Intervención psicológica a distancia con un futbolista profesional: estudio de caso

The purpose of this paper was to assess the changes from baseline in a young professional football player after an online psychological intervention for 9 months. The athlete demanded the intervention to improve his mental strength and be able to be in the starting eleven of the team, because after 2 months of season he was a substitute and felt “psychologically weak” to face it. The player was evaluated using the CPRD questionnaire, self-reports, and viewing matches. The intervention was conducted through video conferences, instant messages, and emails. Cognitive behavioural techniques such as relaxation, self-instruction, empowerment approach, and goal setting were mainly used. The results showed an improvement in the assessed psychological skills of the football player, who also played in the starting lineup. It is concluded that online psychological intervention is effective to improve psychological skills and sports performance throughout the season, and sport psychologists have to learn how to make use of it and integrate it into their professional practice.