Blog/News

Our latest updates and news.

THE VALUE OF KNOWING YOUR VALUES

Think of two athletes: one that you admired growing up, and one you despised. What was it about those people that led you to feel that way about them?

Frequently, media likes to cover athletes’ statistics and form. However, what fans, coaches, and other competitors tend to remember are the specific behaviour-guiding attributes that truly elite athletes hold.

BACK TO BASICS

During our sporting careers there are many moments or periods of time where it is worth focusing on the basics of our game. The same holds true for other spheres in our lives too (work or career, family, relationships). In sport this may be mid-performance, in the heat of the moment, or perhaps in a situation where we need to review our strategy or performance. We might also choose to focus on basics and fundamentals of our sport over a longer period of time, such as in circumstances of injury and rehabilitation, or in the stran

Lockdown Mental Skills #4

To achieve peak performance athletes try to be "in the zone" when they are playing sport.

One factor that can influence whether this happens or not is psychological intensity. This video illustrates the relationship between intensity and performance. It will get you thinking about your own optimal performance zone and how to move yourself towards it.

The model in the video is the Yerkes-Dodson Law: Inverted-U model.

Lockdown Mental Skills #3

The lockdown is unfamiliar territory for all of us and if parts of it have been a struggle for you, that would be completely understandable.

This video looks at emotions in lockdown and suggests a small tweak in mindset that might be helpful for your well-being.

If you are at all struggling in lockdown and would like to talk to somebody, you can txt or call 1737 to speak to a counsellor 24/7.

Lockdown Mental Skills #2

When you can't get out and play sport because of the lockdown what can you do instead?

This video looks at the mental skill of imagery.

To perform your own imagery exercise visit https://soundcloud.com/user-320849905/tracks

Articles mentioned in the video can be found:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029219301530

Lockdown Mental Skills #1

New Zealand is at level 4 lockdown and what better time to do some mental skills training?

Watch the video below for an introduction to sport psychology and keep an eye out on Facebook and Instagram for follow up videos posted every couple of days during lockdown!

FIND YOUR WHY TO FIND YOUR WAY: THE POWER OF PURE MOTIVATION

With the start of a new year, many of us reflect upon the past year and contemplate our goals for the year ahead. This fresh canvas offers a new beginning. With this specific new year 2020, we also enter a new decade of possibility! A chance to harness the power of pure (intrinsic) motivation and achieve your sporting goals.

EMOTIONS IN SPORT SERIES - A COACHES PERSPECTIVE

When I first began coaching Basketball, I did it because I loved the game and wanted to teach others how to become better players and enjoy the games more. After only a little while into my coaching career I noticed my focus had changed and results had become of prime importance. With this change I also noticed that my stress levels had increased. I felt that I was responsible to players, fans, sponsors and the institution we represented to win. If we lost I felt I had personally let everyone down.

EMOTIONS IN SPORT SERIES - SPORT REVEALS CHARACTER

Sometimes it seems we have become a society that is caught up on winning. You may have seen the bumper sticker “Second place is first loser”. However, I am of the belief that while winning is a part of sport there are far more important aspects to it. It is what we learn about ourselves and others through the endeavour that is far more important than a result. My favourite cricket story demonstrates this to its full extent.

EMOTIONS IN SPORT SERIES - THE POWER OF THOUGHTS

Sport is laden with emotion. A big win can inspire team closeness, happiness, and joy. Conversely, a letdown loss can lead to despair, distrust, and disappointment. Conversely, an athlete’s emotional state can often determine the outcomes of sporting performance, perhaps in how they prepare and train, or how they perform during an event/game. We are currently in the midst of a revolution in professional sports.

EMOTIONS IN SPORT SERIES - THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

The Tip of the Iceberg—Emotions in Sport from an Athlete’s Perspective

For an athlete, sports and emotions are almost synonymous. Throughout every level of sport—from the macro systemic, to the micro, individual plays/actions—emotion is present.

KNOWING YOUR SUPER STRENGTHS

Recent research has showed that focusing on and maximising an athlete’s strengths and resources has a positive influence on their confidence, goal direction, coping ability and performance

MOMENTUM IN SPORT

On the 13^th of May we witnessed the biggest comeback of the 2017 NRL season. When the NZ Warriors, entered the sheds at halftime leading the Penrith Panthers 28-6, few people would have considered that they wouldn’t go on to win the game comfortably, much less lose. I was recording the game and actually switched off at half time. I thought that I would watch the second half in the morning and remarked “we should have it in the bag from here.” But lose the Warriors did and in quite remarkable fashion.

Children, parents and sports psychology

Children and their sport is something that parents focus on and think about, but what happens if you have a child who excels in sport and wants to perform at a national level? What do you do as a parent and how do you approach it?

Sports psychology with blokes

One of the biggest battles I think we face in the area of sports psychology is getting guys to go along to a sports psychologist and truly face and open up about what is going on for them. Despite all the great work by Sir John Kirwan it is still a real challenge for men to step up and admit that they are vulnerable, have self-doubts and anxiety about their performance.

We(NZCPA) have been working with Paula for the past 3 years and found Paula to be extremely professional and effective in dealing with our player’s clinical issues. Paula’s become a key service provider for us over the past 3 years and has an in depth knowledge in her own field but also sport in general.

Sanj Silva - National Personal Development Manager- NZCPA

View Testimonials