Dan Abrahams’ stated aim is to ’demystify’ sports psychology.

The former golf professional and coach has made a successful second career out of tapping into the mental side of elite sports people, and as an author of several best- selling books.

The testimonials on his website come from the likes of England rugby union head coach Eddie Jones and former AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe.

Here, Dan talks to former Soccer Coach Weekly editor Dave Clarke about physical warm-ups, motivating the individual, dealing with success and failure, and working with parents...

 

SCW: How did you graduate from being a golf coach into what you do now?

 
DA: "I was playing the game as a young pro and just came to a point where I realised I wasn’t going to be able to compete and make money. I just wasn’t good enough.

"I finished playing and fell in love with coaching. I really enjoyed it but there was just something niggling, the academic side. I had always read sport psychology books.

"I wanted to study, because I had left school at 18, so I did a degree in psychology and a masters in sports psychology. And I came to a crossroads - am I going to be a golf coach with these qualifications on the side or do I actually want to be a sports psychologist?

"I chose the latter because I had a bit of an itch to work in other sports. I became registered as a sports psychologist and that was just over 15 years ago now.

"Sports psychologists can work in all sports, you don’t need to have a good knowledge of the sport. Sometimes it is to your advantage that you don’t.

"I made the decision to specialise in a couple of sports. I knew golf like the back of my hand and I really wanted to learn soccer.

"So I started at non-league level and I really got to learn the language of the game, and the specific challenges that players face, because every sport is different."

 

"I talk about three Ps. Participation is the most important, to help players engage..."

SCW: One of my favourite expressions of yours is ’every word a coach says has an impact’. Can you expand on that?

 
DA: “The psych-social side is omnipresent, it’s always there. It is there when you sit and write your activities, it is there when you are thinking about your sessions, it is there when your players first arrive, it is there in your body language, your greeting and their body language. It is in the silence and interactions, it is in how you start your activities and it is in what you say and your communication.

"I think we have been so socialized in coaching to examine the tech-tac and physical pieces first, and I think we actually have to examine the psych-social first.

"I’m not saying psych-social is more important - I think we can distinguish between hierarchy and importance. But it’s just there all the time.

"When I was a golf coach, I was socialized into golf swing technique. And really, if I could do it again, psych-social would be the most important thing."