Pille Pedmanson

Pille works with athletes from different levels supporting them with their mental performance and well-being. Her work ranges from supporting high-level athletes with their mental preparation for an upcoming competition to supporting people new to exercise with motivation and confidence.

Pille has a degree in Psychology from Swansea University, and a master’s degree in Sport Psychology from Cardiff Metropolitan University. Pille is currently doing a PhD. at Plymouth Marjon University researching ways to support new runners in sustaining their behaviour change in the long-term. She is also a sport and exercise psychologist in training and working under supervision.

How can sport and exercise psychology help you?
There are numerous ways that sport and exercise psychology can be beneficial for you regardless of your level of sports background. It can help you develop your self-awareness, and teach you how to regulate your emotions, both in training and in competitions. It can also teach you how to use mental skills, such as self-talk, imagery, goal-setting, or relaxation to improve your performance, and well-being. It can also help you develop a healthier relationship with exercise and support you in finding ways to enjoy being active. It can also be helpful if you work as a coach or personal trainer and would like to learn how to implement sport and exercise psychology into your own coaching practice.

Some more specific examples of how sport and exercise psychology can help are listed below.

Mental preparation for races and competitions
Being mentally prepared for races and competitions is important to ensure you feel ready and confident on the day. Sport and exercise psychology can help you develop a pre-performance routine and find ways to manage performance anxiety for example. It doesn’t matter whether you are preparing for a local 10k race or the Olympics, mental skills, such as imagery or self-talk can be beneficial regardless of your level of ability.

Starting and maintaining an active life
Whether you are completely new to exercising or returning to it, exercise psychology can support you in getting (re)started. Many of us want to start exercising or becoming more physically active but find it hard to motivate ourselves to get going. Other times you might find it easy to start but then struggle to keep it going when life gets busier and other demands crop up. Exercise psychology can support you in starting and maintaining an active life by helping you identify your reasons for exercising, and teach you self-regulation skills and ways to cope with barriers for when things get harder.

Coping with injury
Injuries are frustrating but unfortunately, they do happen, especially when we’re active and play sports. Sport psychology can help you find strategies that support with managing your emotions and finding effective ways to cope with your emotions. Whether it’s your first injury or you’ve been injured before, having strategies to use when dealing with injury can be helpful to support with the feelings of frustration and demotivation you might experience towards your rehabilitation program. Sport psychology can help you with staying motivated to follow your rehabilitation program and help you in setting manageable goals along the way.

Returning from injury
It is exciting to finally return to play your sport or return to your previous activities after being injured, but it can also be mentally difficult and cause some worry and anxiety. You might worry about lost fitness, you might lack confidence in your injured body part, or you might be worrying about re-injury. Sport psychology can help to manage these worries by teaching you strategies that can reduce that anxiety while you gradually return to your previous levels.

For people working with athletes
Sport and exercise psychology can also be applicable to you if you are working as a coach or personal trainer for example. It can teach you ways to incorporate psychology into your own coaching practices and help you create a supportive environment for your athletes.

Interested in trying sport and exercise psychology?
If you are interested in trying sport and exercise psychology, then we would start by having a free 20-minute call where we can both find out a bit more about each other. This is for me to ensure that I can support you with whatever it is that you need, but also a chance for you to decide whether I am the right person to support you. We would also discuss confidentiality and then book in the first session.

What to expect in the subsequent sessions?
All sessions are arranged online, using Microsoft Teams video calls, and the sessions would typically last 30-45 minutes. The number of sessions required depends on the individual but could range from one to eight sessions.

If you’d like to know more about how sport or exercise psychology might help you, or to book your first session, please contact Pille on the below.
Email: pille.p@gmail.com
Mobile:07511312086