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In sport, more and more athletes and parents are hearing about mental preparation and psychological support. Yet these two roles are still often confused. It is a question we are asked very regularly at AU MENTAL, and we feel it is essential to answer it. Understanding this distinction is not only useful for directing an athlete towards the right support; it is also a way of discovering what these two complementary approaches can really offer, whether to progress in performance or to preserve a balanced life.
The role of the mental coach
A mental coach must be versatile and able to work with anyone looking for mental solutions to their own challenges. A coach must both possess and understand the mental skills they aim to develop in others. They must be able to recognise them, apply them for the benefit of the person being coached and also practise them themselves.
At AU MENTAL, the coach works towards a very specific goal: sporting performance. They act as a real educator and trainer, passing on practical tools that allow the athlete to stay mentally sharp. Their interventions aim to strengthen concentration, improve stress management and build solid self-confidence. They can raise individual and collective performance through specific procedures, strategies, methods and techniques that can be learned. The mental coach also helps the athlete better manage pivotal moments: the pressure of a big match, frustration after a mistake, or the sensitive period of returning from injury. In this role, they also support motivation and consistency, which are essential for sustained progress.
The role of the psychologist
The psychologist or psychotherapist works in a more clinical and therapeutic setting. Their main goal is to promote the athlete's psychological stability and to work on suffering or blocks that go beyond sport. This may involve anxiety, addictions, doping, depression, trauma, phobias, or sleep or eating disorders.
The psychologist explores the athlete's personal history, relationship patterns, beliefs and emotional wounds. They offer a safe space to be heard, where the person can set down what weighs on them and work in depth. To do this, the psychologist uses scientifically validated approaches and acts as a carer: they look after the human being behind the athlete, healing invisible wounds to restore inner balance. There can be no question of improving performance when this suffering is too deeply rooted.
A valuable complementarity
Rather than setting the mental coach against the psychologist, it is better to see them as complementary. A mental coach will be particularly useful when an athlete struggles to handle pressure in competition, lacks confidence, loses motivation or needs a routine to stay focused. The psychologist, for their part, is essential when there is deeper psychological distress: recurring anxiety, depression or trauma linked to personal history.
It is not unusual for an athlete to need both approaches in parallel. For example, they may undertake therapy to treat chronic anxiety or past wounds, while working with a mental coach to learn to manage the specific pressure of competition. In that case, the two forms of support reinforce each other and create a real virtuous circle.
The AU MENTAL approach
At AU MENTAL, we believe in the strength of this complementarity. That is why we offer an integrated approach that combines the practical tools of mental coaching with the depth of psychology. In practice, this means we help athletes put concrete mental strategies in place, while taking into account their personal history, vulnerabilities and inner blocks.
This dual expertise puts the human being back at the centre. Because behind every athlete there is a person with their past, their beliefs and their emotions. We are convinced that it is by working on both performance and this human dimension that lasting progress is built.
In psychology, we talk a lot about “stability”, but be careful! It is important to take athletes' reality into account. We are fully aware of this “controlled psychological disorder”, a particular mental state in which the athlete manages to mobilise, channel and transform their emotions, fears and even anxiety into a driving force.
That is precisely where we come in: by helping athletes turn this inner intensity into a real engine of performance. When well supported, this process can open the way to the flow state described by Csíkszentmihályi, in which emotional energy turns into fluidity and optimal performance.
Vulnerability as a strength
In the world of high-level sport, strength, resilience and pushing your limits are often valued. But we forget that behind every champion there are also doubts, fears and inner wounds. For too long, athletes have been encouraged to put their emotions aside. Today, the courageous words of figures such as Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka show that vulnerability is not a weakness, but a strength.
Daring to express your emotions strengthens trust with coaches and teammates, prevents psychological exhaustion and helps you bounce back better after failure. In reality, embracing your vulnerability fuels mental strength and builds more authentic, more lasting performance. This is also what we talked about recently in our podcast with Jean-François Lenvain and Lola Mansour, which looks at the famous balance between controlled psychological disorder and inner stability.
And it isn't only athletes: parents and coaches also feel pressure, doubt and sometimes fatigue. At AU MENTAL, we also support coaches and families, because supporting those around the athlete is essential to their progress. Hence the creation ofAU MENTAL Academy which offers a complete pathway to work on this often invisible but crucial dimension. For parents and carers, a quarterly module will offer practical tools to understand, support and guide their young athlete in a balanced way, creating an environment that favours their success and fulfilment.
They talk about it…
More and more champions publicly acknowledge the importance of their mental health and of psychological support. Michael Phelps, the most decorated swimmer in Olympic history, has described how psychotherapy helped him regain his balance during episodes of depression. Simone Biles, the global gymnastics star, made her mark at the Tokyo Games by withdrawing from some events to protect her mental health.
Naomi Osaka, the tennis champion, has also explained that she needed psychological support to cope with anxiety and media pressure. In other disciplines, Novak Djokovic has stressed the key role of his mental routines in staying sharp in moments of extreme tension, while Kevin Love (NBA) broke a taboo by speaking publicly about his panic attacks.
Although these athletes talk about their mental suffering and their support, many stress that this work is ongoing, that there are moments of stepping back and returning, and that “mastering” doesn't always mean “never suffering again”.
These examples show that even at the top, where everything seems perfect, athletes recognise that the mental side is an essential pillar of their success. Talking about it openly helps break taboos and shows that seeing a mental coach or a psychologist is not a sign of weakness, but a strategy for lasting performance.
If you want to know more about the myths surrounding the mental side of sport and discover what champions really have to teach us, I invite you to read our next article: “Myths about the mental side of sport.”
Bibliography
Afremow, J. (2013). The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive. Rodale Books.
American Psychological Association. (2021). Athletes are talking about mental health — and people are listening.
https://www.apa.org/news/apa/2021/athletes-mental-health
Cox, R. H. (2012). Psychologie du sport (2nd ed.). De Boeck Supérieur.
Healthline. (2021, July 27). Michael Phelps: My depression and anxiety are never going to just disappear. Healthline.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/michael-phelps-my-depression-and-anxiety-is-never-going-to-just-disappear
PBS NewsHour. (2021, June 1). Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open highlights how mental health ranks below physical health.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/naomi-osakas-withdrawal-from-the-french-open-highlights-how-mental-health-ranks-below-physical-health
RTL Sport. (2018, January 20). Témoignage bouleversant de Michael Phelps : “Le meilleur nageur de l’histoire pensait au suicide.” RTL.be.
https://www.rtl.be/sport/temoignage-bouleversant-de-michael-phelps-le-meilleur-nageur-de-lhistoire-pense/2018-01-20/article/74503
Sports Illustrated. (2021, July 27). Simone Biles explains her withdrawal from Olympic competition: “I have to focus on my mental health.”
https://www.si.com/olympics/2021/07/27/simone-biles-injury-tokyo-olympics-mental-health-withdrawal
Target, C., & Petitjean, I. (2014). La bible de la préparation mentale : De la théorie à la pratique. Amphora.
Tennis365. (2023, June 12). “I’ve been doing it for a decade” – Novak Djokovic reveals secret behind his supreme mental strength.
https://www.tennis365.com/atp-tour/ive-been-doing-it-for-a-decade-novak-djokovic-reveals-secret-behind-his-supreme-mental-strength
The Wrap. (2021, July 28). Simone Biles pulls out of all-around gymnastics competition to focus on mental health.
https://www.thewrap.com/simone-biles-pulls-out-of-all-around-gymnastics-competition-to-focus-on-mental-health/
TNT Sports. (2024, July 7). I should have quit way before Tokyo – Simone Biles on mental health and twisties.
https://www.tntsports.co.uk/artistic-gymnastics/olympic-games-paris-2024/2024/olympic-games-i-should-have-quit-way-before-tokyo-simone-biles-on-mental-health-and-twisties_sto8561739/story.shtml
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