Psychologist on the water

We are going to forego the in-depth biography, the history of my growing love of rowing, my academic credentials etc etc, for now anyway. Suffice to say I love rowing, I love teaching sport and exercise and I am back in the business of research (the demands of modern academic life and two small human additions to the family meant my research aspirations have been on ice for a while). I have started this blog in an attempt to draw all these interests together in order, I hope, to bring together my interest in rowing, sport psychology and everything inbetween. I hope my cognitive meanderings will be of interest to my current students, past students and new students of sport psychology to be, as well as anyone else who has ever been in a boat and wonders how the hell they a) got there and b) how they row the thing whilst not falling in the river (I sometimes fall in).   My topic for this first entry is a big topic, a catalyst that is needed for any kind of success on the water. Co