Mental Coaching For Athletes

In order to play sports at a high level, you will have to train hard. With feedback from the coach, the technique improves, the muscles become stronger, and the endurance developes itself due to a balanced training schedule. The talent for sport can develop so that the athlete is able to perform competitively during competitions.

However, sport is still a people's business. People have thought, feelings, and they behave in a certain way. These elements can help the athlete perform well, but they can also get in the way. Athletes can, for example, experience negative inner voices: ‘I cannot do it’. This is the expertise of the sports psychologist, also ‘mental coach’.

Praan Group sees sport as the ideal place for an individual to grow mentally and learn how to stand up for themself. With a healthy growth mindset, athletes work on self-regulation and grow as both athlete and person. We support athletes, young and old, recreational and Olympic, in order to experience the valuable mental life lessons and to perform with excellence.

We have been mentally guiding (top) athletes since 1998. We do this through our brand Keizer Prestatie Consultancy. SPORTPSYCHOLOOG VSPN® Wim Keizer, as an example, was the mental coach of the Dutch rowing team during the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 and subsequently guided athletes from all kinds of sports. This can be through individual projects, giving workshops or sometimes a structural place in the technical staff (rowing team 1998-2006, Ajax 2008-2012, Curling 2012-present).

For more information go to the website of Keizer Prestatie Consultancy »

The subject of 'developing mental skills' is often missing from the sport-technical plans of Dutch sports clubs. The idea is that the mental development comes naturally through practising sports. In the ideal situation this is true, sport offers a great arena for children to develop mentally. They will be able to deal with stress more easily, gain courage and learn how to work together with teammates.

Unfortunately, not every child will be able to benefit from this added value of sport without help. A lot of talent is lost due to lack of self-confidence, fear of failure, or a rotten team atmosphere. Coaches often lack the insight and skills to help these talents. Usually, these children end up on the bench and the talent will therefore quit.

This is the reason why we started our Skerpe Jeugd project in 2012. We have, among other things, developed a method with which young athletes can develop themselves mentally in a goal-oriented way. The organisation's vision is that mental development is important for every child. Not only for a positive experience of playing sports, but also for the development of skills that come in handy during stressful situations at school or later in their career. This added value of sport should be available to all children.

For more information go to the website of Skerpe Jeugd »