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Correspondence to Ms Lauren Burns, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC 3083, Australia; [email protected]
What are the findings?
Champion athletes attribute their psychological attributes as the major factor contributing to their success.
Championship performance requires a particular way of life that integrates mindset, performance, lifestyle and relationship factors.
High-performance strategies include the use of honed mental rehearsal skills and recovery practices.
Championship performance is likely to occur at the intersection of a strong psychological profile, interpersonal support, effective performance strategies and lifestyle. The utilisation of these attributes, when needed, are dependent on the ability of the athlete to shift focus within these domains by way of a tilt which can lean in many directions. This skill is adaptive through self-regulation and becomes habitual with accumulated experience and exposure.
How might it impact on clinical practice in the future?
Specific guidelines for athlete education to ensure these performance and lifestyle strategies are used effectively, particularly at the pre-elite and elite levels.
Facilitating greater education for coaches and support staff in the area of interpersonal skills and rapport with athletes.
Athlete frameworks honing strategies to strengthen and facilitate interpersonal relationships within the athlete’s support network.
Inclusion of lifestyle factors within athlete development frameworks to guide system-level implementation.
Introduction
Being a world-class athlete is more than the outcome of an event; it is a way of life that encompasses all aspects of the athlete’s lifestyle and becomes an integral part of their identity.1 Athletes progressing from pre-elite to elite levels need to balance multiple factors including: the demands of competition, stressors and negative chance events; interactions with family, peers, coaching and support staff; and the need to effectively ‘negotiate several key life transitions’.2–7 Lifestyle practices and daily routines such as sleep, relaxation, diet, hydration, water-immersion therapy, entertainment and social networks are therefore critical to achieving and maintaining elite performance. The quest to ‘unlock the secrets’ of world-class performance involves understanding the attributes, skills, strategies, support, environment and lifestyles of elite performers.4
International governing sports agencies such as the International Olympic Committee suggest that support for an athlete must be holistic, integrated and evidence-based.8 While current and predominant athlete development frameworks, notably the Foundation, Talent, Elite and Mastery athlete development...