England Flanker, Ben Earl reveals how his psychological performance coach helped to unlock his potential

England/Saracens rugby star Ben Earl and his head of psychological performance at Saracens, Calum Clark, sit down with me to talk about how their work together over the years has been a gamechanger for Ben’s performance on the pitch as well as his approach to life off the pitch.

This is a rare insight and privilege to witness both player and coach explain how the likes of psychology, self-development, self-awareness and mindset are being used in elite sport to enhance individual player and team performance.

The lessons, tips, tricks and insights from this conversation are priceless and very much transferable to everyday life. Hearing first hand precisely how Calum was able to develop Ben into the player he is today and his wider approach to the elite culture at Saracens is a telling endorsement for why self-development work can be so valuable.

Resources:

Calum Clark
Instagram
Aichill Medical 
Innate
Innate IG

Ben Earl
Instagram

Saracens
The Chimp Paradox - Steve Peters

Eddie Jones
Steve Borthwick
Dennis Rodman
Johnny Wilkinson
Bill Russell
Rick Charlesworth

Time Stamps:

00:00 - Intro 
3:24 - Calum and psychology 
8:36 - Ben's backstory
11:43 - Influence off the pitch
13:46 - When did the mentoring start?
16:23 - Nuts and bolts of the sessions
22:03 - How much were you guiding Ben?
28:48 - Getting dropped from England
29:56 - Guiding emotion
32:20 - Working with stubbornness  
34:19 - Dealing with selection
38:10 - Individual and the team
42:10 - Psychology within the clubs
49:17  - Communicating criticism
1:00:49 - How to improve
1:04:15 - Individual plan structure
1:07:06 - Positive psychology
1:17:02 - Welcoming the challenge
1:21:20 - Beginning to unlock your potential
1:26:07 - What's next for Ben
1:30:24 - Emotional intelligence