On the 6th and 7th, the Chinese wheelchair curling team participated in the wheelchair curling competition of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Winter Paralympics at the "Ice Cube" at the National Aquatics Center, and won three consecutive round-robin victories. Behind this strong team, Xu Shousen, a professor of sports psychology at the Capital Institute of Physical Education, has been providing psychological counseling services for athletes to help them solve their problems and break the ice.
Xu Shousen led wheelchair curlers to relieve the stress of the competition through interactive games.
"If psychological counseling for the public is regarded as treating diseases and saving people, it is 'pulling patients out of the abyss', then sports psychological counseling is more like a process of stimulating the potential of athletes, which is to 'push them to the top of the mountain'." Xu Shousen said that compared with able-bodied people, disabled athletes are more defensive and more sensitive, and psychological interviews have become the first step to open their hearts. "I hope that through chatting, I will understand their family background and growth experience, and I will also accompany them to cry and laugh together in a series of inspirational stories, so as to slowly build a relationship of trust."
In the Winter Paralympic Games, winning and losing is often between millimeters, and helping disabled athletes to relax psychologically is the biggest task of sports psychologists. After investigation, Xu Shousen found that at the moment of completing the pot throwing action, many athletes will flash negative thoughts in their minds: this pot must be accurate, otherwise this round will lose..." This reflects the athlete's nervous and unconfident psychology, and will also lead to their lack of concentration. ”
In order to help athletes "eliminate distractions", Xu Shousen combined the characteristics of wheelchair curling and developed a series of tips: when attention is not concentrated, pinch the handle of the wheelchair or pinch the arm, slight pressure and pain will "drive" the distracting thoughts out of the mind; when too nervous and unconfident, take a deep breath like smelling flowers, and then slowly exhale like light dust, repeat several times, the mood will be stable; use the way of writing a diary or note to give yourself positive psychological hints, tell yourself "I am great" "I am not afraid of setbacks and difficulties" ......
"One athlete took my advice and put a small note on his pitcher that said 'Calm, be bold, confident.'" Xu Shousen said happily that don't look at these six words are simple and easy to understand, but they are the "winning secrets" that athletes have carefully summarized.
In fact, as early as 2017, Xu Shousen and his team began to provide sports psychological consulting services for the Chinese wheelchair curling team. At the 2018 Winter Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the Chinese wheelchair curling team won the championship in one fell swoop, achieving a breakthrough for China in the winter Paralympic medals and gold medals. Today, this sports psychology team has accompanied the Chinese wheelchair curling team to fight in the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games.
Looking back, Xu Shousen said: "More and more sports projects for the disabled have opened the door to sports psychological counseling, but we still have a long way to go, and we hope that more high-quality sports psychologists will join in and accompany athletes to break the ice together." ”