'Your Mind Lets You Down'
Wed, Dec 22, '04
MICHELLE McDONALD interviews Kadija Richards
Pakistan's coach is considering hiring one after the talented team's inexplicable performance against the Australians. The West Indies team doesn't have one, and many feel they should, given their inconsistency. The Jamaicans have recently acquired one and her name is Kadija Richards.
It is indeed a small world; so small that I actually met Richards before I met her.
After a telephone interview on Wednesday morning, I arranged to meet her at Kensington Cricket Club where the Jamaica team was practising, so that I could get some photos to accompany this article. As she alighted from her car, we recognized each other from a gym session the previous day.
She's been called a Sports Psychologist. However, in our conversation, Richards referred to herself as a 'mental coach'. Whichever term you choose, the former Jamaica national tennis player will have her hands full for three months, working with the young Jamaican cricketers to improve their performance.
According to Brian Breese, CEO of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), the hiring of a sports psychologist was under consideration for a long time. However, the recent poor showing by the national team during the last regional one day competition hastened the search. Coach Robert Haynes felt that matches were lost above the ears, and welcomes the addition of Richards to the camp.
Richards, who turns 25 in January, has a first degree in Psychology and a Master of Science degree in Sport Studies from Miami University (Ohio) where she represented the college at tennis. Prior to this appointment, the new mental coach worked with the Nike tennis camp in Oxford, Ohio.
"I returned home after considering the situation; athletes with enormous talent and not necessarily getting where they need to get. I decided that this would be something that would be useful and necessary," said the bubbly Richards. So far, she has met with the group and has begun the individual profiling of players. Richards explained what was involved in this process.
"It's getting an idea of where they are mentally in terms of their performance, if they have any problems in terms of anxiety, motivation and so on, and any mental issues that may be preventing them from performing," said Richards. "Right now we are going over their short terms goals, their technical and mental skills training, and because of the nature of the practice sessions, not all of them will be able to do that during the practice session," she explained further.
Richards expressed surprise that "they have been very open with me and very willing to talk. They are also quite young as well, so once you have some authority figure I guess it helps." Does being a woman -- in a men's team -- work to her advantage? She thinks that "it may help, and at times I am sure it might be a problem."
Her role as a mental coach is "to teach mental strategies that will refine performance or enhance performance, or help them to overcome obstacles that may be keeping them from reaching their full potential." I asked her if she was going to help Jamaica to win the 2005 Carib Beer series. She quickly replied "I have explained to them (JCA) that the goals should be realistic, and I can't guarantee performance, I can only guarantee improvement."
Although a requirement to attend home games is not explicitly stated in her contract, Richards will be attending as many of the matches as she can. "I need to see them in that kind of environment, the difference between a practice mentality and their match-play environment to see how they are applying their mental training to a match setting.", said Richards. While there she will be beefing up her knowledge of a game she has been watching for a short five or so years. She's got the basics and the fundamental aspects of the game covered...she thinks.
Come 7th January, Kadija Richards will see just how much her new charges have been applying what they have been taught. Much of the work will have to be done by the cricketers on their own. Given the history of players not adhering to programmes once they leave the cricket field, Richards realizes that they will have to be monitored.
She hopes to help the cricketers to understand themselves better. Another objective is to get players to appreciate the importance of the mental aspect of their game. This Sports Psychologist, like many others, believes that mental issues are probably one of the biggest issues with athletes here as well as anywhere else in the world.
Richards said, "it's fundamental. The biggest clich? is 'sport is 10% physical and 90% mental.' It's huge. A lot of the time you have had so much technical training, that part is automatic. What lets you down in a match situation is your mental side. What lets you down is your mind."
