We launch the “Beyond Legal” section, a new series of interviews to explore the world of sports and its stakeholders from diverse perspectives beyond our traditional legal focus.
Our first feature centers on the psychological aspects of sports, a critical element in athlete performance and well-being. To explore this topic, we have talked to Zoya Naumov, a middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 meters. She currently combines her athletic career with psychology, working on various training, guidance, and support projects for athletes.
As lawyers, we understand the importance of having support and guidance, so we wanted to ask you to what extent you believe psychological counseling is relevant for athletes.
Working at an elite level as an athlete requires dealing with a wide variety of inputs and pressures. Therefore, it’s easy to destabilize or at least have more tendency to do so. The high-competition world is full of uncertainty and demands of many psychological abilities, not just physical ones. By psychological counselling, athletes can have access to develop new skills that can help them improve not just their performance but also their well-being (the most important, from my point of view).
Recently, there's been increasing discussion about mental health in sports. Where do we stand in professional sports? Have we made progress? What more needs to be done?
Competition sports are highly demanding (as said before). Taking part of a minority will always increase vulnerability. So, in my opinion, what is left to be done is to expand the number of psychologists that take part in professional sports, just as needed in the general health system, and also educate on the importance of it.
What are the unique aspects of sports psychology?
I think the hardest part of Sports psychology at an elite level is to find the balance between performance and health. Per se, elite sport is about finding the limit of one person/team/collective in a natural way. Without performance, there’s no “elite”; without health, there’s no performance. This is not totally understood by society. So, it requires having a very open mind and trying to find the balance between them both (which is not always easy…).
As we approach Paris 2024, do you think good psychological preparation can improve athletes' performance?
If you take two athletes who have equal physical conditions, what will make the difference in their performances? This is a question I always ask when giving workshops. And, what if you take an athlete with excellent physical conditions, but he or she is not prepared mentally to overcome competition? I think the answer to this question relies on these two questions…
As an athlete and trainer, do you think athletes are well-prepared when they start their professional careers? What type of training or guidance is lacking in professional sports?
I think that psychological and emotional education is needed at all levels. Self-knowledge. The world has changed, and there are many accessible possibilities nowadays, many paths to take, and many opportunities… we live in a world of “freedom” more than we used to. This freedom has been pursued for generations, and it has turned out to be stressful in some ways. This is the same for professional sports. Mental guidance is another piece of the puzzle. When looking for “excellence,” every detail counts.
As an elite athlete, what advice would you give someone starting in professional sports?
First, surround yourself with a professional team who does not see you just as an “athlete” but as a PERSON. You’re human before taking the role of being an athlete. It’s hard because as an elite athlete, your profession becomes part of your identity. We work 24/7. You are an athlete 24/7. My advice would be to embrace it. However, don’t forget you’re just one more person in the world and that your profession ends sooner than any other does.
Second, nourish your other “parts”; take care of family and friends, and do not forget to keep growing your cognitive abilities, as the physical ones, one day, sooner or later, diminish.
Last, don’t forget that your professional career is short, so enjoy it above all, and find the values that help you move on and improve yourself every day, not depend on results.
And for those of us who guide athletes in our various professional disciplines?
Again, athletes are humans in the first instance. See them as a whole, not just as a number or as a “player”. Be ready to work in an uncertain context, with many ups and downs, which will lead you to develop patience, acceptance and tolerance. Be ready to become flexible.
