Sports Psychology—What Can We Learn from Elite Athletes?

I will explore what Sports PsychologySports Psychology has to offer because it deals with the reactions and responses to stress and their effect on performance under pressure but also how to prepare to perform at your best. There is an increasing interest in applying Sports PsychologySports Psychology techniques to healthcare (Sandars et al. Sandars et al., Med Teach 44:71–78, 2022). Surgery involves making many decisions, often under pressure, often with uncertain outcomes, in an ever-changing surgical environment, and this results in a degree of stress felt in the body and the mind. Some stress can be helpful but too much can result in a failure to perform or even ‘Catastrophe’. Pressure can come externally from the need to deliver high volumes, complexity of cases, complications, theatre environment, bureaucracy and the team as well as internally with the fear of failureFear of failure ranking highly. I will explore ‘failure’ in ‘Part II’. Character traits and personality might also play a role although and I will explore these in ‘Part III’.