“I try to reframe the act of asking for help. It’s not a weakness,it’s professionalism.”

As elite sport becomes increasingly driven by wearables, AI models and predictive analytics, a new question emerges: how much room is left for human instinct? For VerstarCare’s sports psychologist, the answer is clear. “Data guides athletes, but it will never replace what they feel in the heat of the moment,” he explains. True performance, he argues, comes from the intersection of intuition, mental processes and data not from technology alone. Each athlete has a unique psychological profile, and the role of performance staff is to interpret and adapt the data, not expect athletes to become data experts.

One of the most underestimated forces shaping performance is the psychological impact of injury. Beyond the physical damage, injuries disrupt an athlete’s sense of identity. “Healing the bone is often the easy part rebuilding who the athlete is, that takes longer,” he says. Fear of re-injury, loss of role and a temporary collapse of self-confidence can all slow down recovery. And yet, this invisible side still receives far less attention than the physical protocols. When it comes to performing under extreme pressure, his approach relies on a three-part model: physiological regulation, structured visualization and recreating the pressure of the competitive moment. Drawing on Miroslav Vanek’s methods with Olympic athletes, he explains that simulating the exact environment, stakes and emotional load helps ensure that, when the real moment arrives, “the athlete doesn’t feel like they’re facing something new.”

He also points out that several injuries classified as “physical” are amplified or even triggered by psychological factors: perfectionism, chronic stress, overpushing, and high-anxiety states. Elevated cortisol throughout a long season can increase inflammation, disturb sleep and heighten the body’s vulnerability. In combat sports, adrenaline can mask pain entirely until after the event.

In a sports culture that still glorifies mental toughness, he believes the narrative must evolve. “Asking for help is not a weakness it’s professionalism,” he insists. Recognizing limits, taking pauses and addressing mental blocks are, in reality, performance enhancers. Looking ahead, he identifies a crucial missing piece in most professional teams: applied cognitive specialists. Decision-making under pressure, reaction speed, and cognitive load remain hugely underdeveloped areas despite their direct impact on performance in football, endurance sports and motorsport.

And what about AI? For him, the future lies in balance. AI provides deep insights and predictive capacity far beyond human analysis, but it cannot feel. “Athletes experience things that no algorithm can quantify,” he reminds. The next era of sports performance will merge AI’s precision with human emotional intelligence not replace one with the other.