Olympic Experiences at Providing Sport Psychology Support to Great Britain Handball Teams Before and During the London Games

Ross Hall (GB men's team) and Claire-Marie Roberts (GB women's team) will outline sport psychology provision to the Great Britain handball teams in the build up to, and including the London 2012 Olympic Games. The main focus is to compare two contrasting approaches to sport psychology service provision and preparation of teams for arguably the biggest event they will ever participate in. The women's team decided to centralise their performance program from a base in Crystal Palace, London. The men's team chose to decentralise and focus instead on preparing for the Games by remaining within their clubs, playing handball across Europe. This presentation details the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches and compares and contrasts each approach in terms of the psychological preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games. In addition, we aim to provide a brief reflective account of our roles whilst at the Games, which changed almost daily and discuss challenges faced.