The reasons why elite, professional athletes reach out to us for help are highly varied.
The Desire for Progress
We can say that there are as many different sports stories and paths to professional sports as there are athletes. However, there is still a single common denominator that defines all of them – the desire for progress.
How Was It Previously in Sports Psychology?
A decade or so ago, the awareness of working on mental preparation in Croatia was at a rather low level. Unfortunately, the sports public was not sufficiently informed about what it means to work on mental preparation. Numerous myths and misconceptions existed. How many times did we used to hear: “Why do I need a psychologist, I’m not crazy!”:)
Years of work, new experts spreading their knowledge, the popularization of the field, and exposure to Western “trends” in sports have done their part. Today, we see that the situation is much different than it was ten years ago. It is much easier for those of us who practice this, but also for the numerous athletes, coaches, and parents who seek professional help.
What Do Elite Athletes Look For?
But to return to the beginning of the story; what do professional athletes look for and what do they gain?
If we are talking about that special group of athletes who live their sport (and some even manage to make a living from their sport), then we are often talking about the best, the ones who are our role models, and the ones we sometimes hear about in the media. One might wonder: “Why do even people like that need help? They play sports, they travel, they don’t have to work from 8 to 4 like the rest of us mortals, and they earn good money to boot.”
Of course, this understanding is often very far from the truth; unfortunately, in our region, only a rare few professional athletes earn big money, and even fewer will be able to live solely off what they acquired during their career after it ends… but that is a completely different story.
From our own practical experience, we know that an athlete’s life is often not as fabulous and Hollywood-like as it is frequently promoted. Ultimately, even those who are financially secure are still flesh-and-blood human beings who literally fight for their bread on sports arenas every single day. They strive to push boundaries, perfect themselves, achieve their goals, and do all of this in an environment where the result is often the only and ultimate measure of everything.
Room for Improvement
If all elite athletes want to progress, then the logical assumption is that there is room for improvement. And as a rule, that space is often mental preparation, or as people commonly say – “the head.”
What is extraordinary is that when you engage in sports at a high level, a tiny improvement will place you ahead of the competition. Regularly, this comes down to better mental preparation, because the other areas: technique, tactics, and physical conditioning are often already at an enviable level. On the other hand, “the head” is what connects all the other elements or, sometimes, pulls them apart.
We are here for those situations when the dots should be connected 🙂
About Jelena Nikolić
About the girl from the picture….Jelena Nikolić is a long-time member of the Serbian national volleyball team.
In her club and national team career, she was named MVP, best receiver, and top scorer of the European Championship; she took gold in the national team European League 3 years in a row, won 2 club championships, achieved 3 second-place club finishes, won the volleyball club “Champions League,” earned a bronze at the 1st European Olympic Games in Baku, a silver at the Olympic Games in Rio, as well as gold, silver, and bronze medals at European Championships, and a bronze at the World Championship. Throughout her career, Jelena played in Serbia, France, Italy, Japan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey… We believe we do not need to list any further to clarify that this is truly an elite athlete with an enviable club and national team career. An athlete who won almost everything she could have wished for in her career.
Jelena reached out in 2013, having already won numerous trophies, because, mind you: “She wants to be even better!”, she wants to work on her mental preparation. She wants to return to the court even more prepared. It is important to add that between all these successes, she gave birth to a son and returned to the court shortly after.
Long-term Collaboration on Mental Preparation
Of course, we will not reveal the details of our work, but what we can share is what characterizes an athlete like Jelena.
She was always aware that she was good and successful at what she did. To remember that, it was enough just to look at the display case with every possible trophy. However, what she also knew was that she could make a breakthrough, a progression in her “head,” in the way she mentally prepares for matches.
Our collaboration has now been running continuously for many years. During those years, we went through her playing in 3 different Turkish clubs, as well as one Italian and one Azerbaijani club, several club Champions Leagues, European Championships, and the European and Summer Olympic Games in Rio. We can say that there were truly all kinds of obstacles on that path, and that the trail rarely went straight. On the contrary, there were many sporting ups and downs.
What defined our path, however, was mutual respect, appreciation, and frequently stepping into each other’s shoes.
We believe that working with professional athletes, especially elite ones, is challenging in many ways. Elite athletes demand a lot because they know that this is the only way to move forward; they are used to giving a lot, but they are aware that they must maintain the same level of investment in themselves because there is no stagnation in sports. You either move forward or you fall behind others. Brutal, but that’s how it is at the top.
What we always try to provide to elite athletes is constant support on their journey. When we just remember at what times of day we used to hold our meetings, from which continents we communicated, and through which communication channels. Fortunately, the world today is a global village, and technology allows us to stay connected even when we are thousands of kilometers away.
Working with elite athletes is rarely just office work; it involves frequent travel, working via Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, and all the modern wonders. Working with elite athletes never has a working schedule from 9 to 5, and often no annual vacation either. We work when they can, adapting to the time difference and the schedule of travel/training/matches.
Sometimes it looks like one big chaos, right up until the moment when the pieces fall into place, find their spot, and then get crowned with a result.
Jelena is, she won’t mind us saying this, the type of athlete with Balkan stubbornness, hot blood, and an immense love for volleyball. Eager for the ball, the game, the tension that sport brings, and winning trophies she hadn’t even dreamed of when she went abroad at an early age to play sports professionally. To this day, with almost 36 years on her back, that same love has not disappeared; on the contrary, it is the same as in her early teenage years.
What we learned along the way from Jelena is how to better understand her world, problems, specificities, and demands. Today, after 5-6 years of collaboration, we can say that the relationship is key to any progress, understanding and support are crucial. It is also important to be there at any given moment. It is vital to sometimes try to “push” certain techniques and routines that were not customary for this athlete’s preparation up to that point, always finding new ways and adapting to hers. And then, in the end, success always comes, often followed by a result, sometimes even Olympic bronzes, silvers… winning club championships.
In conclusion, anyone, absolutely anyone, can achieve change and progress in their life. Sometimes it will come sooner, sometimes later. The only constant should be the desire for progress, persistent work and sacrifice, and a relationship from which the athlete draws support.
