This week’s revelation about match fixing in world tennis is yet another blow to sport’s global image – after reports of drug use in athletics and cycling and match fixing in cricket. 
Sport is all about competing and winning and the increased stress of competitions can cause athletes to react both physically and mentally in a manner that can negatively affect their performance abilities. And, added to this, the offer of easy money can be tempting.
Andy Murray told the BBC tennis needed to do ‘a better job’ of warning young players about the perils of match-fixing.
The British number one was responding to BBC and BuzzFeed News revelations about suspected match fixing and illegal betting over the past decade. And world number one Novak Djokovic also revealed he was offered £110,000 to fix a match early in his career.
Murray said: “When people come with those sums of money when you are that age, people can make mistakes.”
With the spectre of match fixing alongside the pressure and stress of competing, sports stars – even at the highest level – can react both physically and mentally in such a way that can negatively affect performance abilities.
They can become tense with heart rates racing and the worry about the outcome of the competition could make it difficult to concentrate on the match.
But hypnotherapy and sports psychology can play an important role in sorting out the player’s mind and approach to the situation at hand.
Every athlete, whether currently successful or not, has internal resources. Accessing these inner resources and putting them to work is often the advantage successful athletes have.
This is where the hypnotherapists registered with the National Council for Hypnotherapy can help. And there are more than 1800 of them around the UK.
The symptoms athletes can get when stressed or anxious are all indicative of a level of anxiety and anxiety is one of the conditions that hypnotherapy can successfully overcome and it has been shown that hypnotherapy can improve and enhance an individual’s mental attitude by helping them to relax, removing anxieties and boosting confidence.
While each individual is different, so results will vary from athlete to athlete, in general people can use hypnosis to maintain composure, overcome distractions and fears and gain confidence in their ability.
Concentration and focus become easy when one enters the right mental state. A hypnotherapist will work with an athlete to calm their mind and rid it of distractions that can get in the way of the sport in which they participate.
After sessions with a hypnotherapist one can feel more confident; more relaxed in situations that have previously been challenging. Many people say that they are calmer and that they have more clarity of thought – able to make decisions quickly and more easily.