FIELD INTERVENTIONS VS. CONSULTING

The value of informal ("hallway") interventions.

The sports psychologist should not be confined to the four walls of an office; his or her actual "consulting room" encompasses the playing field, locker rooms, and traffic spaces.

The most effective interventions often occur informally and briefly, taking advantage of the immediacy of the sports context.

These "hallway" or peripatetic interactions allow us to observe natural behavior and provide feedback at the precise moment the behavior occurs, without the rigidity of a formal appointment.

Consider a psychologist accompanying a track and field team during warm-up.

Instead of summoning a sprinter to his office to discuss his anxiety, he takes the moment when the athlete is stretching to approach and casually ask, "How are your legs feeling today?"

If the athlete mentions tension, the psychologist can guide him or her right there and then through a 30-second breathing exercise.

This intervention is invisible to others, does not pathologize the athlete and has an immediate impact on his or her performance, integrating organically into the sports routine.

Adapting psychological tools to short talks

Given that in sport time is a scarce resource and the pace is frenetic, the professional must adapt his clinical tools to micro-dosing formats. There is no time for a 50-minute therapy session before a game.

The skill lies in condensing complex concepts (such as cognitive restructuring or visualization) into one- or two-minute instructions or questions that induce self-reflection or a change of focus.

An example would be the approach with a stressed basketball coach minutes before the opening tip-off. The psychologist cannot sit down and analyze his deep-seated fears.

Instead, he can use a brief intervention, "What is the one thing you want your players to focus on in the first quarter?"

This question forces the coach to come out of his diffuse anxiety and focus on a specific tactical task, returning him to a sense of control and operational clarity in less than 60 seconds.

Summary

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