Tag Archive for 'Iran'

Italy without sense of belonging: 3 sports, 3 stories

Today I read three news coming from different sports, they seem to have a common denominator, reflecting the shortage in our country of the sense of belonging.

  1.  The first concerns Alessio Cerci, young football player of Torino going to play with Atletico Madrid, champion of Spain. So another young Italian footballer leaves our country (as Verratti, Immobile, Balotelli and others) without that some clubs has done everything is possible to keep him. Certainly he will be very satisfied, like the others, for the chance to play in one of the European strongest team and for the salary but I remain convinced that a country that wants to be successful should retain talent rather than let them go. We can say that our clubs habe not done the war to have the best.
  2. The second concerns the Italian volleyball team that lost in the opening match of the world championship 3-1 against Iran. Italy has appeared unmotivated and not very aggressive, this led to a percentage of embarrassing mistakes. Iran has shown the opposite attitude and deserved the victory. You can win or lose a game, but after months of work you cannot begin an important match with the attitude of one who is destined to suffer. Italians thought of winning easily? I do not think, they had already lost against Iran. In the field they have not had a leader capable of keeping the team united and aggressive, making them feel the importance of  the that match. Attitudes should be obvious by now; the players should know very well how to deal with these negative moments and stimulating each other a sense of belonging.
  3. The third concerns Daniele Meucci, winner of the marathon to the last European Championship. To continue to study, gave 60 engineering exams in five years, and runs 180km a week. At university, he never said it was in the national team, because they probably would not understand, and he runs out in the morning at 6 am and then again in the evening up to 20, with the caretaker of the camp that complains to him because he would like to close the track before the scheduled time. Another example of how Italy does not help the sport, there is no sense of community with athletes and it’s not stimulated even in this case, the sense of belonging. And rightly Meucci says, “I’ll do the engineer: athletics goes, life remains.”

Psychological Support Brings Olympic Success for Korean Athletes

The Republic of Korea has enjoyed its best Olympic Games results since 1988, finishing 5th in the medal table in London, with a total of 28 medals including 13 golds. Two of its most successful teams, archery and shooting, both benefited from psychological support programmes. 

Support for the Korean archery team was provided by Young Sook Kim, from the Korea Institute of Sport Science, during an 11-month period preceding the Games. Support was provided in 1-2 hr sessions, 2-3 times per week, and included psychological profiling and psychological skills training that was progressively individualiszd in training and tailored towards the Olympic competition. The archery team won 3 gold medals and 1 bronze medal in London.

The Korean shooting team was even more successful in London, winning 3 golds and 2 silvers. Support was provided in the two years preceding the Olympic Games by ByungHyun Kim, also from the Korea Institute of Sport Science, an applied practitioner of 20 years’ experience. Support emphasized anxiety control, concentration, confidence, and coping with the high expectations of the Korean public.

Mental Preparation of Iranian Athletes at London 2012

Psychological support to Iranian athletes for the Olympics and other major games is planned and supervised by the Center for Counseling and Mental Skills Training, located at the National Olympic Academy in Tehran.  For the 2012 Olympic Games, personnel were Mohammad Khabiri, Yadollah Farhadi, Khosro Hamzeh, and Ali Reza Farsi, who were appointed almost a year ahead of the Games. They met with all national federations whose athletes had qualified for the Games to assess their needs. The federations of Boxing, Taekwondo, Weightlifting, Archery and Canoeing each had a sport psychologist appointed to the team, who organized workshops, individual and group counseling, and profiling. No psychologist accompanied the Iranian delegation to the Games. 

T
he Iranian Paralympic team returned home with several medals and lots of memories. A group of certified sport psychologists, led by Mohammad Vaez Mousavi , supported the paralympians in the preparation for the Games. In training camps there was a daily program to assess and develop mental skills. Clinical issues were also addressed with the help of clinical sport psychologists. Dr. Mousavi accompanied athletes during events in London. According to medalists who were interviewed after the games, proper psychological preparations was one of the major reasons for their achievements. Iran ranked 11th among more than 140 countries taking part in the Games.

L’importanza di avere un progetto

L’Iran di pallavolo ha battuto ieri la Serbia e poco tempo fa ha vinto il campionato asiatico di pallavolo. Voglio che quando si costruisce un programma di sviluppo e si sceglie un grande allenatore, in questo caso è Julio Velasco, magari non si vincerà il campionato del mondo ma si dà l’opportunità di fare un salto di qualità enorme e di ottenere successi inpensati sino a quel momento. Fare parte di un programma fornisce energie eccezionali all’impegno e alla dedizione, l’allenatore che sa sfrutttare questa condizione mentale di gruppo otterrà in più breve tempo risultati che in altri ambienti ne avrebbero richiesto di più e con maggiore attriti con la squadra.

L’Iran in cerca di nuovi successi nello sport

L’esperienza in Iran è stata sicuramente molto positiva. Una settimana di corso di formazione con 15 allenatori, di cui tre donne, motivati a capire cosa e come fare per migliorare. Hanno un progetto che ha lo scopo di diventare più competitivi a livello dei Giochi Asiatici e di aumentare il numero di partecipanti alle Olimpiadi. In questo corso di 48 ore i temi dell’allenamento e della preparazione alla gare sono stati trattati sotto tutti i punti di vista (tecnico, mentale, fisico, giovani e atleti evoluti). L’interesse verso la preparazione psicologica è sentito come un aspetto importante della vita dell’atleta e dell’allenatore. Dire che tutti parlavano inglese non è scontato giacchè qui da noi non sarebbe altrettanto facile. Vi è un altro mondo, di cui siamo poco consapevoli, che progetta il suo futuro, invita esperti e vuole ottenere risultati. Questo non vale solo per l’Iran, è lo stesso in Kuwait ( di cui vi erano alcuni allenatori) o per l’India (di cui Marcello Dradi, l’organizzatore di questo corso è allenatore). Il mondo sportivo si sta spostando a Oriente in termini di nuove progettualità e di investimenti, non a caso il Qatar organizzerà i Mondiali di Calcio e una squadra del Congo va in finale nella Coppa Intercontinentale. Ennio Falco, a questo riguardo, ha ricordato che sino a 15 anni fa nel tiro a volo se battevi il tuo compagno di squadra e qualche altro atleta europeo e nordamericano quasi certamente vincevi. Ora, invece, è molto diverso vi sono almeno altri 15/20 atleti molto forti che possono competere per una medaglia e la maggior parte di questi vengono dall’Asia. In Iran vi sono alcuni psicologi dello sport che hanno una formazione nordamericana e che seguono le squadre anche durante le gare internazionali più importanti, tre di loro hanno partecipato a questi ultimi Asian Games. Ho parlato con Shamsi Monfared, che ha pubblicato un articolo sull’International Journal of Sport Psychology sugli atleti iraniani (3, 2009, www.ijsp-online.com) e mi ha detto che come psicologi organizzano workshop con esperti stranieri sugli aspetti applicativi e professionali della psicologia dello sport. In sostanza, non solo i paesi anglosassoni vogliono essere sempre più competitivi ma anche nazioni come l’Iran e molti paesi asiatici vogliono acquisire nuovi spazi e competenze.