Every World Cup, England arrive with talented players, experienced coaches and meticulous preparation. Yet alongside them travels something less visible but often more powerful: expectation. For supporters, expectation can feel like hope. But psychologically, hope and anxiety are close neighbours. The more we become attached to a particular outcome, the more vulnerable we become to […]
Deontay Wilder hit the headlines after his recent outburst on talkSPORT. In this episode of “The Hook”, the boxing show from the Daily Mail, host Charlotte Daly is joined by former world champion Johnny Nelson and sports psychotherapist Gary Bloom to delve deeper into the issues around mental health in boxing, and what may have […]
The head spinning events at Old Trafford over the weekend have left many football fans perplexed trying to find an explanation for ‘what the hell just happened’. Minutes after Manchester United’s 1-1 draw at Leeds on Sunday, their manager, Ruben Amorim, used the post match press conference to launch a broadside at the club’s Director […]
With Liverpool FC suffering a drop off in form this season, media outlets are turning to Gary Bloom for his professional opinion.
There has been much sympathetic commentary towards Jürgen Klopp after the death of his mother, Elisabeth, and the impossibility of going back to Germany to be with family. Football can be considerate but I wonder how that reaction would play out if the Liverpool manager were to return home […]
“THAT morning I had no idea by the end of the day I’d be sitting in the manager’s office.” It is 14 months since Gary Bloom walked into Oxford United to start what is believed to be the first role of its kind in English football – a psychotherapist embedded inside a professional club. How big a […]
A sprained ankle can mean more than a few weeks off the pitch or the running track. Professor Sarah Niblock, CEO of the UK Council for Psychotherapy, and therapist Gary Bloom explore how physical injury can have an impact on emotional wellbeing. When someone is injured, our primary concern is the physical symptoms of the […]
One of the things you realise when working with elite athletes is that many define themselves by what they do. With that in mind, I foresee this period of shutdown as being extremely challenging for a huge number of people in the game. This isn’t just a problem in sport but society in general and maybe […]
Penguin Life will publish a “timely and important” book about mental health in sport by Gary Bloom titled Head in the Game. Penguin Life acquired world English rights from Nick Walters at David Luxton Associates. Head in the Game will be published in hardback in spring 2021. Bloom is the host of talkSPORT’s radio show “On the Sporting Couch”, where […]
Top football clubs have been urged to offer greater psychological support for their players during the coronavirus pandemic. Leading sports psychotherapist Gary Bloom, who works with Oxford, has called on club bosses to “reach out” to their players and staff, and increase their psychological services. Bloom revealed he receives the majority of his referrals from […]
The Championship is Oxford United’s immediate target though in one aspect at least they are already Premier League. ‘Thinking about psychologically aware clubs who really want to look after their players, yes Liverpool, Everton, Southampton, Brighton but also Oxford United and that is a marvellous achievement for a League One club,’ claimed their psychotherapist Gary Bloom. ‘We punch well above […]
CLUBS need to do all they can to guard against social isolation of their players – because the odds are the coronavirus crisis will get worse before it gets better. That’s the view of sports psychotherapist Gary Bloom, who has seen a wide range of responses since the sporting world was brought to a halt. Fortunately, Oxford United’s approach […]