Thursday morning FC Helsingør's players had a visit from sports psychologist Kasper Henriksen from Mental Motion.
We sat down for a short conversation afterwards to hear why the mental side is sometimes just as important as the physical when it comes to professional athletes and football players.
“It is about creating a strong foundation for how you are as a person. We need to be in balance. It is not specifically about a single sport. You are first and foremost a person and then it is about how you are affected by the environment you are in.”
As an elite athlete, one is most often inclined to place large parts of one's identity in one's sport, and therefore one can have difficulty dealing with the various challenges this may entail.
“As a professional football player, there can be challenges that will change your thoughts and feelings. There can be problems at school, or you may get injured or something else. All of this influences how you relate to your situation.”
Of course, there is a difference between working with individual athletes or players on a team as in football. But the starting point is the same.
“As mentioned, it is about how you want to navigate in your environment. As a football player, you are part of a team and therefore work collectively together toward a common goal. That is not to say that you cannot also work individually with football players and their own goals and role on the team.”
This mental strength and knowledge that the focus should also be on them as whole human beings and not only as football players can be a great help for the players. It can help them reach their goals because they are now aware of how their actions and behavior both on and off the pitch can influence this.
Read more about Mental Motion on their website: https://www.mentalmotion.dk/
