A Better Athlete, A Better Sport Psychologist

A month ago, I took part in my very first strength sport competition, the FinalRep BeNeLux Open 2024 for Streetlifting*.

This all started in October 2023, when I sought a challenge: to coach myself into a new sport, and to compete in this discipline. The goal wasn’t (yet) to win, but to learn.

As a sport psychologist, part of my work is to understand athlete performance, what factors are at play, how they interact, and how they can be influenced. To develop further as a professional and to better help my clients, I believe I needed to experience what it is to be a competing athlete.

- What are the implications of putting your sport as a top priority? What does it feel like, physically and mentally, to prepare yourself for a competition? And finally, how do I react and perform in a competitive setting?

Well, as to be expected, learning something in theory is one thing – but experiencing it yourself is entirely different.

My expertise in sport psychology certainly helped me a lot in the process, as well as my previous experience with sports. Throughout this journey, I saw the importance of stating clear and specific goals for myself, which not only directed my performance’s progression but also helped me with the recovery of an injury at the start of my preparation. With this competition, I further learned to enhance my performance using a variety of mental skills, both in training and during the competition event itself. For instance, I implemented a strict pre-performance routine performed before every attempt, which helped me get into a flow during the lift. As a strong visual-learner, imagery was also a very useful tool, especially for complex movements like muscle-ups.

But the most important skill of all was self-regulation, and specifically self-regulated learning. This metacognitive cycle was the main support to my entire competitive journey. Having written my MSc thesis and internship project about it, I was already very familiar with its processes. Through consistent and exhaustive reflections, evaluations, planning, and self-monitoring, I was able to learn a new sport, optimize my training efficiency, and grow into a competing athlete. As supported by research, reflective skills are a key component in distinguishing elite athletes from non-elite. Though I do not yet consider myself as elite, I also know that I had absolutely no doubts in my performance on the competition day. My mindset was as strong as ever, I achieved all the lifts I knew I could pull off, and learned even more from the ones that did not work out.

With this experience, I am now ready to become a true competitor to my fellow adversaries. But even more so, I am ready to become a better sport psychologist to my clients, alongside my personal athletic journey. As a sport psychologist, I don’t claim to know what’s best for an athlete. But I am willing to learn what it means to be an athlete and how I, as a professional, can grow to support them best.