Role Of Sports Psychologist Towards India's Athletic Future

The field of sports is ever-evolving with diverse career opportunities in this field. India’s talent in sports is yet to be explored. The recent Paris Olympics 2024 showed a mixed performance of Indian athletes and potential for the sports field. Indian sports need more attention and support at the grassroots level. Recently the government has taken a significant step by announcing athletes excelling in sports events will be eligible for government jobs. As India continues to make strides in international competitions, the role of sports psychology is likely to become even more crucial.

Sports psychology is emerging as a lucrative career option. Sports psychologists study behaviour in the context of physical exercise and sports. They investigate and assess cognitive, emotional, and behavioural processes in the context of physical training and competition to better understand how they affect performance.

Dr Sanika Divekar,, Senior Sports Psychologist, AMP – Athlete Mind Performance, a vertical of Mpower with a rich national-level table tennis player background, is at the forefront of a growing movement to prioritise athletes' mental health and performance in India.  

Sanika has competed at district, state, national, and public sector tournaments, representing India for 11 years. In the UK, she played for Brunel University’s TT Team at the British University College Sports (BUCS). Her achievements include 2 gold medals as District Champion, 1 gold as State Champion, a BUCS team gold, multiple team golds at district, state, and national levels, and several bronze medals with Air India in inter-institution and public sector tournaments.

 From Player to Practitioner: 

 Divekar's journey into sports psychology began on the table tennis courts. "I belong to a very sporty family," she recalls. Her talent led her to compete at the national level for 11 years, earning recognition along the way. However, it was her own experience with mental training that sparked a career shift.

"I started working with sports psychologists," she explained. "Those sessions were really good for me. They were supposed to make me a national champion. But I just liked those sessions so much that when it came time to choose a career, I said, I think I would love to do something like this."

This passion led her to pursue advanced degrees in the UK and Scotland, culminating in a doctorate in sports psychology. Now she heads the sports psychology vertical at Empower, an organisation dedicated to mental health services.

 Inside the Athlete's Mind: 

Anxiety is common among sportspersons at different stages of performance.  Divekar emphasises that anxiety is one of the most common issues athletes face. "Pre-performance anxiety is the most common presentation that I have worked with in my career so far," she noted. To combat this, she employs a range of techniques, including cognitive behavioural therapy and relaxation exercises tailored to specific sports.

"If my athlete is an archer or a shooter, where I know that breathing is important for the type of sport that they play, I will devise a very different relaxation mechanism," she explained. "As opposed to somebody who probably plays table tennis or badminton, their relaxation looks slightly different because they want to get their body charged up." 

Beyond anxiety,  Divekar works with athletes on building resilience, setting goals, and managing the pressures of public expectations. she observed.  "Athletes as a population are highly critical about themselves, so their standards for themselves are set very, very high."

 The Role of Technology:

Technology has democratised the evolution of human connection and performances at several stages. It can be used to evaluate players’ performance, identify patterns, and develop strategies. Wearable technologies can help monitor physiological metrics, such as heart rate, sleep patterns, and even muscle activity.

While Divekar sees potential in wearable devices for monitoring physical metrics, she emphasises the importance of a comprehensive support system. "Sports organisations or administrations should also look at getting the best sports science staff," she advised. "If the coaching staff and the sports science staff work together as a team, you are better preparing your athlete for competitions."

Looking to the Future:

In the high-stakes world of competitive sports, the difference between victory and defeat often lies not in physical capability but in mental strength. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, the overall demand for psychologists is expected to increase by 6% from 2022 to 2032.

 Divekar is optimistic about the future of sports psychology in India. "We're on the verge, because generally sports science is being highlighted as being quite important in an athlete's high-performance journey," she said. She points to the growing interest among students in pursuing sports psychology as a career and the increased recognition of its importance in elite sports.

"Any commentary being done even on the current Olympic Games, everybody will say it's the mind that makes the difference between a gold medallist and a silver medallist," she noted. "And it's the mind that separates the champion from everybody else."

 Divekar's work represents a growing recognition that to build a nation of champions, we must nurture not just their bodies but their minds as well. "If you want to consistently perform at the high-performance level, training your body can only take you so far," she concluded. “The edge that gives you the way that you can amp your performance up is through sports psychology support.”

Musharrat Shahin

BW Reporters The author is working as correspondent with BW CIO