‘Our athletes lack winning mentality’

Sports psychologist and Universiti Malaya lecturer Dr Balbir Singh gives an insight on the minds of our sportsmen.

By Nicolas Anil

PETALING JAYA: World number one badminton player Lee Chong Wei was just two points away in the world championships as Malaysia prepared to celebrate an epic win. But that is as far as he gets, as the looming figure of Lin Dan dooms him to yet another crushing defeat.

How many times have we experienced this time and again?

One of the biggest questions in the local sporting scene begs the answer, how strong our national athletes are mentally?

Sports psychologist and Universiti Malaya lecturer Dr Balbir Singh says our athletes are not made to feel like champions.

“Our athletes are a talented bunch and have the desire to become champions, but the pathway has to be created by the coaches.

“Currently, we have no psychological programme, which is mandatory for any training programme,” he says.

These training progammes must include psychological components such as psychical, technical, tactical and psychology.

“Our approach to sports psychology is wrong and coaches are also hardly applying it,” says Balbir, who has vast working experience with sports associations such as the Malaysian Hockey Federation, Badminton Association Malaysia and Football Association Malaysia.

“Our athletes are not made to feel like champions, and sports science is hardly used except in hockey and squash, where there is a proper psychology training and regime,” he said.

Winning is not everything, winning is the only thing, says Balbir, adding that psychology is a key ingredient for any athlete, and is a telling point between success and failure.

“Psychology is one of the most important components in sports,” he said.

The Westerners put it ahead of everything else. In order to be a champion, you must think you are the best. If you are not, pretend that you are. To quote Vince Lombardi, “Winning is not everything, it is the only thing”.

“Psychology is vital because it creates the winning mentality that you are the best,” he added.

Motivate players according to their strength. In order to motivate an athlete, you must always have to focus on the individual’s strength, says Balbir, who is the first PhD sports science holder in the country.

Do an individual analysis on the athlete, then guide them step-by-step. There must be a scientific and well-planned programme, he said.

The training has also got to be a holistic approach which makes the players feel good and motivated.

We have world beaters

Balbir says Malaysia still has a large talent pool, despite the dearth of athletes excelling on the world stage.

“We do have exceptionally promising athletes in our ranks, believe me,” he said.

Take national junior shuttler Soo Teck Zhi, who recently won the Asia Youth championship. Players like him must have a proper monitoring system, and the state association must constantly liaise with the national body to ensure he progresses on the right track.

Chong Wei is not mentally blocked, he is tactically blocked. Balbir also refuted claims the Chong Wei suffered a mental block against Lin Dan, rather he says the shuttler was not trained to be put under the heat.

“We know Chong Wei’s match against Lin Dan is always going to go down the wire, so why not prepare him for the situation? Have we trained Chong Wei to play at 19-19?

Do that 10 times. Re-enact the situation time and again. If he did this in situations, he will be well prepared.

Mentally, Chong Wei is there. Sports associations are also to be blamed because they are not receptive to new ideas and sports science training.

Set a system based on the players’ ability, not ask the players to copy a system. Vary the training regime. Work on your mistakes, videotape it and learn to improve.

Our sports psychologists not utilised

“We do have world-class local sports psychologists, but our services are not used accordingly.

People like Dr Lim Boon Hui and myself are always ready to serve, but the National Sports Council (MSN) needs to be attentive and not always depend on us to come free of charge.

“We have everything, but it’s all at a superficial stage. We are still not applying sports science even though we know it’s important. If they (MSN) are not sure how to apply it, learn. I’ll give you a situation,” says Balbir.

“The Australian Olympic squad hired me to be their kayak coach for the 1992 Barcelona Games. I didn’t know a single thing about kayak then! What did I do, I studied. I spent one month in the library, studying the technicalities of the game so I will be prepared to motivate my team when the tournament starts.

“Everything has to start from somewhere,” he says.

Balbir’s sentiments are certainly shared by the rest of us, who want nothing but the best for our local sports.

Hopefully in time to come, Balbir’s vision will be a blueprint of success for Malaysian sports!

Nicolas Anil is a sub-editor with Sports247.

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