FEATURE: WRESTLING WITH AN EDGE LING DGE I have also been fortunate enough to attend several Wrestling Australia interstate training camps where I have conducted group workshops on targeted topics. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to work with coaches and other support staff in discussing how to frame concepts to ensure that athletes get the intended message out of intentional conversations, while looking at ways to maximise training loads to challenge the athletes both physically and psychologically. The AIS initiative is the first time that Wrestling Australia athletes and coaching staff have had the opportunity to work with a performance psychologist. Accordingly, a lot of my initial work involved exploring what a psychologicalmassive impact on physiology service should look like for the wrestlersand mindset. Ensuring that athletes and the coaching staff. This extended toare connected with the right supports providing information about how to assist them with this process is crucial. psychology can work in synergy withAdditionally, the fast-paced nature of other elements of performance like wrestling necessitates an ability to be physical condition, tactics and technicalpresent: to focus on the factors that will skills to optimise performance outcomes.help you perform at your best, even in the presence of distractions. These WHAT SPECIFIC CHALLENGES distractions could be in the form of being DO YOU FACE WORKING WITH down a point, time left on the clock, past WRESTLERS? HOW DOES IT performances, fear of failure or even the DIFFER TO OTHER SPORTS? reputation of their opponent. There are always generic psychologicalFinally, wrestling is a relatively small sport issues and skills that cut across mostin Australia. Funding and access to sports, however there are also services like physiotherapy, strength psychological issues that are specific toand conditioning, sports doctors can be wrestling. Weight cutting is a big elementextremely difficult for athletes and of wrestling, especially since same daycoaching staff to obtain. A majority of weigh-ins were recently introduced intothe athletes are self-funded and the competition. Nutrition can have astaff are predominantly VOLUME 36 • APRIL ISSUE 2018 47 vomorG ynegvE/kcotsknihT