For top level sports people,
it's not just skill and athleticism that count.
So often, it's mind over matter.
Psychology is now seen as increasingly vital to winning.
Having a sports psychologist is
just as valuable as a strength and conditioning coach.
In elite sport,
the difference between success and failure
is often the finest of margins.
Go!
It's all about raising the bar
one year to the next.
Keel's
good.
The annual boat race between
Oxford and Cambridge Universities
is one of the oldest and most prestigious events
in the sporting calendar.
They're moving out to
nearly a half a length here.
Very encouraging for Cambridge.
For the competitors,
it's 20 minutes of pure pain.
But also, pure pressure.
When they walk outside that boathouse
there will be 100,000 people standing on the bank.
That is something you just can't get your head around
until you've actually lived it.
How the rowers cope with that intense pressure
can make the difference between glory and failure.
The Cambridge women's team have won the last two races
and this woman has been one of the secrets of their success.
I work on managing their thinking.
Knowing that they are in control
of their psychological state.
Sports psychologist Helen Davis
has worked on specific techniques to help the team
at the most mentally testing moments in the race.
When the pain kicks in, they have trigger words
that they've planned for in advance
that they will say to themselves
to get across the finish line.
As training for the 2019 race intensifies,
just trying to keep up with teammates is mentally grueling.
Trying to make those crews is huge pressure.
I get off the water and I've just been
trying to keep up with
people who compete at world championships
and then I work on my PhD and I'm trying to keep up with
people that I feel are so much smarter than me.
So it's pressure that I put on myself.
So I will very much encourage them to
view pressure as a challenge.
Focus on certain things with their thinking
that's going to help them with their performance
rather than focusing on the uncertainties
of their situation.
Understanding what makes athletes cope
or panic at those crucial moments
is an ever-growing obsession in professional sport.
It's the multi-billion dollar question
that sports psychologists are constantly trying to answer.
Dr. Jamie Barker lectures
at the world's leading sports science university,
Loughborough in Britain.
What is the reaction that individuals go through
and how does that contribute to how they perform?
That's the intrigue that we have.
Okay and James, if you just try to relax as much as you can.
In 2013, Jamie helped devise
a cardiovascular test.
It compared the physiological reactions of athletes
who thrive in a high pressure situation
with those who flop.
A group of aspiring professional cricketers
were set a specific target.
We had a scenario where they would
have to score 36 runs of 30 deliveries
when facing the balling machine.
The cricketers were warned
that their results would be made public
and would decide who makes the team and who doesn't.
Shot.
So what's he on, then?
10 of 10.
Nearly half the players
hit the test for six, and scored the runs.
And most of them went into what psychologists call
a challenge state.
In a challenge state,
my body releases adrenaline
which opens up my arteries, which means there's blood,
glucose, and oxygen going around my body,
I'm able to make better decisions.
I'm able to move quickly.
Over half the batsmen found themselves
on a stickier wicket, and failed to make the runs.
They mostly entered the so-called threat state.
In a threat state I experience
the release of cortisol, which constricts
the arteries around my heart,
there's less blood going around my body,
and hence my performance may suffer.
As a sports psychologist we can then start to go in and say,
how can we help you to go from a threat state
to a challenge state?
Jamie employs a mental visualization technique
that sports psychologists have used with a variety
of professional teams.
Athletes are asked to picture a set of scales.
On one side are their demands,
the obstacles to success.
They're taught to tip the balance the other way.
Towards their resources, the attributes they possess
that can help them.
It is about trying to develop a perception of control.
Can individuals really focus on the things
that they can influence, rather than worrying
about external factors.
Sports psychology is sometimes criticized
as a phony science.
But many major sports teams and personalities
now use psychologists.
And there's growing acceptance
that this boosts performances.
In sports, as in the world beyond,
a mental edge can bring a winning one.
Everyone on this team pushes themselves
to incredible limits.
And that's why they've come so far
academically and in sports.