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| RBC
first club with own sports psychologist |
10 Mar 2001
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| RBC
are the first professional football team in Holland to have a sports
psychologist on the payroll. Jan Huijbers is his name and he's been called
in by Robert Maaskant to improve the self-confidence of the squad who are
stuck at the wrong end of the table. Football is a conservative world
where psychologists are as taboo as homosexuals according to mr.Huijbers,
who's worked in every other sport but soccer. His approach will consist of
4 elements - 1. teaching the 'beginner's mind' (an essential in Zen
Buddhism and which basically means keeping the mindfor learning,
however much you think you already know), in practice returning to the
frank andstreetwise football they used to play 2. Once that's
been learned they move on to 'task-acceptance', learning to live with the
stress and the environment around them 3. Clear perception, as a
preparation for...4. mental concentration. Trainer Maaskant is already
known for his alternative approach - he's got the players painting
watercolours (under the guidance of a local artist) which get sold
afterwards, players get a day off if one of their children has to go to
the doctor, and he pays 'housecalls' himself to get to know the players on
a personal level (digging into their background to see what makes them
tick). It will be interesting to see what effect it has on the team's
performance and how long it will take before we see more sport
psychologists at work in Dutch soccer - see David Icke's article on
Liverpool star David Owen's mental problem and the importance of
psychology in football at http://www.football365.com/content/features/icke/fw_ike_478731.htm. |
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