Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Captivating Captaincy

The English national soccer team always has a media circus following its every move. Sometimes, the actions of those involved in the team mirror those of circus performers, with the likes of John Terry and in the past Paul Gazza Gascoigne acting like clowns. Terry's clowning around was off the pitch, with his affair with another player's wife, whereas Gazza chose to be a clown after scoring one of the most memorable goals in English history against Scotland at Wembley stadium during Euro '96, and also holds the nickname of being the Clown Prince of England. A clear difference between John Terry and Paul Gascoigne is that John Terry has been captain of England whereas Gazza has never had that prestigious honor. It comes down to leadership.

The current media circus for English football (soccer) is surrounding the resignation of Fabio Capello and his eventual successor. Capello, an Italian, resigned after the FA stripped John Terry of the England captaincy due to a racism row. Since his resignation, speculation of who the next England manager will be has been relatively subdued, with current Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp being the overwhelming favorite. It seems as though the FA are going to allow Redknapp to complete his club season at Tottenham, before making any official approach or announcement, and in the interim have appointed Stuart Pearce, who is the England Under 21's manager. Pearce recently named his first squad for the friendly game against The Netherlands, and also gave current Tottenham player and recent recipient of the 2011 English national team player of the year Scott Parker the honor of being captain.

Being the captain of your country, according to Stuart Pearce is the greatest honor that can be bestowed upon a player. Pearce was captain of the national team from 1992 - 1993, and since then the armband has been officially worn by 15 other men, with another 9 wearing the armband unofficially. The greatest honor that can be bestowed upon a player should be reserved for those players who deserve it; a player who comes along once in a generation, a player who is iconic for his passion for England, a player who the other players can get behind - a player like Stuart Pearce himself.

Photo Credit: Celebslists.com





It is possible that Scott Parker could well become the permanent England captain, if Pearce continues to select him and if Redknapp does become the next England manager. So what makes a great captain, what makes a great leader in sports? Is Scott Parker the man who ticks all the boxes for England?


 In order to determine if Parker is captain material, we first need to identify the characteristics of a leader, and this is where sport psychology comes in. We see a variety of aspects of leadership throughout sport. For example, in cricket the captain is influential in the decision making and team selection process. In football (soccer), the role of a captain is to lead by example and motivate players on and off the field, and arguably, no one in the history of football (soccer) emphasized this trait more than Manchester United's Roy Keane. Another aspect of leadership that the captain of a team needs to portray is the art of delivering feedback to both his/her teammates as well as from his/her teammates to the manager, which takes the skills of building a relationship and diplomacy.

The most interesting distinction between different leaders is that there are two main ways that people become a leader. You can be appointed as a leader, which is known as prescribed leadership, and is the case with Scott Parker and the current England football (soccer) situation. The other method of leadership is that of an emergent leader, and a great example of this was when Jonny Wilkinson emerged as the logical new captain of the English Rugby team in 2004 following his consistent performances during the 2003 World Cup victory. This is most exemplified by the last second game winning drop goal against Australia, an image that defines English Rugby to this day.

Photo Credit: Getty Images
Photo Credit: Getty Images












Whichever method of leadership you feel is best, there is plenty of support, both empirical and anecdotal for both. Scott Parker has the potential to be a great captain for England, he certainly demonstrates many of the characteristics that have been identified as defining leadership in sport. The media circus will soon move on from Parker being appointed captain, and will move on to who the next permanent England manager will be, and that, as always, will prove that Sports Are Mental!















Thursday, February 23, 2012

Professional Wrestling Will Always Have Hart

Few professional wrestlers can actually be named by those that don't follow the sport. Sure, many have made the crossover into movies like Hulk Hogan and The Rock, but those who made their career solely on wrestling are less easily identifiable. In my opinion, despite the fact he has not had a movie career like his aforementioned colleagues, one wrestler that should be a household name is Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Bret was born into a wrestling family; in fact, his father (the late Stu Hart) was a major name across North America and went on to own his own promotion known as Stampede Wrestling. Bret was one of 12 children, most of which were in someway involved in professional wrestling. Tragically, his younger brother Owen fell to his death at a live wrestling pay - per - view event at the age of 34. The last name of Hart really means something in the professional wrestling world.

Photo Credit: Brethart.com


Bret has had his fair share of success, including being a multiple time World Champion, the first ever double triple crown winner in wrestling and has even been immortalized by appearing in an episode of "The Simpsons". Yet, despite these achievements, Bret has also faced many setbacks. Bret was involved in the infamous Montreal screw job, which truly blurred the lines of reality for fans and non fans alike. During a World Championship bout against long time nemesis Shawn Michaels, the owner of WWE, Vince McMahon, came to ringside and demanded that the bell was rung and that the bout end and the belt awarded to Michaels. This signaled one of the most difficult times in not only Bret's professional life, as he took his wrestling talents to the rival (but dysfunctional) wrestling company WCW, but also personally, as his support system and family would stay with the WWE. This included his baby brother Owen, brother in law Davey Boy Smith (who later joined WCW) and other close friends. During his time in WCW, Bret also suffered a career ending concussion in the ring. The thing is, during this entire time, Bret remained true to his family values and to the values which he represented to his enormous fan base. He showed up when he had to show up, he performed to the best of his ability every night (highlighted by an emotional bout against the late Chris Benoit in an empty arena), and always found time for his loyal fans. It was always a dream of mine to see Bret Hart live, and be the lucky person in the audience who Bret would signal out and present his own brand of glasses to. To this day, Bret is still passionate about a business that, the way it treated him, would have made a lesser man very bitter.

Eventually, after what could only be some deep soul searching and mediated discussions, Bret and the WWE reconciled, and Bret Hart was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006. A truly well deserved honor. This meant that the Hart name would forever be linked with professional wrestling, yet it is said that a legacy is something that people have a tangible connection with, and even when Bret was no longer on TV wrestling for either WWE or WCW, the fans were able to connect with the Hart family through his family members such as Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. The Hart legacy was there for all to see, yet in the wings there was a new generation of Harts ready to continue the legacy of Stu, Bret, and Owen.

Enter The Hart Dynasty, a trio consisting of Tyson Kidd (not a Hart but one who trained at the Hart Dungeon), David Hart Smith (son of the late British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith) and Nattie Neidhart (daughter of Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart). These three superstars spent the best part of a year representing the Hart name in tag team bouts (including mixed gender bouts) and single bouts, and were very successful winning tag team championships and for Nattie, the Divas championship.

Photo Credit: twintalkwrestling

As things stand right now, the three wrestlers have gone their own ways, with Tyson Kidd establishing himself in his own right and leaving the Hart connection behind him for now. DH Smith, was released by the WWE and is appearing all over the world on the independent scene. Nattie Neidhart is perhaps the most visible of the three currently, and much of this visibility has to do with the power of the Hart legacy. She is one of the most dominant divas in the WWE, and uses Bret's own Sharpshooter as one of her finishing moves. She also wears the pink and black colors that became synonymous with the Hart family (including of course her father).

In sport psychology, professional wrestling is rarely talked about (much to my own personal dismay), yet the issue of predisposed talent or hereditary traits is always a hot topic. It is said that there is evidence that genetic factors account for around 50% of variability in human physical performance. What this means in relation to this Sports Are Mental blog is that the Hart family may well of had a head start in their progression to becoming the royal family of wrestling, yet including an outlier such as Tyson Kidd, who has none of the same genes at Neidhart or Hart Smith goes someway to offering an alternative perspective, being that exposure to such traits has much to do with physical performance. The cream always rises, and the old adage that it is not what you know but WHO you know that will get you ahead in life come to mind, yet for Nattie Neidhart, it was not only the fact that she is the daughter of a former WWE tag team champion, and member of the Hart family, but also the fact the she has continually worked to hone and perfect her craft. You truly don't get anywhere in the world of wrestling without hard work.

I would be bereft not to answer the question that is on the lips of any non wrestling fan reading this, and that is about the legitimacy of professional wrestling. I will end with my answers to that question, followed by the answer that I can't lay claim to but have often used. My answers: It is far more real than you think and that I was brought up to never use 4 letter F words. The answer that is THE answer to this question: For those who believe, no explanation is required and for those who do not believe, no explanation will do.

Monday, February 20, 2012

The Art of War(nock)

Soccer, which is better known the world over as Football, and for the record if you think about it, AMERICAN FOOTBALL players hardly use their feet, is never shy of scandal. With the English national team manager resigning following the England captain being involved in a racism scandal to the Scottish league champions Glasgow Rangers filing for administration, big stories rarely stay in the headlines for long. The story of Leeds United however was started a while ago, yet somehow, the ending keeps being rewritten.

The current version of this story has a new hero, and as always in a good story the background of the hero is vital to the eventual conclusion. On February 18th, Leeds United appointed Neil Warnock as their new manager. Warnock, who has been managing professionally since 1986 joins his 9th team in Leeds United, and possibly his greatest ever challenge. The story of Leeds United's fall from grace is relatively well known; Champions League (semi final) to League 1 (3rd tier of English football) in the short space of 4 years, with an eventual rise back into the Championship (2nd tier of English football). Financial problems, ownership changes, having a cast of players that achieved great success after leaving Leeds including Premiership, Champions League, UEFA cup, FA and League cup winners medals,further highlights the plight of a once giant in the English game.

Warnock in the stands at Leeds Vs Doncaster Credit: AP Photo


Enter Neil Warnock, who has a proven track record of being able to take a team back into the promised land of the English Premier League, having done so with both Sheffield United and most recently Queens Park Rangers. For those unfamiliar with his style, I have included two videos, which I warn you now feature a lot of cursing. However, behind the cursing are two fantastic examples of one of the central tenets of sport psychology, Motivation.





Motivation in sport psychology at its heart is split into two different types, which certainly have the ability to interact with each other; intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from within the athlete, and can be the drive to master a task, achieve a set goal or simply make themselves happy, whereas extrinsic motivation are things that come from outside the athlete themselves such as rewards, trophies and praise.

The above videos portray Warnock providing a tremendous amount of extrinsic motivation to his players, and in doing so has the ability to allow each player to find a element of intrinsic motivation which will serve not only the individual, but also the collective team.

After his appointment, Warnock went to watch Leeds take on fellow Championship side Doncaster Rovers. Doncaster led 2 - 0 at half time, when Warnock, not officially in charge of the team until the next day made his way into the Leeds United dressing room. What went on behind closed doors will remain a closely guarded secret, but for the players of Leeds United, it was an introduction to "The Art of War(nock)". Leeds went on to win the game 3-2!

I am not one for making predictions, so whether Warnock will succeed with his task at Leeds remains to be seen, but much like sports, Warnock is most certainly a little bit mental.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Wakefield's Identity Crisis



Greetings all and welcome to the Mental World of Sports!

First a little bit about me...I am a Englishman living in the greatest sports city in the world - Boston, Massachusetts. Sorry New York, but the numbers do not lie. I am a passionate soccer and baseball fan, but will of course blog about all sports. The Sports Are Mental blog will cover stories in sports that carry a psychological theme. I am also a former Professional Wrestler in the UK, so will also cover some pro-wrestling stories as well.

To start with, I will offer a picture that really spoke to me:

AP Photo/David Goldman


Tim Wakefield announced his retirement from Professional Baseball yesterday, and in doing so ended his 19 years as one of the most revered knuckleball pitchers in history, and as the 3rd most winningest pitcher in Boston Red Sox history behind Roger Clemens and Cy Young.

I won't be celebrating Wakefield in this blog - there will be plenty of accolades coming his way, instead i offer you an insight into his mid, and specifically what Wakefield might be struggling with as he enters retirement. Wakefield, like many other professional sports athletes who either are forced into retirement or make the decision to do so are then faced with an identity crisis of sorts. They no longer have to stick to the old routine of training, preparing and performing on a regular basis.

Professional athletes are said to have 2 self-identities, the private and the public. A private identity refers to those aspects of an individual that are not seen in the public domain or are intangible, such as emotions and inner beliefs; Whereas a public identity is often how the athlete would describe themselves if asked to do so in one statement, or conversely how they think the public would describe them if faced with the same task. Tim Wakefield's public identity up until now has been that of being of pitcher. Now he enters a new phase of his life and both his private and public identities will be evolving.

I am sure that Wakefield will move on to his new phase of life in a similar way that he faced his entire career, with dignity and commitment. I mean, these days not many men stay in a steady relationship for 19 years!

Sports Are Mental!