The psychologist who has helped New Zealand's Olympians and Black Caps get their minds right for the tasks ahead will be in Wanganui on Monday to run another workshop to assist athletes and their supporters.
Gary Hermansson is the latest consultant to come to town as part of Sport PerformanceWhanganui, the development arm of Sport Whanganui, which supports local athletes through areas such as the Pathway to Podium (P2P) programme.
He follows Kelly Evans, managing director of the Athlete Project Agency, who ran a workshop in April.
Hermansson has been involved in sport psychology consulting for over 25 years, working with individuals and teams at all levels.
"His areas of speciality are psychological skills development, dealing with psychological barriers to performance, sport counselling and team development work," Sport Whanganui said in a statement.
"His impressive CV shows a history of influential roles, such as team psychologist for NZ Olympic and Commonwealth Games teams, and team psychologist for the NZ Black Caps cricket team during their 2006-08 international campaigns."
Hermansson is professor of sport psychology at Massey University and a director of Hermansson-Webb Associates.
He holds the title of professor emeritus and was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the field of sport psychology, having written several books on the subject.
In Wanganui, he will cover areas such as developing mental skills, dealing with internal barriers to performance, counselling, and team development work.
Sport Performance Whanganui co-ordinator Nicole Dryden said she was pleased to have secured the doctor.
"Gary Hermansson's CV speaks for itself," she said.
"We're delighted that he will be able to work with our talented athletes, their parents and coaches, to help them develop the mental tools and strategies to take their game to the next level."
-Coaches outside of P2P and the Promising Athletes Programme who want to attend can email Dryden on nicole@sportwhanganui.co.nz.
