Free webinar on ADHD in Sport: Strategies for Success.
In 2023 I started to notice that a number of the athletes I was working with who were struggling with high levels of performance anxiety were also showing a number of traits we would see in those with ADHD. After lots of investigation and reading around the subject I tried to pull together a toolkit of strategies that I could use to better support these athletes. I hunted for a book I could use or refer athletes or their parents and partners on to and couldn’t find one. So I wrote it!
ADHD in Sport: Strategies for Success is being published on April 3rd and I would love to share key findings and ideas with as many coaches, sport psychologists, PE teachers, sporting support staff and parents as possible.
There will be two workshops on April 3rd: 11am and 7:30pm. You are welcome to join either. Attendance is free but if you would also like the book you can pay to pre-order it and it will be sent to you along with some Performance in Mind psychology tools (Performance Postcards and Calming Cards).
Morning 11am webinar: https://adhdinsportAM.eventbrite.com
Evening 7:30pm webinar: https://ADHDinSportPM.eventbrite.com
The book itself has 10 chapters
1. The brain’s key functions in sport – and how ADHD can impact them
2. The importance of exercise for ADHD
3. The impact of ADHD on Sporting Enjoyment and Performance
4. Strategies for good wellbeing
5. Strategies for training
6. Strategies for competition
7. Co-occurring conditions
8. Medication
9. Supporting athletes with ADHD as a coach or PE teacher
10. Supporting athletes with ADHD as a parent or partner
In the workshop we will cover the basic of ADHD, the way exercise can act as self-medication, the impact (helpful and unhelpful) that some of the traits can have in sport and ways to support athletes with the condition.
You can pre-order the book here: ADHD in Sport: Strategies for Success – Sequoia Books
Do you want a hug, to be heard or to be helped?
There is a great podcast called: Psychologists off the Clock, with five psychologists interviewing interesting people and sharing what we can learn from this. A recent episode saw two of the psychologists interview Charles Duhigg on his new book Supercommunicators. It was such a great interview I downloaded the book, and that is great too. Full of really life examples and stories bringing his points to life. My favourite element in the book is a simple (but effective) way to approach conversations; categorising them into: practical, emotional and social. This then helps us be clearer in asking what others want from a conversation and allows us to think about whether they want: a hug, to be heard or to be helped. I have already started using this with my daughter and it has led to a lot less frustration as I stop trying to fix a problem when she just wanted space to reflect on it. Try this next time you find yourself in a conversation where it is not clear what the other person needs or wants.
New Podcast
When a friend (the awesome Annie Emmerson) and yourself come up with an idea of a podcast, tap up a fabulous producer (shout out to Mark Shardlow) and head off to a photoshoot to sort out the thumbnail for it (firstly – who knew that was necessary but thank goodness for the amazing Cillard Benoit) you probably don’t expect to spend most of it doing handstands! But hey – we got the grown up sensible shots and then poor Cillard saw the two of us (with an average age in the 50s) leaping all over his studio. I love the pictures, and the concept, and we cannot wait to launch the podcast in a few weeks time.
Cognitive warm ups pre-competition?
A new piece of research from a group of Spanish and British universities has looked at the impact of tiredness on sport performance and whether cognitive warm up activities (interspersed within a physical warm up) can help performance. In an intervention study with 31 high level U23 Padel players they found, as expected, that sleep deprivation increased mental fatigue and harmed performance. To help mitigate the impact of the mental fatigue they tested whether combining some short cognitive tasks with the pre-match physical warm up would improve performance and found that, as long as the cognitive tasks were not too long or onerous, they would help lift performance to a higher level than if just doing the physical warm up alone. Overall they found doing about 10 minutes of these exercises within about 30 minutes of physical warm up was most effective to counteract the impact of mental fatigue or tiredness before performance and enhance performance readiness.
I reached out to one of the paper’s authors (Professor Christopher Ring) who says that “the protocol should apply to all forms of sport and exercise. For example, we have almost finished a study which shows that combined warmup benefits subsequent running on a track.” He also suggests it would apply in non-fatigued states. “The data shown in the figures indicates that the combined warm up benefits performance when rested after a good nights sleep.” They are currently testing the protocol with track runners and should have some findings by the summer.
If you are interested in trying it you can find the cognitive task (The Stroop test) they used in the research here: ᐉ Stroop Effect Test – Take The Stroop Test Online
Book review: Squad Safe
This month’s book review is ‘Squad Safe’ written by Joey Gamper Cuthbert. It is written for coaches and gym owners to keep cheerleaders safe but is actually applicable to a far wider audience; coaches working with female athletes in any sports, commercial gym staff, S&C coaches and Sport Psychologists. It is evidence based but super readable and you can feel the psychology of high-performance organisations permeating through it to make the case for always following an ‘athlete first’ approach of wellbeing before winning. I strongly believe (as does Gamper Cuthbert) that wellbeing before winning creates happy athletes who have psychological safety. Athletes who feel safe are able to perform better and so become more likely to win. In fact, one of my favourite quotes from the book is “It is not a critique of competition, rather of the toxic behaviours that can sometimes accompany it.” The full review and linked to buy the book are at: Book review: Squad Safe by Joey Gamper Cuthbert – Performance in Mind
Changing my session structure
When we train as sport and exercise psychologists a key part of our training comes from constant reflection. It is a hard habit to break (which is frustrating but makes us much better psychologists!) and so I have been reflecting recently on how to better serve the athletes and high performers I work with and so am changing the session structure.
Rather than offering packages up front I always ask someone to try a session first to make sure the approach feels like it might work for them and they feel I am someone they would feel comfortable working with. I f I am not the right person I’m always happy to suggest another sport psych who might fit their needs better.
Going forward I will offer a longer assessment session of 90 minutes to have time to do a great assessment, really help explain better the processes used, and ensure we can spend time understanding the neuroscience elements of the approach. This should give a better understanding of who the work together will progress. For some this will be enough, they will learn some key skills and strategies and they won’t feel they need further sessions. For others, if the approach feels like it will fit then the client can either pick individual sessions as and when (usually fortnightly for £100 a session) or a package of 6 sessions for £500. Information here.
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