With twenty years of hindsight, Christine Arron speaks about it with detachment, accepting the unflattering observation: having been fooled. In the spring of 2003, the sprinter, holder of the European 100-meter record since 1998, relied on an “energy psychotherapist” to find the podium again, after months of lean times. But when the Frenchwoman collapsed – almost literally – in the semi-final of the premier race at the Athens Olympic Games the following summer, speeches celebrating the “energies” or “love as a healing force”, suddenly don’t print anymore.
The athlete ceases this collaboration, viewed negatively from the start by the French Athletics Federation (FFA). “Behind the positive messages, I realized that it was negative and toxic for me. She was a manipulator, somewhere, there was a form of control”tells the World Christine Arron, already warmed by a first experience with a mental trainer from the FFA. We won’t take it again. “I was so disgusted by the experiences I had had that I did not want to persist [dans la préparation mentale]. You really have to find the right people…”
His testimony illustrates what is undoubtedly the most damaging corollary of the lack of regulation in France around psychological support. The status not being recognized by the State, anyone can proclaim themselves mental trainer without the slightest diploma or after superficial, if not biased, training. In turn, any athlete or federation can hire the services of trainers using contested methods – or even charlatans for the less scrupulous among them.
“If we are not sensitive to the importance of science, we are generally not demanding in recruitment, we sometimes see very surprising profiles, even at the highest level”notes Mickaël Campo, president of the French Society of Sports Psychology (SFPS) and mental trainer for the French XV.
“Pseudo-scientists”
Without throwing this or that federation out to pasture, the team sports specialist has witnessed the advent of “business coaches” or those with training “pseudo-scientists, mixture of neuroscience, behavioral sciences”. “Usually it doesn’t last long, but it harms the federation [en question] and to the profession, because it contributes to a confusion in the perception of what the profession can be”, he laments.
You have 70% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.