I’m looking for the truth: Coaches will you help me?

Imagine your team is losing at half-time. The players are stressed, nervous and morale is fading. In the locker room, as everyone hangs their heads in exhaustion, the MVP pulls out the Spartan Warrior helmet, the symbol of your team. He raises it high, chanting your mantra “We are Sparta!” One by one, the team rises, standing shoulder to shoulder, and joins in the chanting. The atmosphere transforms, lifting spirits and reigniting the determination to win.

FC Petržalka faced significant challenges before our cooperation began. Over the last six years, the team never ranked higher than 8th in the league, and there was a high turnover of coaches, with over 15 head coaches appointed during this period. The club suffered from instability, reactive rather than proactive management, constant changes, and unclear culture, vision, and goals.

At the beginning of 2020, I joined the Slovak Handball Federation’s A-team as a sports psychologist to prepare for the European Championships 2022. At that time, the team faced significant obstacles caused by the global pandemic COVID-19, including cancellation of training camps and limited opportunity to train together under a new coach.

At the beginning of the cooperation we got in touch with the Coaching staff where we went through their expectations and my possibilities of what we can do before the World Championships. We set the basic things and how we would like to present ourselves at the World Championships and what the head coach expects from the team and individual players. The main goal was to make 20 players into 1 team that will work together, communicate but most importantly the players will fight for each other.

Making choices under pressure offers you the opportunity to consider how well your personal experiences and observations shape your way of thinking while being in an uncomfortable position.

He struggled with the fears and challenges that life brings – he had to find great courage to make necessary fundamental changes in his life. He set out to do the essential for himself and remade his entire life towards mental health, which has influenced his career success and satisfaction.

Like all beginnings, the beginning of mental preparation can be uncertain. Therefore, we will show you how the initial consultation looks like.