Episode description

Dr. Laura Swettenham is a sport and exercise psychologist from the UK, chartered with the British Psychological Society. She has experience working within a range of sports, predominantly professional football (soccer), youth tennis, and e-sports. In her practice, Laura uses acceptance and mindfulness approaches, such as acceptance and commitment therapy, to support athletes and coaches so they can thrive in and out of their performance environment. Currently, Laura works at Cultiv8 Academy, the Yorkshire regional player development center for tennis, and is the sport psychology and coach development lead at the federation of e-sports coaches. She is also an associate partner lecturer at the University of Portsmouth and has published multiple research papers within sport psychology utilizing the Think Aloud protocol. In this conversation, we discuss Think Aloud and its utility in exploring stress and coping mechanisms in tennis. For more information on Think Aloud, please read "Investigating Stress and Coping During Practice and Competition in Tennis using Think Aloud" by Laura and her colleagues. (http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/9077/) To learn more about Josh and Brian's backgrounds and sport psychology businesses, go to TiebreakerPsych.com and PerformanceXtra.com. If you have feedback about the show or questions on the mental game in tennis, email us at TennisIQPodcast@gmail.com or use the hashtag #tennisIQ​​​​​​​​​ on Twitter. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or your podcast platform of choice (Spotify, Apple, Google, etc.) to stay up to date on future episodes.