Sport psychologist offers to help Pacquiao, RP sports

A trailblazing Filipina in the field of sport psychology is offering to help WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao and the Philippine Sports Commission improve their performance in coming competitions.

Sheryll Casuga, who received the first-ever Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) Student Diversity Award in California earlier this year, has gone out of her way to provide research in the field that may help Filipino athletes overcome mental barriers to outstanding performance. Casuga, who is based in San Francisco, attended the press conference for the upcoming Oscar dela Hoya-Pacquiao fight there, and handed trainer Freddie Roach some of her research material.

“Freddie said that he thinks the fight will be 90 percent mental,” Casuga told The STAR. “I gave him a bunch of sport psychology materials I used when I worked with Pro/Am MMA fighters to support Manny’s upcoming fight.”

Casuga, who studied at the University of the Philippines, was a competitive athlete in gymnastics, karate and basketball, suiting up for the Lady Maroons of UP Baguio. Disappointed when she learned there were no practicing sport psychologists here, she continued her studies in the field at John F. Kennedy University. In September of 2007, she returned to the country to conduct a workshop at UP’s College of Human Kinetics.

Casuga notes that certain visualization techniques and other guided mental processes have helped her in her work with competitive athletes and those recovering from injury. She has been hoping for the opportunity to share this knowledge with sport authorities in her country.

“I pursued sport psychology in California in the hopes that I can gain applied knowledge and be able to help others to work on their mental game in the most effective manner,” Casuga continued. “I am excited to finally get something going in the Philippines on my very school where my colleagues, some athletes and coaches will be able to learn the value of applying sport psychology techniques and work on their mental skills.”

In 2007, Casuga finished an outstanding internship working as a sport psychology consultant for the College Park High School Falcons Track and Field team in California. She has also been working with various levels of tennis players at the prestigious San Francisco Tennis Club, including sport psychology skills presentation and one-on-one consultations with some of the athletes.

Casuga, who is based at the University of California at San Francisco, has also been striving to get assistance there for seven-year old Justin Junio, the Filipino long-distance swimmer who has been hoping to set a new record for the San Francisco Alcatraz swim. But her main goal now is to complete her research into why Filipinos have not been able to win Olympic gold medals.

“I am also starting my dissertation on the use of sport psychology skills by elite Filipino athletes to see the current extent in which Filipino athletes use these techniques both for performance enhancement and as life skills,” Casuga adds. “I have researched some of the psychological and sociological barriers that is holding us back from getting Olympic gold medals and I would love to share my position paper on that.”

Casuga believes that Filipino athletes have the capability to compete against the best athletes in the world, but need the proper frame of mind and mental toughness when it comes to the highest levels of athletic competition.

“Sport psychology made a considerable difference in the Beijing Olympics,” Casuga elaborates. “Asian countries, namely China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea shared their respective sport psychology programs that the Philippines can benefit from. Perhaps, the Philippines can adopt some of the strategies of other countries that can improve our chances in international competition.”

Casuga will be visiting the Philippines in November, and hopes to convince the country’s top sports officials of the value of sport psychology in our quest for international athletic excellence.

“I am coming with a variety of ideas on how sport psychology can be carried out in the Philippines. I am hoping that I can spark something towards the advancement of Philippine sports.”

There is no doubt that Filipinos have the fighting heart, but now they can further build up their muscles between the ears.