The first seminar "How to use and and avoid misuse of brain's capacity in sports and outside" was aimed at developing Audentes sport gymnasium student athletes’ knowledge on how the brain works, what are the factors influencing it’s optimal functioning and how to use the brain for optimal development. In addition, the seminar covered the influence of digital world and especially smart phone usage, on the brain and overall everyday functioning. The topics were introduced by two experts in psychology- one of them working daily with children and youngsters as a psychologist and the other doing research in psychology with a specific focus on learning and brain.
During the seminar, the student athletes were involved in discussions and self-analysis exercises to become more aware of their own bheavioral patterns and link the new knowledge to their everyday situations in sports and outside. The topics more specifically addressed attentional capacity and how to direct it more efficiently on the task at hand, the benefit of getting out of one’s comfort zone and developing growth-oriented mindset. Regarding the smart phone usage, the youngsters learned about the negative consequences of excessive usage of smart phones and how to use dr Siegel’s 7 everyday activitites that support health, mental wellbeing and brain development.
The second seminar “The Triangle of a Healthy Lifestyle: Development, Wellbeing and Quality Relationships" involved a full day with International sport psychology experts from ENYSSP (European Network of Young Specialists in Sport Psychology). During the sport psychology day, the student athletes were involved in workshops that were aimed at either team sport or individual sport athletes.
The workshop for team sports was focused on developing a mindset that would be useful for reaching elite level in sports, while keeping healthy development and wellbeing in mind. The sport psychologists also addressed some communicational and team work aspects through a practical game. In the other workshop for individual sports, three sport pscyhology experts conducted discussions and practical self-analysis exercises on how to support wellbeing, facilitate optimal performance and sustain healthy relationships.
After the workshops, the student athletes were all invited to participate in a knowledge café. During that session, student athletes could choose between 5 different topics to discuss with the experts: focus, setbacks and challenges, motivation, emotions and self-confidence. The youngsters got to share their own experiences, ask questions and learn from each others’ as well as the sport psychologists’ experiences.
Photos of the events find HERE