Top sports people have long used psychological method such as hypnosis to improve their performance (read more about sports hypnosis here and here) by enhancing their concentration, focus, confidence and motivation in particular. The piece below comes from an article in Mirror Football and highlight how hypnosis and psychology are becoming an ever larger aspect of professional sport particularly in gifted young players who understand the importance of having an edge over opponents in any way possible. The article surrounds Birmingham FC's Nathan Redmond, who also represents England at under 18 level, who talks about his lack of anxiety playing against Chelsea FC, one of Europe's biggest teams.
Redmond’s form, which included scoring a brilliant winner against Portsmouth last week, has helped Birmingham enjoy an unbeaten 13-game run.
And he says Saturday lunchtime's televised FA Cup fifth round tie at Stamford Bridge holds no fears for him, after privately hiring a sports psychologist.
The England Under-18 international said: “Chelsea is one of the biggest teams I will have played against and I’ll be looking to showcase my talent.
“I have my own little ritual - I zone out in the changing room beforehand.
“I get into my zone and I can go from there to any pitch or stadium, as you just have to do what you have trained for.
“I have been working with a performance coach. We get together when we can, or over Skype or a quick phone call.
“It is a bit like self-hypnosis, but it is not as deep as that.
“It is about if you have bad games you can shut out anything that is bothering you.
“It is something that has helped me since I was 15. It is like talking to yourself inside your head and it is really quite useful.”
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