The project aims to enhance sports coaching and supervision through two main objectives: developing training content in sports psychology and mental preparation for elite athletes, and sharing best practices with stakeholders. It involved six European countries—France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Poland—and six universities, including Lyon1, Humboldt-Universität, Chieti-Pescara, Extremadura, Karlstad, and Gdansk. The project brings together seventeen professors (more than the initially included in the application) with expertise in research, teaching, and fieldwork with athletes, coaches, and federations. A key goal is promoting excellence in teaching and fostering collaboration between European universities. Each university contributes to mental preparation training content, which will be shared, enriched, and used to improve European-level coaching. The content will be offered to coaches, athletes, psychologists and sports staff.
Mental skill training focuses on enhancing cognitive and mental skills to optimize athletic performance and foster enjoyment and autonomy in practice. It integrates scientific principles from sport psychology, addressing key aspects like motivation, stress, concentration, and group cohesion. Coaches often lack the knowledge to fully address these psychological elements, leading to the use of external mental trainers. Unlike psychologists, mental trainers have no legal protections or clear qualifications, though a master's degree in psychology or sports science can validate their expertise. The goal is to help athletes develop mental skills like goal-setting, relaxation, and emotional management. While these techniques are widely recognized in Anglo-Saxon countries, other European nations often lack formal structures for mental training, leading to potential misunderstandings and errors in practice. The importance of mental preparation is growing, but there's still a need for more coach education and integration of these skills in training