Competing in sport involves many decisions when competing at any level but to make clear decisions when you are under stress of pressure, good or bad, takes one thing 'self-control'.

We see that having the ability to control oneself can critical in individual and team sport. The time spent in the gym, court, studio or training setting becomes a waste of time if the athlete cannot find a level of self-control.

The factors which decide winning or losing will be irrelevant if you have a athlete or team that cannot do this, look no further than the England Rugby Team. There were individuals who allowed themselves to lose this when on and off of the pitch and hence a opportunity thrown away. They had a great line to the World Final and would have meant three straight World Finals.

So how do we improve self-control in our athletes. First like any repetitive behaviour we need to get the athlete to understand that their poor behaviour is limiting themselves and also the team. Remember though that this is not easy and many athletes young and old with an ego will internally fight this even if they outwardly ommit that they understand there is a problem.

What we have to do is come up with a plan that actually gives the athlete something to focus their behaviour and focus on.

The self-control programme leads to the athlete understanding when they are begginning to lose control and re-trigger their pathways to switch back to control and the winning behaviour.

The self-control programme is easy to implement if the athlete is prepared to drill and embrace it. This will help if you apply it!