On this week’s episode I speak to Dr Chris Mesagno. Chris is a sport psychologist, a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Victoria University, and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University. 

Chris has over 20 years of research expertise in stress, anxiety, attention and concentration skills and has successfully developed theory-matched interventions to improve performance for highly anxious and “choking-susceptible” athletes. Chris also worked, and continues to work, with numerous athletes from a range of team and individual sports to enhance mental skills for better performance and mental health outcomes.

Chris maintains a robust academic research profile with more than 50 research articles and book chapters and has given various presentations at national and international conferences. This international research profile has been recognised with awards and keynote conference presentations within sport and exercise psychology.

In this episode we focus on a paper led by Dr Peter Gröpel and co-written by Chris entitled “Choking interventions in sports: A systematic review”. The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of studies that have tested interventions used to alleviate choking. The results of the paper may help athletes and coaches select and implement effective strategies and methods to improve performance under pressure.