ENGLAND star Ollie Watkins has revealed he has regular therapy with a life coach before and after games to get his worries off his chest.
The Three Lions hot-shot’s career has taken off since he started talking to the guru – offloading all his troubles.
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The striker, in Gareth Southgate’s Euros squad, hailed his new life adviser for clearing his mind of everything except hitting the net.
Although he bravely admitted to still being wracked by self-doubt, he’s learned to trick his brain into ignoring any nagging doubts.
The £80m-rated forward, whose 27 goals and 13 assists last season fired Aston Villa into the Champions League, also sees a performance therapist twice every week.
Ollie said: “Just working on my mind-set and just making sure going into the game I’ve got everything off my chest.
“I speak to a life coach. Since I’ve been working with him, he’s definitely helped me.
“If there’s anything I’m hanging on to, anything that I need to get off my chest maybe before going to the game so I can just focus on that and leave that aside.
“Just to perform to the best of my ability and bring the best version of myself on that day.
“I feel like it’s the best investment I’ve made, investing into myself, investing into my mind-set definitely made me become a better player.”
Ollie, 28, who has two children Amara, two, and 13-month old Marley with long-term partner Ellie Alderson, first turned to the life coach in October 2022.
He said: “If I haven’t scored or if I’ve scored three goals, I’ll still speak to him.
“I still speak to him before a game and after games, to make sure I debrief on everything and then I can move on to the next game. And since he came in, it’s helped me a lot.”
The star told the High Performance podcast “Sometimes I just need to call him for a chat and just to check in and sometimes pick his brains on things.
“I never feel like I want to reach out just when I need something.
“He’s very, he’s very blunt. I remember I scored a hat-trick after Brighton and he said like ‘well done, but it doesn’t mean anything’.
“And he’s right. It doesn’t because I’ve still got the next game to perform in. You need to move on to the next.
I feel like it’s the best investment I’ve made, investing into myself, investing into my mind-set definitely made me become a better player
Ollie Watkins
“But also when I’ve had a bad game, but that doesn’t mean anything.
“He says ‘you’ve got the next game to put it right’.
“I think the mind is probably the most powerful thing. People train every day physically in the gym, but it takes a lot to change your mind-set.”
Ollie has learned to overcome the self-doubt that held him back earlier in his career.
He said: “Belief was one thing that maybe was holding me back.
“You need to have that bit of arrogance, you know that self-belief that no-one’s going to stop you.
“I’d say mind-set is the most important thing. Your brain can tell you a lot of things. You kind of can trick your brain into believing different things.
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“It did hinder my performance, but I feel like it’s got me where I am today. I put pressure on myself, but not as much as I used to.”
Ollie said of the Euros: “I’m ready. I have had one of my best seasons, well undoubtedly my best season, and I feel like I’m confident in myself and in my ability and there’s not a better time for me to go into a tournament.”
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