BONUS: FEPSAC Special (Paul, Katie and Andy)

In this bonus episode of the podcast, three members of the sport and exercise psychology team sat down to share their ideas ahead of presenting a symposium at the prestigious FEPSAC conference in Austria. Entitled ‘A to B to C – stress and performing under pressure’, the purpose of the symposium is to describe how beliefs (B) about an adverse event (A) may lead to thoughts, emotions and behaviours as consequences (C). Dr Paul Mansell shared his thoughts on stress mindset and outlined the role in which beliefs about the nature of stress can shape our wellbeing and performance. Paul shared some of his recent findings from working with academy footballers in the UK and Portugal. Dr Andrew Wilkinson focused on the physiological consequences of certain beliefs and attitudes and explained the role that such responses play in performance supported by his research work with high-level cricketers. Turning to creating more adaptive beliefs for wellbeing and performance, Dr Katie Sparks spoke about self-compassion and how this might be able to help individuals in sport and beyond. Katie revealed some of her recent results in applying this strategy with students ahead of their examinations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices