WIRED TO PLAY: THE METACOGNITIVE ATHLETE
BY PERFOrmance psychologist Gayelene Clews
Foreword by: John Coates, AC - President Australian Olympic Committee, Vice-President International Olympic Committee
“The book masterfully tackles the mental health problems faced by athletes, sophisticatedly dissecting the factors contributing to them and then providing cogent management advice.”
Wired to Play: The Metacognitive Athlete is a ground-breaking book tackling the subject of athlete mental health. Metacognition is our ability to analyse how we think, feel and behave. With self-awareness individuals are better equipped to manage life stressors that may lead to mental ill health.
Australia’s elite athletes are ordinary people operating under extra-ordinary circumstances. In sharing the journey of Australia’s elite athletes and coaches across Olympic & Professional codes, it presents a harm-minimisation approach for mental illness Wired to Play explains the valued role of sport in developing resilience and mental health, how to recognise athletes at-risk, how-to-help and where-to-access help. The importance of community, coach mentoring, life-skill development and physical movement for indigenous and non indigenous Australians is discussed.
endorsed by TOP sports PROFESSIONALS & COMMENTATORS
articles IN Australia's leading news outlets
WIRED TO PLAY FEATURED
ON ABC LATELINE
Emma Alberici speaks with author Gayelene Clews and asks whether elite athletes are especially prone to mental health issues like depression.
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM TOP ATHLETES AND EXPERTS IN THE FIELD
“I medalled at the world championships by learning to care less.”
“Aboriginals are good at sport and are attracted to it because of their instinctual abilities and because it is a way out of the inequality they feel in the world.”
“It is very hard to have a high public profile when you are struggling. You don’t want to stand up and say - I’m not coping.”
“Families and loved ones need help in transition too. Without it many marriages and relationships fail”
Anthony Mundine (Multiple World Champion – Boxing)
Ben Gathercole (Olympic Coach - Triathlon, Author-Better than Winning)
Bradley Clyde (Churchill Medal Winner x 2 – NRL)
Caroline Buchanan (World Champion – BMX & Mountain Bike)
Christine Dobson (Olympian – Field Hockey)
Darryle Macdonald (Player and State Coach - Cricket)
David Furner (Churchill Medal Winner – NRL)
David Shillington (State of Origin - NRL)
Di Huxley (Olympic Manager, Coach – Track & Field)
Georgia Gleeson (Indigenous Marathon Project)
Gracie Elvin (Commonwealth Games, National Champion - Cycling)
Heath Black (Diog Medal (2nd) - AFL, Author - Black)
Jana Pittman (Winter & Summer Olympian, World Champion – Track)
John Konrads (Olympic Champion & World Record holder – Swimming)
Kim Crow (World Champion & Olympic Medallist – Rowing)
Mathew Hayman (Commonwealth Games Champion & World Championship Medallist – Cycling)
Miriam Manzano (World Championship Finalist – Figure Skating)
Belinda Halloran (World Championship Medallist – Triathlon)
Psychiatrist Dr Gordon Parker (Researcher, Scientia Professor, School of Psychiatry UNSW, Author - A Piece of My Mind)
Psychiatrist Dr Lev Fridgant (Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist)
Psychologist Dr Vivienne Lewis (Assistant Professor University of Canberra, Author - Positive Bodies - Loving the Skin You're In)
Psychologist Maurie O’Connor (National Coordinator -Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drugs - Defence)
Quentin Pongia (NZ Captain, World Cup Champions – NRL)
Scott Draper (Champion - Wimbledon Juniors and Australian Mixed Doubles – Tennis, Author - Too Good: The Scott Draper Story)
Sports Physician Dr Rob Reid, AM (Sports Medicine Australia)
Steve Baker (ITU World Championship competitor – Masters Triathlon)
Tae Tyrell (State Coaching Coordinator - Gymnastics)
Tim Sheens (Head Coach Australian National Team – NRL)
AUTHOR: GaYELENE CLEWS
Performance Psychologist, Olympian, Author and Educator.
Helping others transition from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Olympic psychologist, former elite athlete, coach and educator, Gayelene Clews, is passionate about helping people excel. Gayelene Clews has achieved a lifetime of success in the highly competitive international arena of elite sport and in the field of education. Of her achievements she says,
“I love to work with the individuals in the ‘grey’ - those who are made to feel unremarkable - because I know that the extraordinary lies in all of us, but to be everything we can be, we first have to truly know ourselves.”
Read more about Gayelene Clews and Wired to Play Consulting >
