Caveat: I've never actually been to a specific sports psychologist.

However, I do practice mental imagery, meditation and borderline self hypnosis. I've found that this helps me immensely. Also, the book "The Mental Athlete" by Kay Porter is a pretty good read.

John

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Lemme have a go.. You will train with great determination, you will race with newfound intensity. A few Christmases back my daughter gave me a book which you may find helpful or at least interesting - "Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence" I recommend it. In fact it's been long enough that I should read it again.

I have and yes it works. It's like magic.

I was at a Q&A this weekend with Lindsay Corbin. She mentioned that she works with a sports psychologist and that it has helped her a lot.

My wife is also a clinical and sports psychologist. She works with a lot of collegiate athletes, mostly track and field, although she has also worked with a lot of rowers, and she also works with a lot of runners, triathletes, and cyclists. It can make a difference for every athlete and it's a lot more than just visualization. Just like the difference between reading a book about triathlon coaching and hiring a triathlon coach, you get a lot from working with a sports psychologist than you do by reading a book about sports psychology.

My wife has major problems with her mental game and has used one in the past. It helped a bit, but I guess like any kind of therapy you have to want to be helped. She just doesn't have that competitive drive and that's ok. I just wanted her to have the tools to be able to suffer through any of her challenges.

I'm a huge believer in mental toughness, positive thinking, visualization, and starting to get into meditation and other fuzzy stuff... But I don't do well with psychologists or psychiatrists for that matter. Start by reading "The Inner Game of Tennis" and then see if you want to take things further than that.

Back in college we had a couple sports psychology grad students working with the swim team. I've never retained my own sports shrink but that experience was more than enough to convince me it works and is quite important.

You can't do everything with your mind but if you don't have your mind straight, focused, and ready to go, and more importantly, have the tools you need get your mind "in shape" and to get your self mentally set and stay that way on demand, all your physical training has pretty much been wasted.

And, some mental training may very well be MORE important for a middle aged guy or gal with no serious athletic background than a Olympian. Most really good, talented athletes, just as with the physical side, come into this with natural gifts that get them 90% of the way there naturally. It's the folks farther down and with less experience and natural talent that get the biggest percentage benefit/improvement from coaching, whether it is physical or mental.