Strengthening sports psychology

Yaiza Comesana Gonzalez (Vigo, 1988) can be considered a pedestrian sports center. She practiced the most since she was little various sports disciplines, individual and collective. He combined it with his training (ie teacher, teacher, professor basic education and psychologist) and psychology eventually became his link with sports. He has been working in IES Coruxo FS, the subject of which he is on the professional staff and of which he is the director. He also works for Kae Sport Vigo Taekwondo.

From an early age, Yaiza was very clear that she was sports psychology could be yours. “When I was involved in sports, I realized how much influence it has nerve managementcompetitions, group topic… And as a result, the opportunity to help people and have tools to apply them was when I discovered what I liked”, he recalls.

He helped in his entry into sports waters family bonding. “My father was on the board, the coach I had found out that I had a degree in psychology and it was interesting for him to include that aspect in the team,” comments Comesaña about his beginnings six years ago. At that time, the entity was Talleres ABC, which was active in the Third Futsal League. That first experience lasted two years and he immediately came to the bench Lucas Fernandez, which continues to this day. There was also a merger with IES Coruxo which meant a impulse for the team, both at the quarry level, and for a step further by being promoted to second B after the pandemic.

The merger meant that Yaiza included another front in its work. “My relationship is with the first team and basic categories, not with everyone, but when the coach has a request for a child, I talk to him and treat him”. In recent years, the psychologist has already had to cope with covid to experience its peak with him rise. “We won against Lugo, we were promoted to the second B, but for us it’s like being in the first league,” he says.

His job consists of both individual conversations as group with team members. “There are a lot of people I’ve been with for years and it’s usually individual conversations when I see them pop up needs. Then we do some group ones, all depending on how the team behaves. I also organize activities Outside of training, such as activity preseason».

His intervention comes in three ways: yes a the player demands itlet him do it technical or that she herself to discover that it exists should intervene. “I try to go to the training sessions and I go to all the matches. In the case of the base, it depends directly on the coach, and then with the first team I see if someone is a little lower or depending on how the player is doing, if the coach asks me or even a person asks you to talk to me. It depends a bit on the case. They get to know each other and know that I can help them,” he says. Yaiza puts her grain of sand in the appointments situation management“in adrenaline of the moment”, in tension, motivation “just in case”, trust, self-confidence, group cohesion and communication between the group.

The psychologist points out that her intervention largely depends on the moment of the season she is going through. “It’s not the same at the beginning as at the end, where there is more demand for individual meetings and some group meetings for goals. It’s there more fatigue and sometimes the campaigns are long and at some point motivation can be reduced depending on results or goal“, he says, recalling that in the first team he practices with adults who have a job or are studying, “and everything from the outside reflects on the sport”.

With more than five years of experience, the psychologist from Vigo believes that her work gives the desired results: «At least I see that in many athletes and in sports management or at the level fit into a group. Each one has its own rhythm, but I see many of them improvements, I notice how they manage ». He notices that the players focus better on the problems each time.

Its function is in everyday life, but also in parties. As a member of the professional staff, sit on the bench. “And at some point, I talk to them if I see someone who’s not as in control of their nerves or the adrenaline of the game itself. I still talk to some or give it to them message that I consider There are players who need more reinforcements and others, reduce sensations. I try to be in precise moment what everyone needs and in the way they need it”.

As for the base, his contribution focuses more on some specific need». However, he specifies that “even though they are different, their goal is common: to continue playing this sport they love, because if they are in it, it is because they love it”, he says. She is to add.