Our Work with Amy

Amy is a consumate professional who performs well in a competitive environment and demonstrates great 'stage presence'. As with all professional riders at her level, consistency of performance is important particularly in the run up to the Olympic Games. Amy wanted to ensure that she was able to produce consistent performances both here and abroad. This involved being able to put any disappointing results behind her and re-focus quickly on what she wanted to happen in a test.

We used a variety of techniques to help us with this. Firstly, we created a high performance profile that would identify exactly what emotional states or characteristics she demonstrates when riding at her best. Once we were able to recognise these, we were able to map them across and 're-create' them in other contexts so that she could access these states whenever she needed them. Self awareness in an elite athlete is one of the most valuable attributes in regenerating high performance consistently. It can take many years to develop, therefore having a 'map' to work to enables Amy to measure her mental state at each and every competition, making adjustments as necessary to ensure she is in the correct frame of mind to ride at her best, every time out.

Additional to this, we used techniques for helping her deal with distractions more effectively, and techniques such as mental rehearsal to enhance her performance further through creating positive muscle memory. Through this, Amy is able to rehearse the exact feelings and reactions she needs to create for specific movements long before she goes into the arena.