over the game.
As a sports psychologist, I have worked with a lot of tennis players and some of them include Rutuja Bhosale, Sahil Deshmukh, Prarthana Tombre, Ankita Raina, Siddhanth Bhanthia and many more. All these players are very good in what they do. They have earned a level of play with their own effort, good dedication and rigorous bouts of practice day in and day out. As a therapist, the most important factor that I had to work on was their amount of focus that they had during a match and their confidence to play in face of adversities (e.g., losing a lead, managing pressure at the crucial time of the match, ) Of course, learning to focus, trust your won body (confidence) to play flawlessly wasn’t a miracle that happened to them over night; it was a process that had a routine that they had to follow like their physical training session, giving a fixed amount of time for mental coaching to increase their concentration level, confidence level and most importantly reduce their fear of failure in a big match situation. Simple techniques used by them has helped them to maintain consistency in their game, reduce performance blocks, and reduce self-doubts and manage pressure from themselves, their parents, their coaches and the venue that they are playing at. Managing their own mind in the game has helped them and is helping them concur their game and take it to a new level all together."


Debashree Marathe
C. 9823334131