The Need for a Sports Psychologist

While sifting through some documents recently, I came across a letter I had written to a newspaper in Grenada where I was living at the time. The year was 2000 and I had just returned from watching the West Indies play, or rather lose, in England...again.

It's funny. In five years, things haven't changed. The letter read as follows...

I am a lady, and I have never played a game of cricket in my life, however, being an avid spectator for 16 years, allow me to comment on the status of West Indies cricket, in light of our defeat to England and the other recent losses. I also will offer some solutions to overcome this depressing situation.

As I see it, the main problems with those who represent me are:-

1. Lack of mental toughness and preparedness
2. Lack of belief in self
3. Unsound technique, highlighted by unfamiliar pitches
4. Lack of commitment

Most of the areas identified have to do with the minds of our cricketers. Therefore, number one on my list of solutions, is that their minds need to be developed.

Of the 12 months in a year, our cricketers play approximately seven to eight months of cricket. The remaining "free time" should not be free. For at least two consecutive months during the off-season, the team should go into camp each year, rotating among the islands with international cricket facilities. (Naturally, they would start with Grenada ? an ideal location with superb facilities). During camp, our cricketers would do a mixture of classroom training, and cricket technique training, to improve on the problems identified.

To overcome the first two problems, many self-development exercises should be done. This would include compulsory reading of selected self-development books. What better way to open the mind to new ways of thinking, than with a good book? The expert psychologist selected to lead these sessions, would also need to assist our cricketers with strategies to deal with the pressures of international sports.

Solving the problem of unsound technique will require a real expert who can analyze each person's technique, and come up with a plan to correct the faults. Video tapes of past matches are readily available I believe, since other teams have been using them. However, it is not sufficient, for example, to tell a cricketer he is not bowling straight. The expert must then work with the bowler to show him how he can bowl straighter, and what benefits there are to him, of altering his technique.

Building a cohesive team will bring a high level of commitment. No one wants to let down a family member. As the "Reggae Boyz" share a large house in Jamaica, so too should the West Indies team be accommodated during these camps. So much is spent on hotel bills on the home tours. It may make economic sense for the WICB to build their own house in each of the islands with cricket facilities, on DONATED government lands, using DONATED architectural plans, with DONATED materials, all in exchange for annual season tickets to matches. When the team is not in that island, the bedrooms can be rented out to tourists. Think about it ? who wouldn't want to sleep in the bed that Brian Lara slept in?

For the WICB, it cannot be business as usual. The game of cricket has changed, not so much in its rules and regulations, but in its demands, and what it takes to be, and remain, at the top. Unless we make some hard decisions now, 2007 will see us exiting the World Cup in the first round, and the stands filled with tourists supporting their own cricket playing nations, who have taken the necessary steps to reach the pinnacle of the game.

Yours sincerely,
M L McDonald
5 September 2000

So, nearly four years and eight months afterwards, not much has changed. We're still getting a walloping, but we've hired an Australian quartet of experts to reverse that. That group of experts does not however include a Sports Psychologist. One is needed to change the minds of our losers. Jamaica tried it and copped the double in the Carib Beer tournament this year.

What is preventing the West Indies Cricket Board from employing one? It would be foolhardy of them to think that Bennett King and his group are the only solutions required. If we believe the adage that 'cricket is 90% mental', then shouldn't 90% of the WICB's resources be spent on the cricketers' minds?

Yes of course, there is also the matter of the development of cricket in schools, in clubs and at the regional level, but that is going to take a heck of a long time. An excellent Psychologist can guarantee improvement sooner.

The clock is ticking. Cricket World Cup 2007 is only two years away. Anybody watching the Barbados Test match against England last year will remember the sea of British fans cheering on their team to victory inside three days. It was annoying to some of you, wasn't it? Where will our fans be come 2007?

Come on WICB, give them something to cheer about. Forget about the houses as I had suggested in 2000. Heck, who needs to sleep in Brian Lara's bed? All we want is a victory against a team ranked higher than us. Do something to make it happen.