Trampolining Case Study: Overcoming a Mental Block and Regaining Confidence

How Sports Performance Hypnosis Helped a Young National Champion Return to Skills She Had Previously Performed Successfully

A 16-year-old national champion trampolinist was referred to me after experiencing an unexpected change in her performance following a successful championship and a move into a new age group.

She had already achieved a very high level in her sport, competing successfully at national level in the 15/16 women's category and internationally in the 17/21 women's category. However, following the move into the older age group, she began experiencing difficulty taking off for moves that she had previously performed successfully many times.

There was another problem.

After completing a twisting move, she was experiencing difficulties with spatial awareness. This appeared to affect her confidence and her ability to perform other, relatively straightforward movements that followed.

For an athlete competing at this level, losing confidence in skills that had previously been automatic can be particularly unsettling.

What Brought Her to Me?

Her grandmother contacted me to explain what was happening and asked whether I had experience working with gymnasts and whether online sessions could be effective.

The important point for me was that this wasn't simply a question of whether she physically knew how to perform the skills.

She already did.

The challenge appeared to be developing around how she was mentally approaching the skills.

When an athlete begins to anticipate that something might go wrong, attention can shift away from the automatic execution of a well-rehearsed movement. Instead of trusting the skill, the athlete can become increasingly conscious of what might happen, where something could go wrong, or whether they will be able to complete the movement successfully.

That can create hesitation and anxiety where there was previously confidence.

My Approach

My initial focus was on helping her change the way she was using mental imagery and visualisation.

Rather than mentally rehearsing everything that could potentially go wrong, I wanted her to develop a positive internal representation of performing her skills successfully.

This is an important distinction.

Mental rehearsal can be extremely powerful, but what an athlete rehearses mentally matters. If the mind repeatedly practises fear, hesitation or failure, those experiences can become part of the athlete's expectations.

I therefore worked with her to develop a different mental approach—one based on confidence, trust, positive imagery and allowing her movements to become more automatic.

Hypnosis was used to help reinforce this process at a deeper level while reducing anxiety and helping her develop greater confidence in her ability to perform.

I also introduced her to self-hypnosis so that she could continue developing these skills independently between sessions.

The aim was never to make her dependent on hypnosis.

Quite the opposite.

I wanted to give her tools she could continue using throughout her athletic career.

The First Training Session

The response after her first session was particularly encouraging.

Following her training session that evening, she got into her grandmother's car and immediately said:

"Well, that hypnotherapy session worked!"

She reported successfully completing her 1n3 twice, describing both attempts as good. Importantly, she had not performed the move successfully since February.

She also completed other moves and links successfully during the session.

Her grandmother subsequently wrote to me:

"She is very excited that she has experienced something positive."

For me, that was an important early indication that something had shifted.

Not necessarily that everything had suddenly been "fixed", but that she had experienced the possibility of performing successfully again.

And that can be a significant psychological turning point for an athlete who has begun to doubt a skill.

The Importance of Continuing the Process

I explained to her grandmother that one successful training session was an encouraging beginning, but that athletic performance is a process rather than a single event.

Athletes will encounter setbacks.

They will have difficult training sessions. They will make mistakes. They will experience pressure and occasionally lose confidence.

The objective is not to create an athlete who never experiences doubt.

It is to develop an athlete who knows how to respond when doubt appears.

I encouraged Emily to make self-hypnosis and mental training part of her regular routine, allowing the positive mental rehearsal to become increasingly familiar.

For an athlete already competing at a very high level, developing this mental resilience can become an important part of long-term performance development.

What This Case Demonstrates

This case illustrates an issue I frequently encounter in competitive sport: the physical ability to perform a skill can remain intact while an athlete's confidence and mental approach to that skill changes.

A gymnast or trampolinist may know exactly how to perform a movement, yet hesitation, anxiety, overthinking or negative mental imagery can interfere with the automatic execution of that skill.

Sports performance hypnosis can be used alongside an athlete's physical training to help address these psychological aspects of performance.

The objective is not simply to make an athlete feel more confident.

It is to help them develop the ability to trust their preparation, rehearse success mentally, manage anxiety and allow well-trained movements to happen without unnecessary conscious interference.

For Emily, the first session provided an encouraging step forward.

Her journey, like that of every athlete, continues.

And ultimately, that is what mental performance training is about—not eliminating every mental challenge, but giving athletes the tools and resilience to handle those challenges when they arise.