VOXSPORTS finds out what happens in the mind of a Sports Psychologist from Mr Chris Lee – a Mental Skills Trainer / Sports & Performance Psychology Consultant. He has worked with elite athletes from Singapore National Sporting Associations (NSAs), Schools and Junior Colleges to gain top honours in their respective competitive fields since 2000.
Here’s more about him and the world of Sports Psychology -
VS: What does a Mental Skills Trainer / Sports & Performance Psychology Consultant do?
Chris: A Mental Skills Trainer/ Sports & Performance Psychology Consultant focuses on providing the application of sport psychology in a sport and performance setting.
The trainer/consultant typically devises performance enhancement strategies, conducts mental skills workshops for athletes and coaches, consults with individual athletes and athletic teams ranging from the youth through the adult age groups. The trainer/consultant must first know sport, study human behaviour and able to provide mental skills training and strategies to enable the athletes/coaches to achieve their goals and peak performance in their sport.
VS: Why did you decide to be a Mental Skills Trainer / Sports & Performance Psychology Consultant?
Chris: I never imagined that I would be doing sport psychology because as an athlete in my competitive youth I never consulted or was exposed to any mental skills training sessions. Personally, I never felt that the subject of psychology or for that matter sport psychology was meant for me. Like they sometimes say in jest, ‘just leave it to the experts or professionals’.
It was only later in my adulthood when I attended the National Coaching Accreditation Programme (NCAP) that I developed an interest in the development of mental skills and mental preparation for athletes involved in competition. My course lecturer and mentor Dr. Edgar Tham who was then the Head of the Sport Psychology Unit, Singapore Sports Council noticed my keen interest in the subject of Mental Skills Training (MST).
On completion of my NCAP Level Three, Dr. Edgar invited me to sign up for a sport psychology module (Applied Performance Psychology) jointly organised and conducted by the Australian College of Applied Psychology (ACAP) and the Singapore Sports Council. After attending and completing that module, I was literally ‘hooked’ to applied sport and performance psychology and started on the road to becoming a practitioner by enrolling in a degree program, equipping myself through hands-on application and practical experience in working with youth and adult national athletes from various sport disciplines.
After retiring from the Navy, I was very active as a Mental Skills Coach with the Singapore Karate Team and in 2006, I was invited to join the Sport Psychology Unit of SSC as a Mental Skills Trainer. I really enjoyed my work when I was in the unit from 2006 to 2009, consulting and mentally preparing elite athletes from Badminton (Youth Squad), Softball, Field Hockey, Karate and Judo. Credit must also go to the the time I was in the Navy because while I was doing my part-time sport psychology studies I was given the opportunity to put to practice all the knowledge that I have acquired when I was appointed the Navy formation’s Sports Mental Coach.
In 2009, after completing my assignment with the National Junior Men’s Hockey Team for the Men’s Junior World Cup Competition hosted in Singapore, I joined Dr. Edgar Tham’s SportPsych Consulting (www.sport-psych.com) as a free-lance Mental Skills Trainer/Sport & Performance Psychology Consultant.
2009 National Men's Junior World Cup Hockey Team
VS: What are some methods to get an athlete mentally ready for his/her first tournament?
Chris: The method of Centering which incorporates proper breathing techniques, muscle relaxation, positive self-talk and visualisation methods will enable an athlete to be composed, grounded and mentally focused for his or her first tournament.
This Centering method enables the athlete to be composed, mentally focused, able to block-out all external distractions which are detrimental to his/her performance by focusing on the process of execution rather than the outcome due to internal or external pressure and expectation.
The method of Centering and positive Imagery methods will enable an athlete to enter his/her Ideal Performance State or ‘In The Zone’ performance state. Thus focusing on the Controllables rather than on the Uncontrollables and performing in a non-thinking, in the flow mode.
VS: Out of the many athletes that you have trained, which ‘case’ was your most memorable one?
Chris: This is a very tough question to answer because in my years of working experience from 1997 till today, I have come across many athletes who have stood out. However, there is only one that has really stood out amongst the best of the best whom I have worked with and that is none other than 2 times Karate SEA Games Bronze medalist (2005,2007), Junior Asian Karate-do Federation Gold Medalist (2006) , Karate SEA Games Silver medalist (2009) – Ms Ng Pei Yi.
Ng Pei Yi
I name Pei Yi out of the rest because she was indeed a special ‘case’ or athlete because I worked with her when she was a young secondary school teenage athlete right through her Junior College years from a Junior Karateka to a Senior Karate Athlete.
In a span of 10 years she trained very hard, competed very hard, accepted defeat graciously but trained with a vengeance to return mentally tough, confident and composed to take on the best in the Karate arena of Kata Competition. She was fully committed, dedicated and possessed a fighting spirit, strong mental resilence and mindset of a true Champion! (If she had the opportunity to carry on, I dare say with confidence that she will win the Gold medal for Singapore at this year’s SEA Games in Indonesia).
VS: If you could meet one athlete (be it local or international), who would it be and why?
Chris: Unfortunately, he is no longer with us here on earth and that is, Jesse Owens, a US black athlete.
Jesse Owens (Image: JesseOwens.com)
He was my father’s idol and my father inspired me with his sporting Olympic achievements when he won three Olympic gold medals in the 100 yards, 200 yards and long jump in 1939 I think at the Berlin Olympic Games when Hitler was in power just before the outbreak of World War II. He faced a daunting task because not only because was he a black athlete not favored by Adolf Hitler but because Hitler advocated the Germans to be the ‘Master Race’, Jesse Owens competed against all odds in a foreign and hostile environment. He ultimately won all his events and brought glory to his country, the United States of America because of his loyalty an commitment to God and Country.
Perhaps, one day I will meet him in Heaven by God’s grace.
Chris is currently a freelance Mental Skills Trainer cum Sport & Performance Psychology Consultant with SportPsych Consulting (www.sport-psych.com). He was a Mental Skills Trainer with the Sport Psychology Unit of the Singapore Sports Council from 2006 to 2009. He has worked with elite athletes from the National Sporting Associations (NSAs), Schools and Junior Colleges to gain top honours in their respective competitive fields since 2000.
