Psychology in sports is extremely crucial. A player goes through several emotions during a game or a tournament as well as before or after the event. Thus, understanding the essence of sports psychology is essential. In regards to this vital feature of psychology in sports, Project Checkmate 2.0 undertook a second session on the topic led by Ms.Sanika Divekar. She has a Master's degree from the Brunel University in London, U.K. in the subject and is a trained instructor, having worked with several organisations including her own Pink Project that supports athletes through psychological training. The discussion led by Ms.Sanika was extremely interactive. She started off with a question itself posed to the audience comprising of the top 15 blind chess players in India. She asked the participants what sports psychology meant to them. Post analysing this inaugural question, Divekar mentioned that if we think of our minds as a muscle, only then can we gain the toughness required to concentrate on one's sporting journey. Being an athlete herself previously, competing for the country in Table Tennis, Divekar often shared her own thoughts and techniques that she used during her matches, which helped the participants relate on a personal level. She told the players that psychology is individualised and focused on each one of them in a different manner. So, essentially, what may work for one person, might not go well with another despite concerns about sports psychology being generalised in nature. She shared her three insights that she focused on throughout the session. These were how one could have a calmer mind when playing (or handling pressure), what focus meant to the players, and dealing with failure. She topped each one of these topics into sub-themes that were highly interactive and discussion based, making it more relevant for the participants to open-up and share their own experiences. One of the highlights of the session was her idea of self-talk, which really made the players think about how they could use this tool to their success while competing under so-called pressurising situations in a game or a tournament. Another method that stood out for the attendees was her technique called "Spotlight thinking". She told the audience to visualise a stage that is dark with no light at all. Suddenly, there comes a spotlight onto that same podium, which will make those things that come under that spotlight clearly visible. The moral of the story is that one will have ten things that might distract one's mind but one has to build a focus similar to the spotlight, switching this on when playing. The thing to remember to use this spotlight strategy effectively is the ability to be self aware about the factors that one can control and those that one cannot. The final tip given by her during the session was a self-driven exercise called "478". This implied counting from 1-4 and breathing in, holding one's breath for at most 7 counts, and then exhaling for as long as possible, which is usually close to 8 seconds. Overall, the session with Ms.Sanika Divekar helped the attendees to think about their own selves in a different light and pump up their moral while playing chess. It made them understand some key strategies that they can add to their tool kits. Project Checkmate 2.0 organised in a joint venture by AICFB and DR Foundation would like to thank Ms.Sanika Divekar for her support towards the program. Comments are closed.
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