ZEPP FM | Sport psychology for athletes, coaches & future sport psychologists

A dislocated elbow, several shoulder dislocations, a hernia, a fractured hand and three reconstructive knee surgeries in seven years forced Les to give up wrestling after 13 years of training and competition. However, he didn't start bee keeping or basket weaving as his doctors suggested. Instead, Les started researching why and how some athletes successfully deal with injuries and others don't, and how athletes can successfully cope with sport injuries. In today's episode, Les shares what he found sport psychologists, coaches, athletic trainers and physiotherapists need to consider when working with injured athletes, and how they can support their athletes. One of the most important things Les talks about are the three factors autonomy, competence and relatedness that need to be considered when an athlete experiences an injury. In addition, Les explains in great detail how anyone who tries to support an injured athlete can identify and subsequently address these most important factors for each athlete. Les is a great colleague of mine who's researching and lecturing at the University of Utah, introducing his students to the incredible field of sport psychology, and it was a real pleasure to talk to him again about two of the topics, that he's an absolute expert in: sport injuries and post-traumatic growth. I've learned a lot from Les during our interview and I hope that you'll benefit from his knowledge and his examples, too. So, no matter if you're an athlete, coach, staff member or simply interested in how athletes could and should deal with injuries – and how they might even benefit from injuries! – this episode is the right one for you!

This summer I made a short trip to Norway. I crossed the Hardangervidda, Europe's biggest high alpine plateau, alone – only with my tent, sleeping bag, mattress and enough food for nine days. I did this trip not as a vacation. Instead, I wanted to see if hiking over a couple of days would be a worthy method I could include in my coaching portfolio. In this episode I'm going to deal with three topics. Firstly, I will talk about why I think long distance hiking makes a great coaching method, and how I think it could be integrated into my coaching portfolio. Secondly, I will briefly discuss some aspects one needs to consider when planning such a hike coaching trip, and thirdly, I'll talk about five things I personally learned and realized while crossing the Hardangervidda. To sum my experience up, I can say that the trip was just perfect. The weather was excellent, I enjoyed the silence, the solitude, the sun, the wind, the water, the activity itself and everything that happened in the Hardangervidda. No matter how heavy the backpack was, and how strenuous it was to climb some of the hills and mountains I am absolutely grateful for the experiences I made. If there is one advice I can give at that point it would be the following: Grab whatever equipment you have and go out there. Into the woods, onto the mountains – whatever is possible for you – and enjoy the silence. It will be louder than you imagine.

Back in the early days of the Cambodian National Volleyball League – Disabled (CNVLD), Senghay was one of the first players to compete in the only volleyball league for disabled athletes in the world. His effort, his motivation and his determination helped him deal with his disability, social adversities, as well as several other challenges in his life. However, he never quit. Senghay was a national team member of the Cambodian National Volleyball Team and competed in various international competitions. His effort, his motivation and his experiences helped him improve himself every day a bit more. After playing volleyball and studying Applied Economics in Cambodia, he was awarded the development scholarship at the University of Auckland/NZ, where he received the degree of Master of International Business only recently. In today's episode we look at Senghay's history in playing volleyball, what it meant to him to play volleyball in the CNVLD, and what it felt like to represent Cambodia at World Cups. One topic we also discussed was what it was like to play together with former Khmer Rouge soldiers who arrested, tortured and probably executed Cambodian citizens between 1951 and 1991 – a topic that always interested me since I met Senghay and his fellow team mates in 2007. After actively working together with the CNVLD between 2007 and 2010 it was a pleasure for me to talk to Senghay and hear about his own development as well as how some of my former athletes do today. He shares many great insights into sports and life as an athlete in a developing country, and what challenges he and his team mates had to face. All of this will probably leave you humble and grateful for the life you're able to live today – and it will encourage you to look at obstacles and adversities from a different perspective. Thank you Senghay for sharing your experiences with us!

Grzegorz is one of only very few sport psychologists who work in Poland with athletes, teams and coaches – both in able-bodied and in disabled sports. It took us several months to finally schedule a date for our interview because he is so busy travelling and working with his teams, that it's hard to get ahold of him. However, we made it – and I'm more than happy that it finally worked out! Grzegorz studied psychology and sport psychology in Canada, Germany, Finland and Poland, and one of his first lecturers, Prof David Cox from Simon Fraser University (Vancouver/BC, Canada) was such an inspiration to Grzegorz that he decided to focus on sport psychology and try to inspire others the way Prof Cox inspired him. From what I know about Grzegorz and where his journey lead him so far, I'd say, that he's on a very good way to be an inspiration for athletes, coaches as well as current and future sport psychologists. In today's episode – which is longer than regular episodes – Grzegorz and I talk about his experiences in sport psychology, his purpose for working with able-bodied and disabled athletes, what strategies he teaches athletes to better deal with stress, what we can learn from athletes (especially disabled athletes), the worst advices he regularly hears being dispensed in sports, what advices he would give future sport psychologists to enter this amazing field – and much, much more! I really enjoyed talking with Grzegorz and we've already planned to do another episode on sport psychology - specifically, how and which movies can help coaches and teams to learn from such movies. No matter if you're an athlete, coach or (future) sport psychologist – this episode is full of great experiences, stories and advices!

Daniel Kirk used to play Australian Ruled Football quite successfully – until he injured his ankle during a match, needing several surgeries that unfortunately left him with only 20% range of movement in his lower leg. Ultimately, he wasn't able to return to his sport. However, he didn't give up, fought his way back into sports and found a way to be an active athlete and a role model for other people instead. I think it's safe to say that many of us experience setbacks in life. Some setbacks might be small – some might be massive. I don't have the right to judge if the setback Daniel had after he injured his ankle was a small or a huge setback – but it definitely made him struggle. But: he didn't give up. He identified ways how to deal with the new circumstances, how to accept what has happened and how to use this situation to make the next major steps in his life – both, as a person and as an athlete. If you have ever been in a situation where you didn't know how to react and behave, how you could use it as a stepping stone for your future self, or where you thought: "I'm done – I can't take it anymore" – then Daniel has some great thoughts and experiences to share with you. I'm grateful that Daniel took his time to answer all of my questions, that he shared how his first athletic career ended and his second career started, how he overcame his inner struggles and what it feels like to be a national team athlete today. This episode is full of inspiration and great advices from an athlete who experienced a career ending injury, accepted his new identity, found a way to deal with his new situation, and started to represent his country at World Championships – and maybe in Tokio 2020, too.

Sylvain is not only a very good colleague of mine - he is one of the most successful early career researchers in sport psychology and especially emotional intelligence. Talking to Sylvain about his passion for research and how athletes can benefit from his knowledge was truly inspiring for me. Every time I'm travelling to scientific conferences and Sylvain is there as well he is some kind of a celebrity. People want to talk to him, learn from him and are interested in his current experiments. Everyone wants to know what he identified, how they can become more emotionally intelligent themselves or how they can help their athletes to achieve this. When I asked Sylvain, whether he could imagine sharing something he knows about emotional intelligence I thought that emotional intelligence refers only to a person being able to identify what is going on in the people around him or her. Like a coach who has to be empathetic and understand all of his athletes in order to create a trusting relationships with them. Man, was I wrong. Emotional intelligence is way more than that – and I am so glad I talked with Sylvain and that he cleared many things up for me! This episode is full of knowledge, practical tips how to become more emotionally intelligent deal better with stress before, during and after competition – or every other situation that stresses you. ...and if you want to know what Sylvain would have told Zinedine Zidane before headbutting Marco Materazzi in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final, this episode is for you!

Today's episode is very special to me because it is the first one with a guest, and it's a pleasure that Charles Fernandez is the very first guest on the show. In 2014 Charles and I met in Guatemala, while he was preparing for the Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz. Charles' story is really inspiring, because he is the youngest modern pentathlon gold medalist in the history of the Pan American Games, and who has been nominated Athlete Role Model by the International Olympic Committee to teach young elite athletes about what it means to be the Olympic values at the Youth Olympic Games 2018 in Buenos Aires. There are phrases out there that are over-extensively used like "you need to believe in your dreams" or "always give your best" – but when you listen to Charles Fernandez you realize that it were these phrases that kept him going even when the going got tough. It were these phrases that represent his inner attitudes and beliefs that helped him achieve his goals, becoming one of the best modern pentathletes in the world and competing at the Olympic Games 2016. This episode is full of great stories, experiences and strategies Charles uses to stay motivated, cope with stress and overcome failure.

At the end of every semester, at the end of most workshops and classes, and at the end of each individual coaching session I ask my students, clients, coaches etc. what they have learnt over the last X days, hours, minutes. From my experience this question is great for helping them so briefly reflect about everything they are taking away from today. A couple of weeks ago, I was challenged in a similar way by one of my students. After asking my students what they learnt while coaching a real client over the past weeks, this student asked me: "Christian – I think we learnt a lot, and I also learnt a lot from what my class mates shared today. Now I am wondering what it is that you've learnt over the past years while working as a sport psychologist?" Wow! I've never been asked that question before, and it was tremendously helpful to think about this question. Obviously I regularly reflect on what I do with my students, athletes and coaches, and if it works well, or what I could improve, what I should omit. But I've never asked myself what lessons I've learnt over all these years that I'm actively involved in elite sports – as an athlete, coach, researcher or sport psychologist. I shared all of the things I think I've learnt during one of my classes, and I think it might also be interesting for you as well. I'm here to help you learn and benefit from my experiences and this is why I am sharing my top 25 lessons I've learnt in the past. Some things are directly related to working in elite sports. However, I'll also be sharing what I've come to understand so far about life in general.

Welcome to the first episode of ZEPP FM, a podcast by Christian Zepp to uncover the methods and strategies athletes, coaches and teams use to achieve their goals - from finishing a marathon to winning olympic medals. In this episode, Chris talks about his inspiration for this podcast and sport psychology.