Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What does a ‘sport psychologist’ actually do?
A: The short answer is we teach mental skills to help performers’ brains (minds) to work for them and not against them (the default). Most people’s worst enemy is themself. Despite also being trained to assist with non-performance issues at Condor Performance we specialise in the psychology of practice and competition.
You can view the below video to get a better idea of what we do:
Q: What kind of services do you offer?
A: We can help you to become mentally tougher is a number of different ways - individually, in groups or a combination of these two.
Q: What’s the difference between a ‘sport psychologist’ and a ‘mind coach’?
A: Sport & performance psychologists are first and foremost psychologists so we are highly regulated by both the Australian Psychological Society and The Psychology Board of Australia and had to spend a minimum of 6 years in higher education to obtain our licence. Unfortunately there are still a lot of unqualified and unregulated “cowboys” out there who go by names such as mind coaches, mental skills coaches, peak performance coaches, high performance coaches, NLP practitioners (to name the most common). Working with people’s minds and emotions is not something you should trust to just anybody so if in doubt people ask as for a more detailed explanation.
Q: I don’t have any problems - why would I want to speak with a psychologist?
A: You might be thinking of clinical psychologists who help people with mental disorders. Sport and performance psychologists are very different and the best way to think of us is like we’re specialist coaches that focus on everything except the technical and physical parts of your performance. It’s very common for people to have an inaccurate view of what we actually do. If in doubt, ask us questions.
Q: How many sessions will I need and how often?
A: This all depends on you, your sport, your ambitions and your challenges. Having said that great effort is put into trying to achieve maximum gains in the shortest space of time possible.
Q: What sports do your sport psychologists have experience working with?
A: We’ve worked across most sports and performing arts - over 30 at the last count. Although all of our sport psychologists have an excellent understanding of most sports the areas we target as common mental challenges and so even if you’re the first client who plays a particularly rare sport we’ll still be able to help. Having said the areas we’ve done most of our work until now is with golf, tennis, track and field athletics, cricket, boxing and the combat sports, swimming, Rugby Union, AFL soccer / football, dancing and Rugby League.
Q: How important are these ‘mental skills’ and how do I know they really work?
A: In summary, the psychological or mental side of performance is as important as the physical and technical sides. However mental skills training is often the one that is ignored which means those that take it seriously have the most to gain in terms of improving their performance. The techniques we use are recommended by the best and most recent psychological research. There is no guesswork involved in what we do.
Q: Can I speak to someone before booking in for my first session?
A: Yes, by all means call our office on (02) 9283 1310 and if one of our sport psychologists is free to take your call you can ask as many questions as we have time to answer. If not leave a message and one of us will call you back.
Q: Can I claim the session fees back with my health fund?
A: Maybe. We are registered with all major health funds and the amount you can claim back will depend on which fund you are will and what level of cover you have. Please ask them for more information.
Q: I’d like to book a session, what do I do?
A: For new enquiries please call or email or fill in our enquiry form. If you’ve already spoken to one of the Condor Performance Sport Psychologists either in person, on the phone or via email then please book your next session directly with him or her.
Q: Do you have a cancellation policy?
A: Sessions cancelled less than 24 hours before they take place will still be charged at 50% whereby those cancelled more than 24 hours before the session can be rearranged without penalty.
Q: Is it true you also provide weight control services?
A: Yes, for more info go to our weight control page.
Q: Do you offer 2 year supervision programs for intern psychologists wishing to become ‘sport psychologists’?
A: Yes, for more info please email us and put SUPERVISION as the subject of the email.