Headlines regularly report the latest outburst on court, a striker’s unexplained goal drought or a coach’s touchline rant. We search to understand how the best teams make game-winning decisions, communicate almost telepathically, recover from failure and deliver breathtaking performances when it matters most. It’s a confusing world of belief systems and mindsets that can be hard to navigate and dominated by urban myths.
To help answer these questions more systematically, Kate Hays, one of Britain’s most progressive sports psychologists, shares her insights and approach honed across Olympic sport, rugby and football in her new book How to Win. Hays, head of women’s performance psychology at the Football Association, takes us behind the scenes of some epic sporting achievements, from Tom Daley’s diving career to the Harlequins championship-winning team and Sarina Wiegman’s Euros-winning Lionesses.
