The Power of Control Wheel: Abuse in Sports

02/21/25 • 38 min

Mat and Lindsay are back with their series the Power of Control Wheel in Sports, where they discuss the sports culture and how it can be improved. Both are very passionate athletes enthusiastic about building an athletic community/society that is not detrimental to either the athletes, coaches, or parents’ mental health. In this episode, they discuss ways to create a high-performance sports culture that still allows everyone to enjoy a good game and have fun.

This conversation is a much-needed talk that should happen within teams for all parties involved to excel at what they do. Addressing coaches guides them on improving team communication while avoiding tactics that may hurt their players. To parents, it brings awareness of what might be happening behind the locker rooms and how it might harm their children. This community discussion sets the foundation of transparency between all those in sports to continue and build a powerful team that gets along and leaves no one behind.

They break down the scary and intimidating word “grooming”, in sports and what it means. As scary as the word is, they explain that some actions are so normalized that grooming could remain hidden in plain sight. Taking off the ignorance goggles, this conversation is one that these two sports psychologists personally know needs to happen. Growing up as competitive athletes themselves, they bring lived experiences and as psychologists, they explain the truth behind some human behaviors.

Unveiling the truth behind grooming and manipulation in sports, Mat explains that grooming is usually an insecure attempt for coaches to control their athletes. Although sometimes it can be unintentional, Mat explains that this could also be an intentional attempt at manipulating athletes to play according to the coach's expectations. He further elaborates that putting players in a limited box could prevent them from having fun and playing expressively.

Lindsay speaks on gaining the trust of athletes and that sometimes coaches may try to take advantage of a player’s family situation to get them to trust them. She shares the common issues some of her clients who are athletes deal with and the way to comprehend them effectively. While encouraging athletes to not limit themselves by their coach's perceptions, she also urges them to take charge of their athletic experiences and advocate for themselves.

This episode is one eye-opener that aims to bring back the fun in sports for all those participating. Come tune in and see how you identify in the sports community and how to address some issues limiting your, your players or your child’s abilities.

Previous Episode

What is confidence? EP 2 |Pt. 3

In continuation of the Confidence series by Mat and Kayla, this episode highlights the importance of managing our inner critic to maintain confidence. They break down practical ways to increase confidence, highlighting the importance of self-compassion.

Taking us on an emotional journey most of us are familiar with, they address how our inner voices play a role in confidence and what our inner critic and self-analyzation do to our confidence. They discuss why self-compassion is important and why being over-critical isn't serving us. They explain our inner critical side where we make a mistake, and it is a direct threat against us and why a lot of the time we respond critically.

They discuss how people respond with fight, freeze, flight, fawn, feign and flop. Kayla talks about the importance of feeling our feelings but not identifying ourselves with them. That is the ability to feel sad but not say “I am sad’, because often enough that is what keeps us stuck in a cycle with no change at all. Mat talks about the trauma response that keeps us stuck on a toxic cycle and how our brains keep us from making that needed change. This episode is overall a self-awareness lesson with two confidence coaches helping you navigate your emotions with grace and compassion.

Next Episode

The weight of performance: How Athletes View Their Bodies

Lindsay is taking the lead on this series debut of the Body image issues in athletes podcast. Having written her thesis on this topic, Lindsay accounts her passion for it on being an athlete herself. Her experience as a competitive basketball player combined with the accumulated knowledge from research and client experience makes her the perfect source to address these issues.

This episode introduces the upcoming conversations that will support athletes in having healthy relationships with their bodies. The conversations will be based on the previously covered premises of dismantling the toxicity in sports and building a fresh and motivating culture. As a sports therapist who noticed the recurring themes of body images in sports, Lindsay felt a moral obligation to shield athletes from these issues. She also plans to educate coaches, caregivers, and sports supporters on communicating effectively with athletes.

The talk evolves to cover the implications of the language of the body in performance settings. This includes how coaches try to motivate players with fear-inducing comments and the long-term impacts it has on them. Mat and Lindsay open up about their own experiences in competitive sports and share how that impacted their relationships with their bodies. The two provide varying perspectives as they experienced opposites on the body shape spectrum. This made for an interesting discussion that you will be glad to have been a part of.