Sport psychology delivery to British sailing: The first 20 years

The purpose of this article is to outline the nature and content of the sport psychology support programme delivered to the British Olympic and Paralympic sailing team from May 1989 to March 2009. Specifically, I will outline the key objectives that were identified at the beginning of each Olympic cycle. These objectives were used to enhance the relevance of the sport psychology input into the development of the sailors, coaches and indeed the organisational governance of the ‘competition wing’ of the Royal Yachting Association (RYA). The RYA had a poor Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, and the extensive review that followed revealed a number of problems, some of which were obviously underpinned by psychological issues. The two objectives pursued between 1992 and 1996 were ‘mental toughness’ and ‘building the British bubble’. Post Atlanta the focus was on using different types of goals (process, performance and outcome) and the integration of a multi-disciplinary sport science programme into a more inter-disciplinary approach. One of the psychology objectives between 2000 and 2004 was about the development and maintenance of confidence, whilst after Athens it was decided that a more ‘corporate approach’ to the identity and culture of the British sailing team was desired. Between 2004 and 2008 prior to Beijing, ‘succession planning’ for sport psychology was a central objective.