It's almost the end clap for Eli Amatriaín! The Spanish player is indeed beginning the last stage of her sports career, before opening a new chapter in her life: sports psychology.

Sports psychology, the cure for all its ills

The victim of a bad experience during a tournament, the player was forced to call on a professional sports psychologist in order to get out of a state of anxiety that had transformed her passion for padel into pain.

Thanks to the various solutions that were brought to her by this psychologist, Eli had made the decision to undertake training in this area in order to help athletes who, like her, have to go through complicated situations.

She thus stated: “Throughout my life, I have always made padel compatible with other activities. First, it was with teaching studies. When I finished my degree, I started giving classes. A few years later, when I turned thirty, I decided to try psychology and started studying it.”

After several years on the padel courts and approaching the end of his sporting career, Eli Amatriaín begins to draw his future: “I know that I have little left of my sports career and I think that sports psychology is a good opportunity to make a transition for the years to come.”

Eli Amatriain low ball spain european championship 2021

A bad experience during a tournament

It was an unfortunate event during a tournament in Granada that was the trigger for his decision to start a new life.

“We were going through a bad patch with losses against supposedly less strong pairs. In the semi-finals, I felt that I didn't have the level. I walked onto the track thinking people had paid to come see us and I felt like I was cheating on them, like I was an intruder on that stage.”

It continues: “I tripped, bumped into the glass and had to have stitches. I went back to the field and chased but I don't remember anything at all.

It was after this that Eli decided to call on a psychology professional as she explains: “As a result of this, I realized that what I had loved all my life had become pain.”

“After a few months of working with the psychologist, I understood that my mind was my ally and not my enemy. From that moment on, I enjoyed padel again.”

She then makes a decision that will change her professional future: “My concern about the subject started because for many years we used to be taught how to train physically, but no one taught us how to manage and control ourselves on a mental level.

I started studying psychology in order to get to know me better, and not with the idea of ​​devoting myself to it in the future.” Eventually, she took to it so much, that things changed.

Today, despite still playing in tournaments, Eli also works with four players: “They gave me the opportunity to combine professional padel with psychology. I help them know what their fears are, their strengths.” The conversion is underway!

Eleonore Coulibaly

What a pleasure to be a journalist in the padel world, an attractive sport in full expansion. I hope you enjoy the content offered. See you soon on the slopes!

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