Trainer, coach and mental coach.

The program ‘Studio Sportzomer’ from the NOS (Dutch TV) reflects in a sport talk program of sporting events during the Olympic games of 2008. On Tuesday evening the 19th of August 2008, a phenomenal mental coach came on the TV screen. A mental coach is a guide, in the sports or elsewhere, who specializes in increasing one's mental preparedness.
He discussed the influence a mental coach could have on the individual sportsperson or a team. This came as a result of the disappointing sport result of the cyclist Theo Bos. Together with Theo Bos were spokesperson Mart Smeets, turner Epke Zonderland (he had fallen while exercizing) and ex ice-skater Bart Veldkamp.
The Olympic team of the USA has eleven mental coaches who accompany the team during the games. The present sportsmen realize the usefulness of it, but had  difficulty picturing it, and how could they implement this in their current way of practice, as they did not have the experience. The spokesperson Mart Smeets and Bart Veldkamp considered it essential to become a top contender of the Olympic games. Besides, a comment in the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad from Mr. Charles van Commenée, Chef the Mission Beijing 2008, was reflected upon:
            `If someone must be led by the hand on the judo mat, he or she will surely fail to win a medal.  
             Things may have gone wrong in the final days, that can happen to any coach.
             This can be attributed to the inexperience of coaches in that sport category. 
             If I had a choice, there would be an extra assistant, coaching the field hockey players.’
Bart Veldkamp was enraged by the harsh statement of Mr. Charles van Commenée.

Unquestionably a mental coach, or coaches, must be present and be fully supported by all top level sportspersons. Mental support is extremely important while preparing, during and after the games, winning or losing, in the sport arenas, entertainment, social contacts, family, friends, media, and all aspects concerning the sport, and certainly the Olympic sport.
 
It is not so long ago that doctors would only examine a patient bodily if they came to him or her. The spirit , the mind, were a separate entity, and the patient would be referred to a psychologist or a psychiatrist. These arise as an illusion in the mind of a patient, so that such a visit often does not take place and the patient continues to worry, since the problem has not been resolved. It is not by chance that the general public sees a Doctor as a person that treats all aspects of the body. Each physical change has consequences and the person is responsible for him/herself to get checked out. The complete body can be considered as existing from three main characteristics: body, will and mind.
If a patient heals, often all these aspects are responsibly for that.
            The body, must be fit for it.
            The will, passion and the struggle during the recovery process.
            The mind, feeds body and will.

The daily sport guidance in the Netherlands shows a guiding system lacking when approaching the public. Only the body and to a limited extent the will, are prepared to a sport event.
Trainer:  education master aimed at the body.
Coach:   education aimed at strategy.
----?? :  education aimed at mental well-being.

The Dutch soccer team had underestimated the Russian soccer team during EK-2008, European soccer championship. The coach of the Russian team had his team sent on the field with the task of flustering the Dutch machinery with sand (strategy) In such a way that they could not play soccer effectively as a team. While doing so the possibility arises of an opening to appear, then attack and score during that mix-up. The mental focus of the Russian players was in such a way, although they were  the underdog, they believed that hard work and a timely distraction gave them an opportunity to score. The consequences were that the Dutch team was  confused, they were mentally not prepared and distracted by the Russian’s strategy. They did not control themselves, could mentally not manage the arisen situation and lost dramatically. An example of a lack of correct mental preparedness of the Dutch soccer team.

A correct individual and team unanimity exists, I believe, by three characteristics. Accompaniment of body, will and mind.
Body:       trainer, coach
Will:         strategic coach
Mind:       mental coach

Only if the all three characteristics are prepared in a proper way, the correct result can be expected. Only then it can ‘become luck enforced’, to win.
If a link is laid between the ECE factor quantification, the maximum score becomes at a correct preparation:
Body        3        [right physical parts be in shape]
Will          3        [right sight in way towards objective]
Mind        3        [trust and team thinking]
Totally 9 points, the maximum.

The tenth point can arise also as ‘good luck will be enforced’. The highest  attainable point in our system. In that situation it is possible to be in the flow, in a flow of chance  moments  which unfold themselves and create unity and harmony. If you are in the flow, you at the right place at the right time and doing all the right things.

The next evening a conference participant believes that the Dutch has not silver-plated fifteen potential medals. Fifteen participants of the Olympics’ of whom it was thought that they were worthy of a medal and did not achieve it. The ‘not feeling good’ is possibly the cause of it. A participant  ‘is feeling good’ when all characteristics score up to maximum because of the right conditions. If one of the characteristics is not in the right setting, but in a bad frame of mind, to become a medal winner is almost impossible. If body and will are in the right frame, but the mind is not, you will not  attain a higher score than: 3+3+1=7. Then you may be an Olympic participant, an Olympic hopeful, but ‘no’ medal winner.