In an interview: sports psychologist Dr. Sebastian Altfeld - our new mental expert

It is a great pleasure and honor for us to have Dr. To introduce Sebastian Altfeld to our new mental expert Sebastian is a sports psychologist and psychotherapist and supports various competitive and professional athletes from different sports in dealing with performance pressure, stress and high demands. “Perform when the conditions are not optimal” and “be comfortable to feel uncomfortable” are his mottos. In the interview you will find out more about Sebastian, about typical stressful situations in tennis and how you can deal with them. Sebastian is also co-developer of the online program Ready2Perform , which we will also briefly introduce to you in the interview. Because we are convinced that you can improve your skills in dealing with pressure with this program, and not just in tennis. We are really looking forward to “working on” many more mental topics for you with Sebastian in the future. Because no matter what level: mental strength is so important!

Introducing our mental expert Dr. Sebastian Altfeld

As a sports psychologist and psychotherapist, Sebsatian supports various competitive and professional athletes from different sports in dealing with performance pressure, stress and high demands. “Perform when the conditions are not optimal” and “be comfortable to feel uncomfortable” are his mottos. In addition to these activities, he is co-developer of the online program Ready2Perform ( www.ready2perform.de ) to impart skills in dealing with pressure to many people.

You are welcome to watch and listen to my interview with Sebastian as a video. Or you can read the interview below. 

 I welcome Dr. Sebastian Altfeld, holds a doctorate in sports psychology. Sebastian, please introduce yourself briefly

Yes very much. First of all, thank you for inviting me. I have been working as an applied sports psychologist in competitive and elite sports for over 10 years. Over the years I have worked for various Olympic bases and looked after the local athletes in a wide range of sports, including in preparation for the Olympics. I also accompanied various national teams. I also work in individual coaching with various professional athletes, including tennis. The typical topics are dealing with pressure to perform, dealing with stress or with injuries - this is also one of my "favorite topics" because I am also a psychological psychotherapist and the knowledge on this topic is very valuable.

This means that I not only work on performance development, but also, through my therapeutic work, with mentally ill athletes and trainers. Here I encounter the typical topics such as anxiety or eating disorders as well as depression.

Another big pillar for me is working with trainers. In addition to lecturing in coaching training courses for various sports, I focus on “burnout prevention”. I wrote my doctoral thesis on burnout among full-time trainers and therefore give various events to keep trainers healthy. I do this, among other things, at the coaching academy in Cologne, where there are always A-level tennis coaches who are doing their qualified coaching. In fact, I do a lot of different things.

 Before we delve a little deeper into the topic, I would personally like to know: is there a personal story behind why you are so particularly interested in this area?

Actually yes. There have been many coincidences in my life that have intertwined. After school I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I did a voluntary social year in sports in a competitive basketball club. In addition, as one might assume, I come from basketball myself and have been an accomplished player and coach myself. So I've always been involved in competitive sports.

My voluntary social year was a bit of a starting point for exactly that, as I had a lot of challenging situations with players from socially disadvantaged structures. After the year I definitely knew: I really wanted to work with children and young people in sport. Coincidentally, Jürgen Klinsmann introduced a sports psychologist to the press for the first time exactly at the time when he was a coach at the time. This made me say: Oh great, you can even combine that – so sport and psychology?

Psychology was very interesting to me, and from then on it was clear: I wanted to go into the field. And because I've always been in the high-performance area, it's just something that's in my DNA and where I just like to be.

 Are there any “best of topics” specifically from tennis players that they come to you with? 

I once worked with a German player on the tour and she brought with her a typical theme: 'Dealing with failure'. It was about the fact that the scope that you give yourself as a player is sometimes left very, very small. In the sense that you quickly get upset about it: “Oh, now I hit the net” - and then deal with it intensively. I have called this the 'failed attempt paradox'. The failed attempt paradox is that people have the view that the more important a situation is, the less likely they are to allow themselves to fail. Let's make this clearer with an example: I now have the most important game of my life - and in tennis the most important game is usually the more complex game compared to the previous one, right? More spectators, stronger opponents, perhaps also a different importance in terms of consequences? And the more important a situation is (= the more complex a situation), does the probability of a failed attempt increase or decrease? What would you say?

Susanne: I would say the probability increases?
Sebastian : Exactly, actually it increases. But what do people suddenly expect from themselves?
Susanne: That you make fewer mistakes. That today is the day of days.

Sebastian : Exactly. And that is the failed attempt paradox! People have an opposite expectation about the likelihood of failure. In a more complex situation it is more likely that I will not feel the perfect feel and the length will not fit optimally. This increases the likelihood of unforced errors. Studies and statistics also show this if you look at it: In the most important games, the players usually don't show their best tennis. Which is totally fine. Unless I expect it of myself. Then this can be the beginning of a negative spiral. The anger over the “normal” mistake steals my focus for the next rally, which in turn increases the likelihood that it will not go in my favor. And so forth…

I think players need to realize this: the more important a situation is, the more likely it is that I will fail. And I think that's a really big learning from all the tennis players I've been able to accompany so far. I call this: giving yourself more leeway. So room to play. How can I play courageously if I'm always trying not to make any mistakes? That's another paradox you have there.

Susanne : And the second typical topic?

Sebastian : I think the second goes hand in hand with the first: being in the moment. Being able to come into the moment no matter what just happened. Be it the aforementioned failed attempt, but also how my opponent is currently playing, when circumstances change, whether spectators call in or not. Dealing with factors that distract my attention from the actual task is, in my opinion, the second big issue in tennis.

Susanne : Yes, that is also my own experience. I think every tennis player can find themselves there. Regardless of whether it is a district class player or a top 10 player, the situation is ultimately the same, only the equipment may be different.

Sebastian : Exactly. The players have different tools. The professional players have probably already dealt more intensively with the topic of the “mental game”.

 You developed an online program with your colleague Christian Luthardt. It's called 'Ready to perform'. What's behind it?

Christian Luthardt, the sports psychologist at Bayern Munich, and I developed this program because not everyone has access to the knowledge that we impart to people in high-performance areas. The core of the online course is to enable people to reach their full potential under pressure. Based on cutting-edge findings from sports psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based approaches, the course offers a mix of interactive teaching videos, practical experiments and understandable explanations to help you learn how to deal with pressure. Not everyone has access to a sports or performance psychologist, whatever we call ourselves. Ready2Perform is therefore intended for situations where performance is important.

 Is the course developed exclusively for the sports sector?

Of course we use sports examples because they are easy to understand. However, the course is designed in such a way that the content can be transferred to any printing situation. The course is not only intended for performance in competitions, but also for the final exam, emergency medical, police or fire service operations, as well as my important presentation at work. Wherever people experience pressure and the feelings that arise prevent them from reaching their full potential.

 The course is even covered by health insurance companies 

Exactly. This makes us unique in Germany. The course is certified as a prevention course and is therefore covered by health insurance companies. Depending on the health insurance company, even up to one hundred percent of the costs!

 Let's look at the content of the course. You said beforehand that Ready2Perform is a pressure course and not a stress course. What is the difference for you?

Stress is everyday situations when demands exceed our available resources. A meeting that drags on, a long list of unprocessed emails or being late for an appointment due to traffic. As we understand it, these triggers lead to stress. But stress doesn't necessarily mean pressure.

Pressure, on the other hand, is a situation in which the outcome of our performance has serious consequences. It is not just the mere requirement, but the importance of the result that creates the pressure. The result could have major consequences. These can be of a social nature, for example I am devalued or I am reported badly about in the press. But they can also be of a financial nature, such as prize money or, if not achieved, and then of course there can also be physical consequences. This means that there is a high risk of injury if I don't perform at my best. This would be the case in high-risk sports or in police or fire service operations. The distinction between these two concepts is very important for us. If people understand that they are “only” in a stressful situation and not a pressure situation, this can change their view of the situation and thus bring about relief.

One thing is fact: Is a situation important to me? And is it perhaps even dangerous or threatening? Then feelings arise and thoughts arise. A problem in pressure situations is not the lack of knowledge or skills, but the ability to access the potential under pressure with the intense feelings and thoughts and learn to deal with them. It's not about staying calm in these situations - unfortunately, from our point of view, this is often a misconception that people have the thought: 'I have to be calm. I have to be confident. I have to feel prepared when it's important.' What are the chances that I will feel calm, confident, focused and prepared at the most important moment in my life? Rather low, right?

And if you ask tennis players, "How many times in your life have you felt perfect - from start to finish of a match?" - they'll say, "Oh... once?" “Never?” So it’s not about feeling good and striving for that state, but rather being able to deal with it when I don’t feel optimal. And that is what we teach in this course. We provide the necessary skills and the valuable knowledge that I can deal with when I'm not feeling my best - that I can deal with the thoughts and feelings that arise in these situations. This is much, much more important than me feeling perfect - because that just happens too rarely. It's more likely that something will happen that steals my focus or makes me feel insecure.

 How exactly is your course structured?

It is extremely important to Christian and me that people take something away from the course. From a marketing perspective, it's actually the wrong approach to add hurdles to the course. We already describe in the booking process that the course requires effort. Because change always means effort. We don't make empty promises, as unfortunately other offers on the internet do. There's a "mental strength" class that lasts 30 minutes and another that promises to do the same after a weekend. Of course I wonder how sustainable this is?! For us, development also means time. Time for reflection and practice. We took these principles into account in the course. We want participants to get the most out of the course.

We want to prevent people from rushing through the course without paying attention to the content. It took two years to develop the course because we really thought about: What is important? What makes didactic sense? We just don't want to give anyone an unrealistic idea like: "Hey, mentally strong in 3 days!" - that's dubious in our opinion. We make a serious offer. The course, including all content, exercises and development tasks, lasts at least 6 – 8 weeks. But afterwards the participants are on a new level in terms of skills, mindset and knowledge. After this course, people have learned things they didn't know before. I'm one hundred percent sure of that. But that takes time.

This course has 33 video lessons. There are videos that are 1 minute long, some are 20 minutes long. In addition, they are all designed to be very interactive. We try to explain psychological concepts in a “non-psychological” way and to convey them practically using experiments. Ready2Perform consists of five modules. The first module is “Understanding” – so that people first understand: What actually happens in pressure situations? What happens physically? What happens to the focus? And what are the triggers? In the second module, “Awareness,” this new knowledge is transferred to your own pressure situations: “What is it actually like for me?” is clarified.

The “Mindset” module is then about: What is a good goal for a game? We previously showed with the failed attempt paradox that people often set less helpful goals in pressure situations. We will have an article on this topic in the blog soon. In the article we address the question of whether a player has a wish or goal for a game. From my experience I know that unfortunately it's all about wishes too often. Readers can then read about this in the article.

And then in the fourth module, 'Training to Perform', we have the skills on how I deal with the feelings and thoughts that arise. The last module, 'Prepare to Perform', will then bring everything together and impart the final knowledge modules on the topic of 'preparation'.  

We analyzed this with colleagues to see how many sessions they need on average with clients to impart this knowledge. The result was that the course includes 16 individual sessions or 16 workshops with an expert. So quite a lot.

 How would you define the characteristics of a person who would benefit from this course versus a face-to-face consultation with you or a colleague or in an on-site workshop?

I think the course is only for people who are able to learn this way. The course has many advantages. In addition to the cost savings compared to individual sessions or workshops, which are not covered by health insurance as these fall under coaching, the focus is of course on location and time flexibility. But it requires that I be able to take the time to sit down and edit the content on my own. And if I'm having trouble with it anyway, it's not the right program. If I need more fixed appointments, then offers such as a workshop or a 1:1 situation are more helpful. So it's more for people who are able to learn in a self-regulated way instead of getting lost in other apps when I'm sitting at the screen. From my point of view, this is the one important point.  

At the same time, a certain mental maturity is necessary for the course. It presupposes that I have a capacity for reflection that enables me to transfer the content to myself. Therefore, I would say that the course makes more sense from the age of 15. Younger would be rather unusual, as children and young people at a younger age do not yet have the ability to reflect to be able to develop such a course for themselves.

 In your opinion, how much does the mental aspect play a role in success in tennis?  

This depends very much on the level. The higher I go, the more optimized all the important areas are, such as athletics, technique, strategy and preparation. Preparation in terms of arrival, nutrition, recovery and so on. The more optimized all areas are, the more important the head becomes. This is logical from my point of view. When I play tennis in the district league, a certain level of athleticism helps me a lot. Then I'll run everyone into the ground. A very good hitting technique also helps if I can let the opponent run while I can also simply stand still on the baseline. So the deeper I am, the more important other areas become - and the more I can compensate for the head with other areas. But at the same time I believe that this “head” part always plays a role. Because: I can have the best technique - if I don't bring it onto the pitch because I'm still busy with the last shot, I can always trip over my head in the district league.

I think it's a basic requirement that I can deal with such things. If you ask about the importance: the higher I play, the more important the mental aspect becomes. At the same time, however, the mental aspect is, to a certain extent, a basic requirement for all areas. I think the Netflix documentary “Breaking Point” is great for this. Here the top 10 players are followed in various tournaments. And I think you get a great impression of how important the head is in such areas and how much the head can get in the way.

Would you like to get to know the online program Ready2Perform?

The "Ready2Perform" program, the costs of which can be fully covered by health insurance companies, focuses on preventing these detrimental consequences and enabling people to perform at their best even under pressure. However, “Ready2Perform” doesn’t just offer approaches for specific situations. What is learned serves to use these skills in everyday life and strengthens a person's resilience and psychological flexibility.

The online program “Ready2Perform” offers a mix of interactive teaching videos, practical experiments and understandable explanations to learn the necessary skills for dealing with pressure. The course consists of

• 33 interactive videos
• over 5 hours of video content
• in 5 modules that build on each other
• and 43 worksheets for observation and development tasks
• based on scientific approaches from sports psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based approaches from ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy).

So what are you waiting for? Would you like to become Ready2Perform?

TO THE WEBSITE

Note on our own behalf: this article is not sponsored and we do not receive any commission. We got to know Sebastian's online course and himself and therefore recommend the course to you wholeheartedly.