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Acceptance and Commitment
Approaches for Athletes’
Wellbeing and Performance
The Flexible Mind
Ross G. White · Andrew Bethell
Lewis Charnock · Stephen Leckey
Victoria Penpraze
Acceptance and Commitment Approaches for
Athletes’ Wellbeing and Performance
Ross G. White
Andrew Bethell • Lewis Charnock
Stephen Leckey • Victoria Penpraze
Acceptance and
Commitment
Approaches for
Athletes’ Wellbeing
and Performance
The Flexible Mind
Ross G. White Andrew Bethell
University of Liverpool University of Liverpool
Liverpool, UK Liverpool, UK
Lewis Charnock Stephen Leckey

Everton Football Club University of Glasgow
Liverpool, UK Glasgow, UK
Victoria Penpraze
University of Glasgow
Glasgow, UK
ISBN 978-3-030-64941-8 ISBN 978-3-030-64942-5 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64942-5
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2021
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Acknowledgements
The icons used to represent the characters used in this book came from
www.flaticon.com.
Meteorite Meghan Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
Dinosaur Dave Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
Need a Clue Sue Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
Helpful Henry Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
Mind Flexer Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
Adjudicator Adam Icon made by monkik from www.flaticon.com
Reflection Section Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
We are grateful to Andrew Hamilton of Elephant Shoes Ink Ltd. for

providing the cover image and the pit crew illustration, Van Bilsen (2009)
for the mindfulness cartoon illustration used in Chap. 5, and Bradford
Cooper of Catalyst Coaching Institute for agreeing to the reproduction
of his graphic relating to functional Mental Toughness used in Chap. 1.
v
Praise for Acceptance and Commitment
Approaches for Athletes’ Wellbeing and
Performance
“Our ability to learn, unlearn and relearn is one of the biggest differences in
forming high performance cultures. The authors offer us a rich supply of
research, tips and techniques to speed and facilitate this process. This book is an
invaluable resource.”
—Damian Hughes, Visiting Professor of Organisational Psychology and Change,
author and co-host of The High Performance Podcast
“Psychological flexibility is thundering into sport and mental performance

coaching because it opens up new and effective ways to think about training,
toughness, competition, and life balance. The Flexible Mind leaves no stone
unturned in its honest, thorough, and skillful application of the model to that
most human of all human behaviors: organized athletic competition. I learned
something on almost every page. Highly recommended.”
—Steven C. Hayes, Foundation Professor of Psychology, University of Nevada,
Reno and originator of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or Training
“This is an important book: accessible, practical but with real substance. It distils
one of the fastest growing models of how humans react to their situation and
tailors it beautifully to the needs of athletes and their coaches. In a world of
individual, gimmicky ideas, its expert authors bring you real science applied to
real performance and well-being issues.”
—Dr Ray Owen, Consultant Clinical & Health Psychologist.
Author of Facing the Storm & Living with Enemy
“This is an essential guide for anyone coaching athletes towards excellence.

Grounded in the latest behavioural science and based on a powerful behavioural
change model, this ground-breaking, practical, and clearly presented programme
will help athletes to develop resilience and achieve peak performance in the
high-pressure context of elite sport. I cannot recommend this book enough.”
—Dr Mike Sinclair, Consultant Counselling Psychologist,
Clinical Director of City Psychology Group, and co-author of
Mindfulness for Busy People, The Little ACT Workbook,
The Little Depression Workbook and The Little Anxiety Workbook
“This book provides a comprehensive toolbox of evidence-based insights driving
elevated athletic performance. However, the benefits are not limited to athletes.
Rather, this exceptional text simultaneously opens the door to enhanced out-
comes across a range of personal and professional settings. If you’re looking to
take your game to a new level in any key area of life, this is your ticket!”
—Bradford Cooper, PhD, CEO of US Corporate Wellness, Co-Founder of
Catalyst Coaching Institute, Host of Catalyst Health,
Wellness & Performance Coaching Podcast
“An essential read for anyone in the field of sports psychology. Whether you work
with professional or amateur athletes, you’ll find many practical tools within these
pages that you can instantly start using for good results. If you’re keen to improve
not only the mental health of athletes, but also their performance under pressure,
and their life satisfaction outside the sport, this book is for you!”
—Dr Russ Harris, Author of The Happiness Trap and ACT Made Simple
“The Flexible Mind...a book I wish I had when I was doing my training nearly 20
years ago! A great blend of empiricism and application of ACT with athletes to
promote both performance and wellbeing. This book will provide practitioners
with the needed guidance as they hone their craft in promoting psychological
flexibility.”
—Jonah Oliver, National Performance Psychology Lead,
Australian Institute of Sport
“If you are interested in improving athletes’ wellbeing and performance then
this book is an absolute must buy. It is scientifically solid, intensely practical and
at the cutting edge of innovation, providing you with a comprehensive manual
with a step-by-step guide for delivering The Flexible Mind approach. This book
is a game changer.”
—Joe Oliver, founder of Contextual Consulting and author of The Mindfulness
and Acceptance Workbook for Self-Esteem
“Using key concepts and practices from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/
Training, The Flexible Mind approach has the power to enhance sporting perfor-
mance AND optimise wellbeing - it’s literally a win-win for elite athletes! This
practitioner’s guide will bring the reader up to speed with the approach and help
supercharge their practice.”
—Dr Mary Welford, author of Compassionate Mind Guide to
Building Self Confidence, Compassion Focused
Therapy for Dummies and The Kindness Workbook
“The Flexible Mind comes at a timely point in the world of high performance. By
drawing on the work of reputable practitioners and a rigorous evidence base,
this book provides a novel approach to developing and sustaining an optimal
balance between performance excellence, mental health and wellbeing. An
authoritative resource to usher-in the ‘WExceLLence’ era of high
performance.”
—Dr Chris Hartley, HCPC Sport & Exercise Psychologist,
Lecturer at the University of Stirling
“The book provides cutting edge, up to date coverage of Acceptance and

Commitment Therapy/Training concepts and practical innovations using acces-
sible language, metaphors and illustrations. Evidence supporting the innova-
tions is presented in clear and digestible ways, and skills are provided in each
chapter to help athletes excel not only their performance but their wellbeing
also. I highly recommend this excellent book.”
—Louise McHugh, Professor of Psychology, University College Dublin,
Peer reviewed ACT Trainer
“This is a comprehensive resource for both experts and beginners in work with
athletes. The writers creatively yet deliberately offer an approach that is user-
friendly. They bring to life Acceptance and Commitment Training processes that
athletes will embrace. Everyone working with athletes should read this book. If
you care about the wellbeing and performance of athletes, then get started on
the journey towards ‘WExeLLence’ with The Flexible Mind!!”
—Dr Rosco Kasujja, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, Makerere University
“The Flexible Mind is built from evidence-based processes, it is clear in its ratio-
nale, and it offers the practitioner a concrete and engaging program to use in
their work. Any person wishing to positively impact both the performance and
the wellbeing of their athletes should look no further than this book. In fact, I
am convinced that acceptance-based interventions in sport are going to grow in
stature in the coming years, and I think this book will be at the forefront of that
growth.”
—Dr Nic Hooper, Senior Lecturer of Psychology,
and author of The Unbreakable Student
Contents
1 The Flexible Mind Approach: What Is It, and What Does

It Offer? 1
2 Mindfulness- and Acceptance-Based Interventions for

Performance and Mental Health Outcomes in Sport 37
3 Setting the Scene for the Flexible Mind Approach 67
4 Introducing Athletes to the Flexible Mind Approach

(Session 1) 93
5 Mind Full Versus Mindful (Session 2)115
6 Orientating to Our Inner Compass (Session 3)141
7 Being Open, Living Big (Session 4)165
8 Getting Present with the Discomfort (Session 5)187
xi
xii Contents
9 Flexibility … of the Psychological Kind (Session 6)209
10 Developing the Game Plan (Session 7)237
11 Getting the Environment Right263
Appendices289
Index295
List of Figures
Fig. 1.1 The Flexible Mind team 3

Fig. 1.2 The characters’ roles 4
Fig. 1.3 The Flexible Mind pit crew 5
Fig. 1.4 Jones et al. (2007) framework of mental toughness18
Fig. 1.5 Cooper (2018) model of functional mental toughness22
Fig. 1.6 ACT Triflex from ACT made simple (Harris 2009) 27
Fig. 3.1 How the different P.O.D. aspects of psychological flexibility can
support athletes’ WExceLLence77
Fig. 4.1 Choice Point developed with Vikram 101
Fig. 4.2 The ‘Traffic Light’ colour coding of P.O.D. aspects of psycho-
logical flexibility106
Fig. 4.3 Vikram’s P.O.D. The shaded area represents Vikram’s overall
level of psychological flexibility107
Fig. 5.1 This is Otto’s current P.O.D. of psychological flexibility116
Fig. 5.2 A schematic of mindful versus mind full (van Bilsen,
H. (2009). Mindfulness [Cartoon]) 129
Fig. 5.3 This is Otto’s P.O.D. of psychological flexibility as the Flexible
Mind approach progresses 134
Fig. 6.1 This is Janice’s current P.O.D. of psychological flexibility142
Fig. 6.2 This is Janice’s P.O.D. of psychological flexibility as the Flexible
Fig. 7.1 This is Sylvie’s current P.O.D. of psychological flexibility166
xiii
xiv List of Figures
Fig. 7.2 This is Sylvie’s P.O.D. of psychological flexibility as the Flexible

Fig. 8.1 This is Natasha’s current P.O.D. of psychological flexibility188
Fig. 8.2 This is Natasha’s P.O.D. of psychological flexibility as the
Flexible Mind approach progresses 205
Fig. 9.1 This is Kyle’s current P.O.D. of psychological flexibility210
Fig. 9.2 This is Kyle’s P.O.D. of psychological flexibility as the Flexible
Fig. 10.1 This is Sean’s current P.O.D. of psychological flexibility239
Fig. 10.2 The FoReST measure 247
Fig. 10.3 This is Sean’s P.O.D. of psychological flexibility at formulation
at the completion of the work 256
Fig. 11.1 This is Michelle’s current P.O.D. of psychological flexibility264
List of Tables
Table 2.1 Description of MABI interventions used to address mental

health and wellbeing in athletes 44
Table 2.2 Mental health and wellbeing measures used across studies 52
Table 2.3 Summary of RCT findings 53
Table 3.1 A functional analysis table that can be used with athletes 69
Table 4.1 A functional analysis completed with Vikram during the
initial assessment session 99
Table 4.2 P.O.D. formulation worksheet at commencement of work
with Vikram 105
Table 5.1 P.O.D. formulation for Otto at commencement of work 116
Table 5.2 P.O.D. formulation for Otto as the Flexible Mind approach
progresses134
Table 6.1 P.O.D. formulation at commencement of work with Janice 142
Table 6.2 P.O.D. formulation for Janice as the Flexible Mind approach
progresses159
Table 7.1 P.O.D. formulation for Sylvie at the commencement
of work 166
Table 7.2 P.O.D. formulation for Sylvie as the Flexible Mind approach
progresses181
Table 8.1 P.O.D. formulation at commencement of work
with Natasha 188
Table 8.2 P.O.D. formulation for Natasha as the Flexible Mind
approach progresses 205
xv
xvi List of Tables
Table 9.1 P.O.D. formulation at commencement of work with Kyle 210

Table 9.2 Questions to help practitioners as they transition through
the P.O.D. aspects of psychological flexibility228
Table 9.3 P.O.D. formulation for Kyle as the Flexible Mind approach
progresses230
Table 10.1 P.O.D. formulation at the commencement of work
with Sean 238
Table 10.2 P.O.D. formulation for Sean at the completion
of the work 256
Table 11.1 P.O.D. formulation at commencement of work
with Michelle 264
1
The Flexible Mind Approach: What Is It,
and What Does It Offer?
‘Change how you see, and see how you change.’

—Zen Proverb
What might an athlete need to sacrifice to achieve his/her dreams?

Time … Energy … Self-interest for the sake of their team … Friendships …
Relationships … Their education … Proximity to family support? The
list can be long. But what might be the accumulative effect of these sacri-
fices on the athlete’s emotional wellbeing? Anxiety … Depression …
Grief … Trauma? The purpose of this book is to outline the Flexible Mind
approach that has been jointly developed by sports and exercise practitio-
ners, along with mental health practitioners with the aim of simultane-
ously enhancing an athlete’s performance, whilst safe-guarding the
emotional wellbeing of that athlete. This approach is based on the stark
reality that factors specific to the sporting context can be an important
determinant of mental health, and an athlete’s mental health can in turn
impact on sporting performance.
In a nutshell: This chapter explores key concepts relevant to athletes’ performance and wellbeing,
highlights the importance of context and proposes new ways of working.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 1

R. G. White et al., Acceptance and Commitment Approaches for Athletes’ Wellbeing and
Performance, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64942-5_1
2 R. G. White et al.
The hope for this book is that its pages will acquire ruffled edges, the
odd coffee cup stain and the scribbled annotations of the reader. This is
because the book is intended as an active document, which incorporates
and builds on the experiences and expertise of the reader. Across the 11
chapters of this book, important concepts relevant to the Flexible Mind
approach are comprehensively explained, and strategies and techniques
that practitioners can use to help athletes experience the benefits of the
approach are presented. This will hopefully foster an air of excitement
about the potential value that the Flexible Mind approach can offer and
the impact that it can have within sporting environments.
As the quote at the beginning of this chapter suggests, this book will
endeavour to explain the Flexible Mind approach in such a way that it can
be understood and therefore delivered effectively. It isn’t a particularly
complex strategy, but offering clarity on how a Flexible Mind approach
can deliver positive changes in wellbeing and performance is important.
A common criticism of scientific research, especially in this field, is that
it is full of jargon and it is often a difficult read. This complexity can cre-
ate a gap between research and applied practice. In other words—what is
concluded in research may not meaningfully inform what is actioned on
the ground or in the changing room. The Flexible Mind approach is
intended to act as a break from these frustrations, as it is written in a
lively and engaging manner. This does not mean the Flexible Mind
approach underplays the significance of scientific evidence. On the con-
trary, the initial chapters of this book focus a lot on relevant theories and
research, and research evidence is referenced throughout the book. The
Flexible Mind approach recognises that sound research evidence forms
the foundation of effective practice.
In the service of describing the Flexible Mind in an inviting and acces-
sible way, a number of characters will appear throughout this book to
assist the reader on their learning journey. Their inclusion is intended to
provide different voices and perspectives on the themes and topics dis-
cussed and to bring the content of the book to life. Without further
adieu, let’s meet the team (Fig. 1.1).
What a squad! For this team, winning is about presenting the Flexible
Mind approach in a way that can be clearly understood and then actioned.
Like any team, if it is to be successful, the characters must have clearly
1 The Flexible Mind Approach: What Is It, and What… 3
MIND FLEXER
ADJUDICATOR ADAM HELPFUL HENRY
NEED A CLUE SUE METEORITE MEGHAN
DINOSAUR DAVE
Fig. 1.1 The Flexible Mind team
defined roles and perform these roles effectively. The different roles of the
characters are highlighted in Fig. 1.2.
The Road to WExceLLence

The Flexible Mind approach is novel in its ambition to help athletes to
both perform well and feel well. To help capture the reciprocal relation-
ship between mental wellbeing and performance excellence, this book
introduces a new concept referred to as WExceLLence to highlight the
dual importance of both mental health and performance-related (techni-
cal, tactical and physical) factors. WExceLLence is defined as a disposition
that affords athletes opportunities to develop and sustain an optimal bal-
ance between performance excellence and mental health and wellbeing.
To help illustrate some of the challenges that might arise on the road to
WExceLLence, a motorsport analogy will be employed.
Figure 1.3 shows a race car that has entered the pits. Members of the
pit crew are working on the front tyres. Within this analogy the tyre on
the left (i.e. Tyre 1) represents performance excellence, and the tyre on the
right (i.e. Tyre 2) represents mental health and wellbeing. These tyres
highlight the dual importance of both performance-related and mental
health factors, with respect to how the driver (the athlete) moves forward.
Fig. 1.2 The characters’ roles
An important issue to flag is that traditionally the focus of those working

on one particular tyre may not have extended sufficiently well to the
other tyre. This may have served to limit understanding about important
processes relevant to both tyres. The Flexible Mind approach aims to cir-
cumvent this. It is an approach that can be used by those working on
Fig. 1.3 The Flexible Mind pit crew
either type. As such, it is intended to help break down the ‘siloed’ nature
of the work that different professionals do to support athletes, so that the
twin ambitions of supporting wellbeing and performance excellence can
be realised. WExceLLence as a concept helps to capture this holistic focus
of the Flexible Mind approach. The pit crew need to find ways of working
collaboratively to ensure that their collective efforts help the athlete along
the road to WExceLLence.
Introducing Tyre 1
Tyre 1 on the left (i.e. sports-specific factors) is used to represent a range
of factors that are particular to the sporting context (including coaching
relationships, training routines, tactics, technical, sleep and nutrition)
that impact on performance. Traditionally, issues relating to Tyre 1 have
been attended to by a pit crew that consists of a range of practitioners
(including head coaches, assistant coaches, strength and conditioning
coaches, sport scientists, sport and exercise psychologists, physiothera-
pists, medics, nutritionists and data analysts). These factors that influence
performance can include those intrinsic to the athlete such as anthropo-
metric (e.g. muscle mass or size), physiological (e.g. oxygen utilisation,
lactate buffering, peak strength or power output), psychological (e.g.
arousal management and motivation) and genetic factors (e.g. height)
(Tucker and Collins 2012). They can also include extrinsic determinants
of performance such as tactical (e.g. set-piece and phase play, ball velocity
and placement in cricket bowling and tennis serve), technical (e.g. accu-
racy of pass under pressure and body position in rugby tackling), nutri-
tional (e.g. hydration and protein intake), environmental (e.g. humidity,
altitude and competition calendar) and elements of opportunity (Bishop
and Girard 2013). To ensure superior sporting performance, the relative
importance of these factors may differ depending on the type of sport.
For example, technical and tactical aspects may be more important in a
team sport compared with endurance running, where physiological attri-
butes, such as the maximal rate of oxygen uptake, lactate threshold and
running economy, would be more important factors to determine success
(Bishop and Girard 2013; Zambom-Ferraresi et al. 2018).
These factors, including the training dose, place a demand/load on the

athlete, and there are risks to the athlete and their performance capacity
with poor load management. The International Olympic Committee

provided advice through two 2016 consensus statements about the
importance of understanding, monitoring and manipulating the load on
the athlete to ensure conditions for best performance and reduce the risk
of injury/illness or overtraining syndrome development (Schwellnus
et al. 2016; Soligard et al. 2016). Athletes in the present day are ‘out-
comed’ to within an inch of their lives. It is not uncommon practice for
athletes to be monitored via a surplus of 25 metrics for the physical and
mental readiness to train on a daily basis (Bourdon et al. 2017).
Monitoring the demands on the athlete is recommended, and many of
the practitioners associated with sport-specific factors of Tyre 1 imple-
ment systematic assessment and analysis of both the training dose and the
athlete’s physiological and perceived responses to this dose (Nielsen et al.
2019). These can incorporate measures of load which are external to the
athlete, for example, time motion analysis, training/competition time,
and frequency and internal measures, such as heart rate variability, sleep,
session rating of perceived exertion and mood (Soligard et al. 2016). Poor
load management can include excessively high training and competition
demand, insufficient recovery, as well as interaction with other factors
such as environment, daily life needs and non-sport stressors. There are
challenges related to all, or any, of the factors associated with Tyre 1 at
various points along the trajectory of the athlete’s development, for exam-
ple, injury, saturated competition calendar, travel and jet lag, training
camps, or family life event, and the practitioners (i.e. pit crew) will be
able to support the athlete in the management of these challenges.
Introducing Tyre 2
The work of the pit crew focusing on Tyre 1 is clearly important. However,
concerns have been expressed about ‘performance’ being prioritised over
the ‘person’ and the impact that this might have on the mental health and
wellbeing of the athlete (Ringland 2016). This brings the focus neatly to
Tyre 2 (i.e. mental health and wellbeing) which has tended to receive
comparatively less attention than Tyre 1. The maintenance of Tyre 2
requires the involvement of different pit crew members potentially
including psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, counsellors, cognitive

behavioural therapists, and so on. The work of these different types of
mental health professionals can focus on mental disorders. Mental disor-
ders are conditions that impact on a person’s thoughts, behaviour and
mood to such an extent that it affects his/her functioning and their ability
to relate to other people. Mental disorders tend to be diagnosed by medi-
cally trained professionals using diagnostic criteria that are listed in
resources such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5, American
Psychiatric Association 2013) or the International Classification of Disease
(ICD-10, WHO 1993). Data indicates that around one billion people
(16% of the global population) are experiencing mental disorders at any
point in time across the world (Global Burden of Disease Collaborative
Network 2016). The most common mental disorder worldwide is depres-
sion (also referred to as Major Depressive Disorder) (Liu et al. 2020).
Anxiety disorders (such as Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety,
Phobias, etc.) are the second most prevalent type of mental disorder
(Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network 2016). There is also a
range of less frequently occurring mental disorders (e.g. substance use
disorders, bipolar affective disorder, conduct disorder and different forms
of psychosis) that vary in terms of symptoms and severity. Some mental
disorders (such as depression, anxiety disorders and eating disorders) tend
to occur more frequently in females, whilst others (such as substance use
disorders, conduct disorder and different forms of psychosis) are more
common in males (Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network
2016). The fact that over 800,000 people die by suicide each year reflects
the scale of mental health difficulties faced by people across the globe
(Naghavi 2019).
Importantly, mental health has been defined, not merely as the absence
of mental disorders, but instead as ‘a state of well-being in which an indi-
vidual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses
of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or
her community’ (WHO 2014). In recent decades there has been growing
interest in the concept of subjective wellbeing (SWB) which refers to a
person’s appraisal of their psychological, emotional and social wellbeing
(Keyes 2002). It has been proposed that levels of subjective wellbeing can
be separate but related to levels of mental disorders (Westerhof and Keyes
2010). People who have high levels of subjective wellbeing are said to be
flourishing, whilst those with low levels of subjective wellbeing are
described as languishing (Westerhof and Keyes 2010). The ‘take-home’
message here is that those working on Tyre 2 are principally concerned
with treating mental disorders if and when these occur, promoting peo-
ple’s levels of subjective wellbeing, and exploring ways of helping people
to regulate their emotional experience so that the development of disor-
ders can be prevented.
Historically, understanding about how mental health and sporting
performance were associated with each other was limited. The Mental
Health Model (MHM, Morgan 1985) proposed that there was a direct
relationship between sport performance and mental health—the higher
the level of mental health problems, then the lower the standard of per-
formance. Although there is in general good support for this view,
MacIntyre et al. (2017) highlighted the need for a more nuanced approach
that recognised the potential impact that organisational stressors relating
to the sporting environment and sport-related factors (e.g. injury and
difficult transitions out of sport) can have on mental health. In recent
years, the mental health and wellbeing of sport performers has received
much-needed public and academic attention (Rice et al. 2016; Ingle
2019). For example, consensus statements and UK Government policy
have highlighted that the mental health and wellbeing of sport perform-
ers should be a key consideration for researchers and clinicians (Schinke
et al. 2018; Henriksen et al. 2020; Department for Digital, Culture,
Media, and Sport 2018; Chang et al. 2020).
So unlike Dave suggests, athletes do experience challenging times that

can contribute to poor mental health and performance. It has been argued
that sporting environments can indeed magnify these symptoms, as they
can be typically aggressive, competitive climates (Richardson et al. 2004),
and athletes may be forced to demonstrate ‘macho’ behaviours in order to
survive socially within the organisation. In such contexts, engaging in psy-
chological work where athletes are afforded opportunities to reflect on
their thoughts and feelings may be mischaracterised as being a sign of
weakness. The culture of a sporting organisation is predominantly dictated
by coaches, and their opinions about the value of forms of support can
significantly influence other people around them. This is particularly the
case regarding sport psychology. The tone set by the coaches is therefore of
paramount importance to the long-term psychological development in
athletes. It is not uncommon for elite coaches to view themselves as unof-
ficial sport psychologists (Brown and Potrac 2009). Unfortunately, there
have been instances of coaches dismissing the contribution of sport psy-
chology consultants as being “‘mumbo jumbo’ and just about relaxation
training in the locker room” (Johnson et al. 2011, p. 315). These percep-
tions of the role of psychology in sport can be damaging, as coaches are so
instrumental in establishing the expectations of people around them.
Sport and performance psychologists wishing to work within elite sport
settings need to be prepared for the demands of maintaining relationships
and welcoming input from different stakeholders in a performance
enhancement setting (McCalla and Fitzpatrick 2016). In turn, coaches,

and support staff more generally, need to be open to the role that psycho-
logical practitioners can bring to both performance and wellbeing.
ey Considerations in Delivering the Flexible

K
Mind Approach
Receiving support from pit crew members to adequately support Tyre 1
and Tyre 2 is clearly important for the journey towards WExceLLence. But
the ultimate responsibility for driving the process forward rests with the
athlete (the driver). In the absence of the athlete’s willingness to respond
flexibly to his/her context, all the efforts of the pit crew may be in vain.
This motorsport analogy will be referenced a number of times through-
out the book. The driver, the track and the pit crew will all be discussed
at various points to illustrate efforts to develop and/or sustain
WExceLLence. The illustration provided in Fig. 1.3 highlights that a range
of different professionals are involved in the ‘pit crew’ that support ath-
letes. This gives rise to a number of important questions posed by Need a
Clue Sue below.
Various stakeholders including, but not limited to, sport and exercise
psychologists, certified mental performance consultants, nutritionists,
sport scientists, strength and conditioning coaches, assistant coaches,
specialist coaches, head coaches, physiotherapists, medics, psychiatrists,
clinical psychologists, counsellors, CBT therapists may find the material
in the book interesting and relevant. Essentially, the hope is that anyone
who is involved in supporting an athlete or sports teams will get new

insights from the book. Although focused on sport, the material dis-
cussed in this book will also be relevant and informative for other high-
performance environments such as those within businesses and
organisations. This book is written in such a way as to support practitio-
ners in delivering the Flexible Mind approach. This then raises another
important question …
Practitioners have a duty of care towards athletes that they are sup-
porting. It is important that practitioners are adequately qualified and
competent to deliver interventions for the particular purpose that they
have been consulted. The division of labour between different special-
isms in the support of athletes has at times been a contentious issue
with heated debates, both within and between specialisms, about what
qualifies someone to deliver particular forms of intervention. The
Flexible Mind approach eschews these debates by targeting a process
called psychological flexibility that transcends divides between special-
isms such as sport science, sport and exercise psychology, and mental
health. The authors of this book recommend that the Flexible Mind
approach should be delivered by practitioners who have at a minimum
a postgraduate degree in a form of applied psychology (e.g. sport and
exercise psychology, clinical psychology, counselling psychology, etc.).
This will help provide the requisite knowledge of psychological pro-
cesses for intervention delivery. As such, practitioner psychologists
(such as sport and exercise psychologists, clinical psychologists, coun-
selling psychologists, etc.) will be well placed to deliver the
intervention. We will be adopting the term ‘practitioner’ throughout

the text, to collectively describe these various professions. It will, how-
ever, be important for these practitioners to seek appropriate supervi-
sion for delivering the intervention (more about this later).
There is a range of ‘warning lights’ that practitioners should be alert to
which should signal when issues need to be escalated and specialist con-
sultation is required. Warning lights include a sustained period of low
mood, acute distress/trauma, complicated grief, psychosis, suicidal ide-
ation/intent and/or addictions. If such issues arise, then urgent support
should be sought from a mental health professional.
Sport-specific factors that would meet criteria for ‘warning lights’
would include the following: (1) physical injury will necessitate the
involvement of experts in the physical management and rehabilitation of
the injury, (2) sustained performance decrement will require the involve-
ment of the head/assistant and/or strength and conditioning coaches, (3)
weight loss/weight gain will require consultation with the nutritionist,
strength and conditioning coaches and (4) competition anxiety would
benefit from specialist input from sport psychology. A guiding principle
of the Flexible Mind approach is that the athlete should be empowered to
drive the process forward—the athlete can be well placed to notice sources
of pull or drag on one or both of the tyres that facilitate the journey
towards WExceLLence. However, it may be that the athlete has only lim-
ited insight into the issues that might be impacting performance and/or
mental health. In such circumstances, it may be that members of the
support team need to compassionately assist the athlete to avail of
support.
This is actually one of Dave’s more rational comments, as he really

does have a point. There are after all a number of different psychological
interventions at the disposal of practitioners that may prove valuable
for athletes. The remainder of this chapter will seek to provide a justifi-
cation for the Flexible Mind approach by critically reflecting on key
psychological concepts that have been focused on to date and propos-
ing an alternative way forward. The scientific literature has thrown up a
plethora of psychological characteristics that have been purported to
predict career success in professional sport. For example, goal commit-
ment, engagement in problem-focused coping behaviours and social
support seeking differentiated youth players who successfully pro-
gressed into professional football and those who did not (Holt and
Mitchell 2006). However, amongst these psychological qualities, there
is one that has received disproportionate amounts of attention—mental
toughness (MT).
ental Toughness: Contribution

M
and Contention
So, what exactly is mental toughness? Despite the prominence of this term
within performance environments, the answer to this question remains
somewhat unclear. The construct has been described as an ‘umbrella’
term and linked to a number of positive psychological concepts. This has
led to the blurring of conceptual lines, fuelling a debate on the discrete-
ness of the term. In the shadow of this uncertainty, two concepts that
have been employed as synonyms for MT are: Grit and Resilience.
However, researchers within the field have made clear distinctions
between each of these concepts.
In this next section, definitions of MT will be explored, in a quest to

explore what exactly it means to be mentally tough. There will be a sum-
mary of the research findings relating to how MT impacts on perfor-
mance and how it may or may not play a role in developing a Flexible
Mind. There will also be a critical reflection on some of the limitations
associated with how MT has been understood and addressed to date.
If you were to write a tweet (#FlexibleMind) defining mental toughness,
how would you use your 280 characters? Grab your mobile phone or a
piece of paper and have a go at producing your own definition.
MT has been described as an umbrella term that encapsulates many
positive psychological attributes. When reflecting on the research, there
is a clear theme that suggests MT enables athletes to manage a wide
range of stressors. Stress or ‘pressure’ is an unavoidable aspect of sporting
performance; it is part of the experience of performing. Unlike the old
adage suggests, pressure is not just for tyres! Whether it’s taking a penalty
kick to get a team back into a football match, facing a fast bowler in the
last over of play in the first day of a cricket test-match, or a putt to win
a two ball match-play in golf, important questions are frequently asked
of athletes’ ‘bottle’—that is his/her ability to handle stress. There are a
wide range of potential stressors that athletes must cope with if they are
to perform optimally. These stressors can be self-generated—based on
the ‘chatter’ that the athlete’s mind might generate about what’s at stake,
and whether he/she can deliver. These stressors can also be externally
generated—expectations communicated from teammates, ‘sledging’
from opponents, spectators’ efforts to distract the athlete, and so on.
Stressors can also be physical (e.g. injury and pain) and environmental
(weather and altitude) in nature. MT has been proposed as a quality that
separates those who can cope with stressors and those whose perfor-
mance falters.
The sheer number of different definitions has made conceptualising

MT problematic, but there are two main schools of thought. Drawing on
Kobasa’s (1979) Hardiness Theory, Clough et al. (2002) suggested that
MT comprises of 4C’s: Challenge, Commitment, Control and Confidence.
Challenge denotes the extent to which we view change as an opportunity
for self-development, and not as threat. Commitment reflects how we set
and respond to goals and how well we stick at things and see things
through. Control consists of emotional-control and life-control—the for-
mer indicates how in control of our emotions we are and how much of
them we show; are we poker-faced or do we wear our heart on our sleeve?
Life-control, on the other hand, represents the tendency with which we
feel we can influence our own life and the world around us or how much
we feel puppeted or controlled by others. The final component of mental
toughness, confidence, is also divided into two sub-components: confidence
in abilities and interpersonal confidence. Confidence in our abilities relates

to our sense of self-belief and lack of need for external validation. Whereas,
interpersonal confidence refers to one’s ability to interact competently
with others. Outlined within the introduction, there are two main con-
ceptualisations of mental toughness. In the (slightly) opposing corner to
Clough and colleagues, the work of Gucciardi (2017) sees MT as a uni-
dimensional concept, which is changeable and influenced by context. He
drew on theories of stress and coping to come to this conclusion about
MT. These two conceptualisations do share a number of similarities, in
that they both promote the importance of confidence and self-belief in
being mentally tough.
So, the construct of MT seems to be capturing something important.

Although examining MT research can be a bit like opening Pandora’s Box,
it’s worth spending some time getting clear with some of the key conclu-
sions from the literature. Jones et al. (2007) developed a framework that
consisted of 30 attributes that underpin mental toughness, across four
separate dimensions of attitude, training, competition and post-

competition (see Fig. 1.4).
From the framework presented above, it is clear that MT can be evi-
denced in a variety of different situations depending on the time and
place that athletes find themselves. As such, the context in which a par-
ticular athlete operates is crucially important to understanding how men-
tally tough he/she is, and how this might manifest. MT in tennis will be
different to MT in basketball—after all, a basketball player does not have
to face a serve of 120 mph from their opponent when he/she is match-
point down, but they may have to ‘hold their nerve’ to execute three free
throws in the last seconds of a match to win the game.
Mental Toughness
Attitude /
Training Competition Post-competition
Mindset
Using long- Pushing awareness controlling

term goals Controlling yourself staying regulating handling handling handling
and control of
belief focus as the the to the belief focused performance pressure the
source of environment
thoughts &
environment
failure success
limit feelings
motivation
Fig. 1.4 Jones et al. (2007) framework of mental toughness

Each professional sports club may have its own demands, terminology,
ways of communication and normalised behaviours that can be shaped
by historical factors and also the current political climate (Schinke and
McGannon 2014). This phenomenon is more frequently referred to as
culture. Organisational culture has previously been defined as ‘the specific
collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an
organization and that control the way they interact with each other and
with stakeholders outside the organization’ (Hill and Jones 2001).
However, ‘culture’ also refers to tradition, unwritten rules and physical
manifestations such as logos, mission statements and memorabilia (Nesti
2010). The prevailing point of view in the field of sport and exercise psy-
chology is that practitioners will be largely ineffective in delivering their
work in sports organisations should they fail to understand the culture in
which they are operating in (Relvas et al. 2010; Schinke and Moore 2011;
Eubank et al. 2014; Larsen 2017). The social context of professional
sport provides a unique set of challenges not just for athletes in their
pursuit of dreams that may never be realised, but also for practitioners
who wish to work in an often fickle environment. In recognition of the
important impact of the sociocultural factors that athletes and support
staff are exposed to, conceptualisations of MT have also adopted more
ecological approaches.
It is clear that MT is context- and situation-specific, so even within the

same sport, different teams and clubs will have a different understanding
of what it means to be mentally tough. It could be in one professional
environment, the values present promote MT as staying on after training
and doing extras after practice, spending time analysing performance and
always working hard for the team’s cause. In another less professional
environment, it could be that drinking the night before, and still per-
forming well, is seen as mentally tough. Those that embody and live this
are then considered by others to have a higher level of MT. Efforts by
researchers and practitioners to recognise that the concept of MT can be
contextually defined have spurred interventions (traditionally led
by members of the pit crew working on Tyre 1) to enhance MT.
More recently research has revealed that MT can be subject to within-

person variability (Gucciardi 2017; Weinberg et al. 2017), and this con-
clusion led Cooper et al. (2019) to distinguish between (1) Capacity
Mental Toughness—an enduring trait-like property (such as optimism)
this reflects the maximum amount of mental toughness that an individual
can demonstrate; (2) Functional Mental Toughness (fMT)—a manipula-
ble, state-like capacity to demonstrate a particular level of mental tough-
ness in the context in which the person is performing. Specifically, three
key aspects are purported to impact on the availability and accessibility of
fMT to a person (see Fig. 1.5): Thrive, Prepare and Activate. ‘Thrive’ refers
to aspects of foundational wellbeing (such as nutrition, hydration, sleep
and stress) (Cooper et al. 2019). ‘Prepare’, on the other hand, relates to
the setting of meaningful goals, and ‘Activate’ relates to processes that can
be utilised during the performance (including attentional control and
Fig. 1.5 Cooper (2018) model of functional mental toughness

self-talk) (Cooper et al. 2019). Whilst acknowledging that long-standing

physiological and personality factors can impact on MT, Cooper et al.’s
(2019) distinction between capacity and functional MT provides specific
areas of focus for athletes and coaches to attempt to dynamically inter-
vene to help optimise MT.
So what is to be made of MT? Well, MT can be considered a context-
and situation-specific resource that can enable athletes to cope with stress.
Being labelled as mentally tough is linked to the embodiment of the
values present within the sporting culture in which the athlete is operat-
ing in. However, despite being often highlighted as an important deter-
minant of performance excellence, MT is not without its criticisms. Early
efforts to conceptualise MT centred on a more reductive approach of
generating lists of key attributes possessed by individual athletes. This led
to MT being viewed as a consequence of enduring personality traits that
may not be amenable to change. The focus on various candidate charac-
teristics has arguably limited efforts to recognise that MT may result
from a complex network of connected characteristics (Clough et al.
2002). This has been somewhat compounded by question marks being
raised about the performance of the MTQ48 (Clough et al. 2002), a key
assessment instrument used to measure MT. For example, there is some
debate as to whether the questions in the instrument appropriately and
uniquely map onto the four C’s of Commitment, Challenge, Control
and Confidence (Gucciardi et al. 2015). More recent theoretical perspec-
tives on MT, and fMT in particular, have provided opportunities for MT
to be increasingly recognised as having state-like components that can
more readily be targeted for remediation. This evolution in thinking
about MT owes much to a growing appreciation of the crucial role that
context plays in determining how MT is characterised and articulated.
A further criticism of MT/fMT relates to the limited range of profes-
sionals that routinely use the concept. Although there has been some
research investigating MT in contexts, such as in military settings or the
occupational sector (Gucciardi et al. 2015), MT as a concept has been
mainly confined to sport. Whereas certain professionals (e.g. sport and
exercise psychologist, coaching staff, etc.) may routinely use it in their
practice, other professionals (such as mental health professionals) do not.
This has meant that members of the pit crew attending to Tyres 1 and 2
have lacked a shared language for understanding important processes

contributing to the optimal mix of performance and wellbeing that is
WExceLLence.
‘Mental toughness’ as a name for a concept runs the risk of athletes
being reluctant to engage with because they might be wary of the risk of
pejorative accusations of being ‘mentally weak’. The world of elite sport
is highly competitive, and athletes are incredibly sensitive to the risk of
negative evaluation and the stigmatising effect of being labelled as being
in any way defective or substandard. Indeed, research indicates that con-
cerns about being perceived as weak stymie help-seeking behaviours. MT
as a name poses considerable challenges for helping to encourage a spirit
of openness about mental health issues in sport.
The emphasis placed in some conceptualisations of MT (e.g. Clough

et al. 2002) on a need for ‘control’ (of emotions and/or life circumstances)
runs counter to a need to recognise that control is not always possible.
Indeed, adopting a ‘control agenda’ can give rise to restrictive forms of
behavioural rigidity that betray a need for people to be nimble and
responsive in how they behave in particular settings. Unsuccessful efforts
to control circumstances (both internal and external to the individual)
may also create feelings of frustration and inferiority.
Lastly, although ‘commitment to goals’ has been recognised by Clough
et al. (2002) as another key aspect of MT, to date there has been limited
understanding of what processes might be key in generating the goals
that a person might be sufficiently committed to work towards.
Conceptualisations of MT/fMT provide little guidance on how to spe-

cifically and systematically explore what might be of intrinsic value to the
individual. Nor do conceptualisations of MT/fMT indicate how clashes
with values espoused by important stakeholders who interact with ath-
letes (coaches, teammates, governing bodies and match officials) can be
negotiated. All this means that MT/fMT remains a contested concept
that provides limited opportunities to link with concepts that are rou-
tinely deployed by other professionals outside the sporting arena.
However, there is considerable overlap between MT/fMT and another
concept that is receiving increasing attention in both mental health and
performance-related research and practice called psychological flexibility.
Introducing Psychological Flexibility

Psychological flexibility has been defined as ‘the ability to contact the pres-
ent moment more fully as a conscious human being and to either change
behaviour or persist, if doing so serves valued ends’ (Hayes et al. 2004,
p. 5). The concept has emerged from the field of functional contextualism
that proposes that behaviours should be understood in terms of the func-
tions that they serve in the particular contexts in which they occur. The
definition of psychological flexibility from 17 years ago bears striking simi-
larity with recently proposed revised definition of MT provided by
Gucciardi (2017) that states, ‘MT can be defined as a state-like psycho-
logical resource that is purposeful, flexible, and efficient in nature for the
enactment and maintenance of goal-directed pursuits.’ Psychological flex-
ibility has been shown to consistently buffer the impact that stressful
events can have on a variety of outcomes including physical health, health

care utilisation, mental health and wellbeing (Gloster et al. 2017).
Psychological flexibility has been identified as being an important mecha-
nism of change targeted by a third-wave cognitive-behavioural therapy
intervention called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, Hayes
et al. 1999). In sport and performance context, ACT is also referred to as
Acceptance and Commitment Training. Evidence suggests that ACT can
help to reduce distress and promote wellbeing (A-Tjak et al. 2015;
Stenhoff et al. 2020). Russ Harris (2009), a prominent ACT trainer and
therapist, has proposed that psychological flexibility consists of a hattrick
of overlapping processes:
Being Present: Showing up to distress

Being Open: Shifting the relationship with distress
Doing What Matters: Moving forward along a valued life path
These processes are conveyed in the form of the Triangle of Psychological

Flexibility (Harris 2009). The Flexible Mind approach presented in this
book refers to this as the P.O.D. (Being Present, Being Open and Doing
What Matters) of psychological flexibility (more about this in Chap. 3)
(Fig. 1.6).
The authors of this book propose that there are important overlaps
between psychological flexibility and MT/fMT. The capacity to Be Present,
Be Open and Do What Matters that psychological flexibility engenders cor-
respond well to the fMT components of Prepare, Thrive and Activate
respectively that were proposed by Cooper et al. (2019). However, there
are some important distinctions between psychological flexibility and
Clough et al.’s (2002) ‘4Cs conceptualization of mental toughness’
(Challenge, Commitment, Control and Confidence). Psychological flexibility
eschews the aforementioned prominence allocated to ‘Control’ (e.g.
emotional-control and life-control). Instead the acceptance-based ethos
of ACT advocates for people to adopt a Being Open stance in relation to
their experiences, where there is a recognition that efforts to control
internal experiences may be counterproductive, and attempts to control
the external environment may be futile.
Be Present
Ob
me e
se
mo th th
nt
rve
i
se t w
rS
pre ntac
elf
nt
Co
Co
mm
n
i
tte
sio
dA
fu
De
cti
on
Open Up Do What Matters
Acceptance Values
Fig. 1.6 ACT Triflex from ACT made simple (Harris 2009)
Psychological flexibility also allows for a greater elaboration and artic-

ulation about how ‘commitment’ might be best harnessed than MT
has done to date. As mentioned previously, although MT/fMT
acknowledges the importance of committing to personal goals, propo-
nents of MT/fMT have been less clear on what overarching structures
and processes can help inform the choice of goals on an ongoing and
evolving basis. Psychological flexibility, however, puts values front and
centre. In particular, the Doing What Matters aspect of psychological
flexibility places specific emphasis on clarifying values and supporting
individuals to commit to actions that are consistent with these values.
A technical definition of values from a psychological flexibility perspec-
tive is that ‘values are freely chosen, verbally constructed consequences
of ongoing, dynamic, evolving patterns of activity’ (Wilson and
Dufrene 2009). A more user friendly definition is that values are ‘what
we want to stand for in life, how we want to behave, what sort of per-
son we want to be, what sort of strengths and qualities we want to
develop’ (Harris 2009).
From an ACT perspective, values can be clearly distinguished from

goals. Goals are targets that a person sets that allow him/her to clearly
determine whether s/he have succeeded or failed to achieve. Values, on
the other hand, are something that a person never gets fully complete
with. Instead, values have the capacity to guide the choices that we make
on an ongoing basis and inform the qualities that we bring to our actions.
For example, we might imagine that a person values his/her physical fit-
ness—this is not something he/she ever gets fully complete with. Instead,
this can influence the choices they make and inform how they behave.
However, consistent with the value they place in their physical fitness, he/
she might set the goal of going to the gym twice a week. Sometimes, he/
she may achieve this goal, sometimes he/she might fail, but the overarch-
ing value remains, and can help inform the choices that he/she makes in
the coming weeks and months.
Historically interventions and support has tended to be goal- or
problem-focused. But where might this leave an athlete once the goal has
been achieved, or that particular problem resolved? Or where might it
leave the athlete if they fail at achieving the goal, or the problem cannot
be resolved? The Flexible Mind approach outlined in this book aims to
extend beyond a short-sighted focus on achieving goals to help athletes
and their support teams to clarify values that will form the bedrock for
more enduring, robust, dynamic and authentic forms of progress. An
important aspect of this approach will be to consider scenarios when the
values of an athlete and other important stakeholders might be mis-
aligned—it can feel like a square peg is being forced into a round hole. In
applying the Flexible Mind approach, it will be helpful for practitioners
to understand the values of the club, or organisation, into which the ath-
letes are expected to fit, and not just the values espoused by the athletes.
Sufficient time and effort needs to be invested to facilitate constructive

dialogue between the different stakeholders about the points of conver-
gence and divergence in values.
Values such as being: committed, hardworking and honest, are consis-
tently referenced in sporting environments. There is a risk, however, that
work relating to values gets reduced to mere sloganism, discussed but
rarely brought to life. Meaningful values work will require people to
move beyond generic truisms printed on vision statement posters.
Additionally, values must not be assumed and/or imposed. Instead, val-
ues must resonate with the athlete—freely chosen as being intrinsically
important. The Flexible Mind approach sees values work not merely as ‘an
end in itself ’, rather, it is a ‘means to an end’. Values are the lynchpin on
which real committed action depends. Think of an athlete who identifies
‘being conscientious’ as a key value. What key performance related behav-
iours specific to your sport would you align to these values? Take a
moment to think of specific goals that might help an athlete to know that
they are moving towards these values.
Processes relating to how values are identified, negotiated and con-
verted into action are crucially important. Although recent conceptuali-
sations of mental toughness seem to increasingly acknowledge this,
psychological flexibility opens up a range of particular opportunities for
enhancing value-consistent behaviour, even in the ongoing presence of
difficult thoughts and feelings, that can benefit both performance and
wellbeing. The Flexible Mind approach outlined in this book will illus-
trate a session-by-session approach to how the balance between wellbeing
and performance can be optimised (i.e. WExceLLence) through a focus on
maximising psychological flexibility. As such the Flexible Mind approach is
consistent with the ‘position stand’ proposed by Schinke et al. (2018)
that highlighted a need to understand mental health and wellbeing ‘in
association with peak performance’ (p. 662) rather than in isolation from
it, and the need for ‘pro-active provision of support’ (p. 668). The next
chapter will explore the evidence relating to mindfulness and acceptance-
based interventions for both performance and mental health and wellbe-
ing in sporting contexts, before Chap. 3 then sets the scene for the
delivery of the Flexible Mind by exploring in more depth the important
principles and philosophical underpinnings that have guided the devel-
opment of the approach. Please note that information about the Flexible
Mind approach (along with helpful resources and audio files) is also avail-
able at the www.flexiblemind.co.uk website, and via the @Mind_Flexer
Twitter account.
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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
“There is many a man of the Cameron clan
That has followed his chief to the field,
And sworn to protect him or die by his side,
For a Cameron never can yield.”
And big, burly MacDonald swung his arm out towards the everlasting
hills as he sang the next verse—
“I hear the pibroch sounding, sounding,

Deep o’er yon mountains and glens,
While quick springing footsteps are trampling the heath,
’Tis the march of the Cameron men.”
This was a record day, in every sense of the word—a record in its
sunshine, its warmth, its joyfulness, and its mileage covered. Fancy, thirty
miles with all those burdens!
* * * * *
Another fortnight and over has passed and gone, and the scene is
changed somewhat. A fortnight of almost forced marches, of toils and
struggles with nature, most bravely and pluckily borne by all hands. Indeed,
there had been an utter absence of selfishness. Every one in sunshine,
storm, or tempest, seemed to think of others all the time, and not of himself.
But it had been hard work; oh, ever so hard and toilsome.
And now a camp must be formed, and a hut built—a huge, square igloo,
built of blocks of snow or ice in a corner of a glen they had found well
sheltered from the chilly southern blasts, on somewhat raised ground, too,
so that even a snow blizzard would be little likely to bury them alive. But
the construction of the igloo, and the storage of the food for men and beasts,
was now to be left to the charge of our heroes, Charlie, Walter, Wright, and
MacDonald; for Ingomar, with Curtis and Slap-dash, were to push on now
in the lightest and fastest dog-sledges as near to the actual South Pole as it
was prudent to get.
The summer is all too brief at the best, and there was not a single day to
lose.
They had a good man in Dr. Wright. His Arctic experiences had taught
him many a lesson, and he was little likely to make a mistake in anything
that concerned the health or feeding of the men and animals under him.
A word about the food supplies. The feeding of the bears and ponies had,
before starting, been Wright’s greatest concern, and many an experiment he
had made.
All food was to be in the condensed and preserved form, and the
biscuits, which had been prepared especially before leaving Britain,
contained the best essence of beef. These for dogs, bears, and men. Those
for the ponies were simple.
Being so far from their base, the ships near the sea of Ross, they could
expect no succour or assistance of any kind; but with the immense dragging
power at his command, Dr. Wright had carefully computed that a six
months’ supply could be taken at least. In addition to this, they had frozen
seal beef for the bears, when doing the heaviest work, and on this, with a
biscuit or two a day, they had been hitherto fed. We very naturally believe
that bears, being so very large, require a large amount to eat. This is a great
mistake. There is no animal I know of who, in proportion to his size, eats
less, unless it be the Eskimo dog. Both dogs and bears, in winter, can
subsist on hardly anything, provided they have a large amount of sleep.
And now that they had safely reached this far south, and the really heavy
work was over, Dr. Wright had a comparatively easy mind. Yet he himself
would always superintend the serving-out of the stores, and the feeding of
his camp, in the most economical way, and on a scientific basis.
It is this very food difficulty, I believe, and this alone, which prevents the
brave hearts of Britain and America from hoisting their flags at the North
Pole.
That is going to be reached, and don’t forget what I say, reader. And I
think—I will not say I fear—that the Stars and Stripes will float there in the
Northless Land before the British.
I call the Arctic Pole the Northless Land, boys, because there the
meridians or parallels of longitude all meet at point, and parallels of latitude
all begin. There is no longer any east, west, nor north, to the man at the
Pole, whose name, I am told, is Cameron. I suppose Cameron’s house is
like John o’ Groat’s—a round one. Figuratively speaking, everything is
beneath him, and from whichever window he looks he is looking due south.
If Cameron has a bit of a garden encircling his house, which, being a
Scotsman, he is bound to have, to grow a few potatoes and a bit of kail in,
then every time he walks round this garden he walks round the earth, and it
would be the same at the South Pole, only vice versâ, as a glance at the map
will show you. All meridians point due north, as I said before.
It was in the first week of January that Ingomar and Curtis started to
make their last record.
Its success would depend in a great measure on how provisions held out.
But they had good hopes, good spirits and health; and the dogs, even honest
Wallace, had never been in better form, nor fitter.
The instruments which Curtis loaded up were few enough, however, to
make observations. But the most important one was the camera, for by
turning this twice or thrice daily back upon the scenery they had passed
through, they would be enabled to have a pictorial guide back again. The
light is not very good in these regions, but it would serve anyhow to give
them the outlines, and these would be enough.
“Good-bye, boys. Good-bye. It won’t be for long.”
That was all.
They went away seemingly with light hearts. Yet Charlie and Walter
gazed sadly after them, as long as they could be seen.
Then slowly, and in silence, with Nick and Nora by their sides, they
returned to camp.
CHAPTER VII
MARVELS OF THE ANTARCTIC
We find our Expedition to South Polar regions now cut up into four
divisions, though I know, as if by instinct, that the hearts of my readers are
in the highlands of the far interior with my chief heroes.
We are at liberty to have a look, however, at the doings of the ships
themselves, just for a minute or two, before wrapping our furs still closer
around us, and returning to Ingomar and Curtis, or our people in camp.
It must not be thought, therefore, that the officers of the Walrus and Sea
Elephant were otherwise than busy.
While the weather was still open, therefore, and the sea and shores free,
in a measure, from ice, Captain Mayne Brace came out of his creek, or
harbour, and commenced a scientific voyage once more along the shores of
Victoria Land; while Captain Bell, with Milton, the old mate of the Walrus,
was first to explore Ross’s sea to the south and east, and afterwards make
the best of his way to New Zealand, taking with him the few invalids there
were, and the letters. He was to return with extra provisions, extra stores,
and more coals.
Of coals there could not be too much. Coals mean heat and power, and
therefore life itself.
His reappearance in Bell’s Sound, as the well-sheltered little creek,
which the Walrus had chosen as her Antarctic home, had been named,
would be awaited with a very great deal of anxiety indeed.
THE MARVELS OF THE ANTARCTIC.
Boys of an inquiring turn of mind will read the following brief notes
with interest, I feel certain. And I rejoice to say that, among my hundreds of
thousands of young British readers, there is a very large number who prefer
the solid and lasting to the romantic and ephemeral. We all love heroes, and
delight in their deeds of derring-do, but we all want to know a little about
the world we live in.
I must refer you to books for the history and adventures of the chief
heroes of the Antarctic. Sir James Clark Ross, who sailed about in these
regions as far back as 1840 and forward, was certainly a hero in every sense
of the word, and considering that he had neither proper instruments for
scientific observation, nor steam-power, his brave deeds and discoveries are
truly marvellous. The great Ross sea to the East of Victoria Land is named
after him, is a monument indeed, which while the world lasts can never be
destroyed, to British pluck and endurance. His was, however, a voyage of
research with the view of finding out the Magnetic Pole, which, no
schoolboy need be reminded, is different from the true axis of the earth—
the centre line from south to north round which the world revolves, as does
a wheel upon its axle.
Do I make this sufficiently clear to you? The axis or axle poles are the
rotation poles, but the magnetic poles do not, as I said, coincide. This world
itself, therefore, is just a gigantic spherical magnet. At these poles the
dipping-needle stands vertical. The discovery of these poles, of course,
enables us to correct our navigation charts, but as the magnetic forces are
not constant, the more closely they are studied the better.
Enough of that, which is a long and, I fear, a dry subject.
Mount Erebus and Mount Terror lie at the southernmost and
westernmost end of Ross’s great sea. They are still active volcanoes,
standing over twelve and ten thousand feet respectively above the sea’s
level.
Along the base of Ross’s sea runs a gigantic barrier of ice, hundreds of
feet high, which seems to tell the pigmy man that thus far may he come, but
no further. Within the next hundred years, however, that pigmy means to
wrench most of its secrets from Nature.
We all owe much to the cruise of the gallant Belgica, in 1898-1900; she
reached a southern latitude of about 78° or over.
It is far more easy to reach to high latitudes in the north owing to the
comparative mildness of the climate.
The southern summer is shorter and colder than that at the North Pole.
Well, we know a little about the whereabouts of the Magnetic Pole, but
the vast interior is still a sealed book.
The climatology of the Antarctic is marvellous, and very puzzling.
During the summer, for example, in which we now find our Walrus friends
sailing about, the days were often very mild, down along the coast, with its
bare brown, black, and yellow earth peeping through the snow, its
occasional avalanches of snow, and its sudden transitions from sunshine and
warmth to snow-fogs, snow-squalls, and a temperature running down to
zero, or below it.
The winds are, to a great extent, accountable for this.
But from the very start of the sledge expedition, or as soon as they got
high up on the great tableland of snow, there was little really mild weather,
and, despite the sunshine, the surface seldom, if ever, got soft.
The currents are another marvellous study; that is, if they can be studied,
which they never can be until stations of observation are established all
round the so-called Antarctic continent.
The volcanoes are numerous. As I said before, in these regions the great
war between the ice above and the fire beneath the earth’s crust is still
going on, and will doubtless go on for millions of years, unless this globe of
ours comes into collision with some invisible wandering world—then the
heat evolved will melt the two, and creation, as far as these are concerned,
will have to commence all over again.
But other marvels have yet to be revealed to us. We want to know
something of the buried earth’s crust in these Antarctic regions. We want to
find out if possible what species of plants and flowers grew here when the
equatorial belt was an uncrossable band of flaming heat; we would like to
know something of its buried forests, and even of the extinct animals that
roamed therein, in the shape perhaps of dragons fifty to a hundred feet long
which inhabited its lakes and its caves on mountain slopes.
There were such creatures, doubtless, at a time long long agone, when
this world was almost entirely peopled by monsters which are now
relegated, too thoughtlessly, to the realms of the mythological.
Have I given you some food for thought, lads?
If I have, I am exceedingly glad, and so I close this short chapter at once.
CHAPTER VIII
THE DASH FOR THE POLE—A WONDROUS SCENE
I was obliged to belay my jawing tackle, as sailors say, in that last chapter,
and to cut short my yarn, else my subject, which is to me a most interesting
one, might have led me to forget poor lonesome Curtis and Ingomar,
sledging, ski-ing, and toiling on and on across bitter untrodden tracks to
plant the British and American flags further south on solid land than ever
they have been hoisted before.
The same plan was adopted as before, of climbing hills every day to plan
out the next day’s journey.
The same method, too, of feeding dogs and men. Just enough to work
upon, and no more. For they must keep food enough to get home on—back
to Dr. Wright’s camp, I mean—or they would have to kill a dog and eat it.
The “road” was devious enough and toilsome in the extreme for the first
week, after which they gradually got into higher regions with fewer
mountains, though mostly volcanic, some emitting clouds of rolling smoke,
which would have been pillars of fire by night had the sun gone down.
It would be impossible to describe the character and appearance of the
scenery without illustrations. I only wish you to understand that if you place
on your table a lot of limpet shells, and call them mountains and the spaces
between glens or valleys, you have no more idea of this territory than you
have of the surface of the moon. Such mountains as they beheld, I believe,
are not to be seen in any other country in the world. There were cone-
shaped hills, it is true, and rolling brae lands; but there were those, too, of
every shape you could imagine. It was evident to Ingomar even, that the
gigantic forces of nature had been at war here for ages and ages, terrible
earthquakes, awful explosions, volcanic eruptions, such as not even the
people of Iceland ever experienced in the awful days and weeks of darkness
long ago.
See yonder half mountain. It stands there in its somewhat solitary
grandeur in a plain of snow, as evenly cut down the centre as you see a
cheese. Where is the other half? What force divided it? None can answer
that. Here, again, is a kind of chaotic heap of hills. That nearest to the plane
is a gigantic cliff fully one thousand feet in height, and over the ridge of this
a stream must have at one time dashed. Here it is still, a motionless cataract
of ice!
And many miles farther on, and nearer to this Pole, is a marvellous
monument. You could not call it a hill, it is an almost square slab, like an
old-fashioned tombstone, about fifty yards from back to front, a thousand
yards wide, and about two thousand feet in height.
It looks as if a piece of ground as big as an ordinary English field had
been thrown up and left standing on end. Explain it who can. I cannot.
And here is an almost circular lake of great extent, in configuration not
unlike Loch Ness in Scotland, with mountains rising up from its banks in
the same wild way, all ice, all snow, a frozen river leading in and out of it
and more than one frozen cataract.
Even Curtis, with all his science, felt puzzled, and could only reply to
Ingomar’s queries by taking photographic snap-shots everywhere around
him.
Perhaps our heroes were favoured during this dash towards the Pole with
exceptionally fine weather, but the storms they did encounter were certainly
most trying and severe. It was well for the dogs during those blizzards that
snow fell and was blown or heaped over them—the Eskimo dog can live
under snow as long as a Highland wether can—else their poor coats would
have been frozen to the ground.
From this elevated region the land began to sink gradually, the track
became easier, the mountains less high.
Then, one morning, shortly after starting, they came suddenly to cliffs or
braes that led sheer down many hundred feet to a sea!
Curtis looked at Ingomar, who could only reply by smiling.
Do not mistake me, this was a frozen ocean, and a rough one too.
Descending by what they called a footpath, for want of a better name,
the sledges remaining behind, accompanied only by the collie Wallace, they
walked a good mile into or across this strange ocean.
The ice was examined, here and there wherever possible, and except on
the top of the rugged bergs, which was melted and re-frozen snow, it was
everywhere found to be green and salt.
Not far inland was a high hill. This was limpet shaped, and coned at the
top—an extinct volcano, in fact, but with its crater still unfilled, showing
that it still retained heat.
This our heroes climbed with great perseverance and difficulty.
Then, aided by their telescopes, they turned their attention to the south.
Before starting to climb this hill, Curtis quietly surveyed it, and made its
height out to be about 1800 feet.
While he was taking his angles, Ingomar just as quietly brought out a
strange-looking flag from under the sledge baggage, and with it a pole.
From the great height at which they now stood the visible horizon would
be about forty-eight miles, and looking southwards, eastwards, or
westwards nothing was visible except this cold rough sea of ice.
The finger of time had touched it, and lo! for uncounted ages all had
been solid and still.
It was the burial-place of the Past. And yet this marvellous ocean had
once glimmered blue and beautiful in the sunshine, life had been in its
waters, and life in the dead and frozen hill, from which our heroes now
were looking down.
Some such thoughts as these must have been passing through their minds
at this supreme moment.
Their faces, however, were grave almost to sadness, and neither said a
word for at least a minute.
Then Curtis turned to Ingomar, and hand met hand once more in loving
clasp.
“Brother,” he said simply, “we have made our record, we must now go
‘home.’ ”
“We have made our record,” replied Ingomar; “we are standing further
south, and nearer to yonder Pole, than man ever stood before, and I think
our record proves, or seems to me to prove, that this is the end of the
‘Antarctic continent,’ that a sea of ice alone sweeps round the Pole, for not
in the furthest distance can we see a single mountain-peak.
“Brother Curtis,” he added, “how do you feel about it?”
Curtis smiled.
“To tell you the truth, my friend, I feel no positive inclination to toss my
cap in the air. Do you?”
“No, I feel no over-brimming of enthusiasm in my heart or eyes.”
“Well, Ingomar, though you and I are both but young, with the world
still before us——”
“Stay!” cried Ingomar, laughing a little now. “You say the world is still
before us. Don’t you think that the world is really all behind us—that we
are now at the other end of it?”
“We are young, my friend; but, nevertheless, it must seem, even to us, at
this our moment of victory, that exaltation of spirits does not, as a rule,
crown real success.”
“You are right. All is change in this world, and happiness lies only in
onwardness.
‘Man never is, but always to be blest.’
“Happiness lies in onwardness, in forwardness, in action, in the doing of

a work and not in its completion.”
“Just for all the world, Ingomar, like the boy who sets out to scamper
half a mile over field and moor to find the cup of gold at the point of the
rainbow. The glory of the coloured arch makes him so happy all the while
till it vanishes, but he returns disappointed because he has not found the cup
of gold at the spot where he made certain it lay.”
“But now, away with all thoughts of sadness. I think we’ve made a noble
record, so let us sing your national hymn, then plant our flag.”
“We’ll sing both,” said Curtis, lifting his cap; “but you first, lad, you
first.”
The American National Anthem was sung in fine form, and after they
had raised the united standard—Stars and Stripes and Union Jack—and
given three cheers thereto, still with bared heads in that zero air they sang
God save the Queen, for our dear old Empress was then alive—
“God save our gracious Queen,

Long may Victoria reign,
God save the Queen.
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen.”
As if by mutual consent, they paused for a few minutes to gaze once

more, and for the last time, on their new country—on the cold and silent
land and sea.
Their own country! Well, they seemed to have conquered it, but it was
God’s country—the country of the Power which is working out the destiny
of this world, and every planet and sun-star we see around us in the
solemnity of a winter’s night—He has placed the finger of death upon this
Great White Land, and it lies sealed in eternal snows. Ah! no, though, not
eternal!
There will come a time when all will be changed, for matter cannot die.
How silent! It is a silence that eternals the very heart, and takes
possession of the soul.
Not a sound to be heard! Yes, for up the mountain-side comes now the
joyous bark of honest Collie.
And so, the flag being planted, Ingomar and Curtis came slowly down
the hill.
They had made their record.
CHAPTER IX
TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS—VICTORY
There was much talk of home to-night, between Curtis and Ingomar. The
former told his friend all about his English roof-tree, and cheerfully of his
doings while living there as a boy, all his sports, and fun, and play, and his
practical jokes on the old gardener. About the horses his father rode to the
hounds, and about the hounds themselves. There had only been two in the
family, two children, I mean, and sister had a pony as well as he, and, oh!
the glorious scampers they had had over his father’s wide and beautiful
estate, which usually ended, he said, in getting into grief or trouble.
But father was dead, and mother and sister too, and although the land
was now his, somehow he did not care to go back and live there. It would
be so sad and lonesome. It was grief that had caused him to work so hard,
and to take to the study of the sciences, even when but a small cadet on
board the old Britannia.
“For study, my friend, will kill care, or lessen it. Is it not so, Ingomar?”
“And grief is the parent of Fame, often enough, Curtis.”
“I got away on long leave to travel on a semi-scientific expedition with
some geologists, and you know it was there I met your beautiful sister. I
wonder, brother, if we three shall ever meet again—Marie, you, and I.”
“I’ll tell you,” said Ingomar,
“ ‘When the hurly-burly’s done,

When the battle’s lost and won.’
And now to bag, my boy, for the hurly-burly must begin in earnest to-
morrow.”
* * * * *
It was snowing fast next day when they turned their backs on the great
Antarctic sea of ice, and began to retrace their steps back to the camp,
where they had left their companions.
No snow nor tempest must bar their progress now, if they would return
before their food stores were finished.
Somehow going back is a less exciting experience than going forward
with an object in view. The object is gained, and one must think of
something else to keep one’s spirits up.
* * * * *
Even in the absence of their friends, Ingomar and Lieutenant Curtis,
during the month of January and the first two weeks of February, the lads,
Charlie and Walter, found something to do. It is good old Watts, I believe,
who tells us that—
“The devil still some mischief finds

For idle hands to do.”
But, like brave British boys, they did not mean to wait for the devil to
suggest anything. They had brought some books with them, it is true, but
their muscles needed exercise, their joints needed lubricants to keep them in
health.
So on every available day, every day, indeed, on which a bird could have
flown, had there been any birds here, they were off, after breakfast, either
on a sleighing trip or a scamper on snow-shoes, accompanied by Nora and
Nick.
Gruff and Growley sometimes took it into their wise heads to make two
of the party, and Grumpey with Meg would come shuffling up behind,
accompanied by their own particular pets, the three Yak dogs that had slept
in their den at sea.
They used to return hungry as hunters to the modest midday dinner.
The ponies were never forgotten, we may be sure. It was felt to be a
sacred duty to take them out twice a day.
But this was not all, for something, I know not what, had induced the
boys to bring with them in the sledge-baggage not only a supply of hockey
sticks and balls, but two footballs as well. And so a game of footer was
carried on right merrily when weather permitted, halfway down the glen,
where the snow was level and hard.
The sailors enjoyed this immensely, so, too, did the Eskimos. So, for the
matter of that, did Nick and Nora, although they introduced some new
features into the game, which never before had been dreamt of.
Never mind, it was the best of fun. So, too, was hockey. Here, although
the dogs took good care not to mingle in a close tussle, they hung round on
the outskirts, and pinched the ball and retrieved it.
Anxiety and melancholy began to take possession of the hearts of the
expedition, after the time had long gone past wherein Curtis and Ingomar
ought to have returned.
The weather was getting very inclement, too. Short, wild storms were
becoming more and more frequent, and wind blowing at the rate of ninety
miles an hour, breaking the falling snow into suffocating ice-dust.
On such days, hardly even the dogs dared to show face outside. To go
beyond the threshold of the igloo gave one a touch of asthma. For the
summer was waning, and, as usual, winding up with short snaps of storm
and tempest.
The sun was getting very near to the horizon now, at midnight, and soon
would set.
Why came they not? Would they never return?
Hoping against hope, Captain X. proposed giving the men some solid
work to do.
Tools of excavation or digging had been brought out, for Curtis meant to
try to make an opening in some hillside for the purpose of studying
geology.
“Why not make use of these now, while we all await in such suspense?
Men,” he added, “it’ll keep the fingers of us from gettin’ frozen, and better
a blister than a frost-bite.”
Dr. Wright readily gave his consent.
Now, right across the glen, not more than three-quarters of a mile distant,
rose a rounded, but somewhat cliffy hill. There was a tantalizing piece of
glacier, part ice, part snow, hanging over one cliff, in the shape of a
waterfall, though it did not reach quite to the bottom.
Mac was itching to blast it, and lay open a portion at least of the hillside.
And so one day he set to work, and busy picks and shovels soon
excavated a hole big enough to admit and bury the explosive.
It was to be fired by electricity from a safe distance, and all hands were
there to look on.
IT WAS THE BEST OF FUN
Page 263
It was great fun for the boys. They both liked Mac, and when, with a
kindly twinkle in his blue eyes, he turned round and said, “Now, which of
you boys will touch the button and fire the mine?” both said “Oh!” and their
faces beamed.
“I won’t,” said Charlie, “because Walt is six weeks younger.”
“Brave boy. Well, Walt, you.”
And Walt took the thing in hand at once. The explosion that followed
was a terrible one; the sky was filled with smoke, and dust, and débris, and
the dull roar seemed to shake the hills on every side.
When the hillside was thus exposed, every one was puzzled to observe
something dark at the foot of it, which resembled the entrance to a cave.
A strong accumulator for electric light had been brought by Curtis, in
case it might be needed, and next day, when the cave had had time to
ventilate itself from the outside, Mac, Dr. Wright, and the two boys
ventured half-fearfully inside.
Here was a cavern, indeed, and one of immense size. It had never been
made by human hands, that was certain. The light was turned on the walls
and floor in every direction. All were black and bare, but dry.
The mystery lay in the fact, that on touching the floor it was found to be
warm. And yet the rocks around were certainly not igneous.
And there was another mystery; on bending down and applying the ear
to the floor, a distinct murmuring sound could be heard.
“If it’s no fire,” said Mac, “it must be steam, and that is the short and the
long of it.
“And,” he added, “if we have to stay here for many months mair, what a
comfortable bield[F] for baith man and beast this cave will mak.”
But there was still a third mystery, for far away at the other end lay a
dark pile, and, on advancing and turning the light on this, Mac, sturdy
though he was, staggered back in fear and dread.
“God save us a’!” he cried; “that’s the banes (bones) o’ some awfu’
defunct dragons that must hae roamed the woods and forest here millions
and millions of years ago!”
“I think,” said Dr. Wright, “we had better not touch them till Mr. Curtis
arrives.”
“Lord love you!” cried honest Mac. “I wadna’ touch them wi’ the tae o’
ma beet (toe of my boot).”
Another week passed away, and so wearily, for there were no signs of
the return of the wanderers.
The weather began now to get most inclement, and so it was resolved to
remove everything into the cave they had so providentially discovered. This
took some time.
But though there was ample room for even the bears, neither they nor the
Yak dogs would enter. They preferred the old camp and the snow.
“I dinna wonder,” said Mac, “at their no likin’ to come in here, for,
gweed save us, doctor, it looks an awfu’ uncanny place.”
Another week of weary suspense, then, one morning, in rushed Slap-
dash himself. He could only say hurriedly that the sledge team was within
five miles, but dogs and men were too exhausted to come further.
* * * * *
Curtis and Ingomar were brought in that forenoon. The meeting was a
very joyful one, although Dr. Wright at once forbade all talking for the time
being.
He then put them all on the sick list, and in three days’ time they were
able to talk, though but feebly, and tell of their sufferings and dangers. How,
when they could not have been more than two days’ journey from the camp,
they were overwhelmed by a sudden and fearful storm in which one dog
was killed. How nearly all the meagre remainder of biscuits was destroyed,
how they struggled on and on, too weak, almost, to wish to live, the poor
dogs lying down almost at every mile, for their feet were swollen and
bleeding, and even when they did move, it was with listless, hanging heads,
for they seemed to have abandoned all hope. How they (Curtis and
Ingomar) took to their snow-shoes, although their limbs were hot and
swollen, and their faces blistered. How they lost the road, for the
photographs were now of no use, and at last lay down among the dogs to
die.
Oh, it was a pitiful story, but a record of sufferings borne manfully and
uncomplainingly, for they had done their best, and were leaving the rest to
God.
“No,” said Ingomar; “we felt no pain of any kind, not even cold, when
we fell, rather than lay down. Drowsy, though; yes, very drowsy, and I
knew the drowsiness was that of death. The last thing I remember was poor
Wallace licking my cheek. But for that dog and Slap-dash we should have
been buried in the snow. But cheerily does it, Curtis, old man. We have
more harm yet to do, if we can only get back home to do it.”
The dogs were soon themselves again, and fit for anything; but another
fortnight elapsed before Curtis and Ingomar were strong enough to take
much interest in anything.
One day Dr. Wright proclaimed them quite out of danger. They had only
to eat, and so an extra allowance of good things was given them, and they
grew well after this, as if by magic.
There could be no thought of returning, however, to the seashore now,
until winter was past. If they could but live through it. An ugly little “if”
that.
“It won’t be half so bad as we think,” said Macdonald, cheerily. “We’ve
plenty to eat, though we might dae wi’ a drap mair whisky.
“I dinna believe half what I read about the rigours o’ the Antarctic
winter, only you sair-footit Englishmen are brocht up to be frichtened at a
pickle snaw. Noo, if I had you in the Hielans——”
“Hush, hush! Mac,” cried Curtis, laughing. “Don’t give us any more
Hielans just at present”—it was at breakfast. “Listen, old man, our
provisions will last us through the remains of the autumn, and through the
darkness of the long winter, till the sun comes out again; but we must work
now while it is called to-day, and I am going to examine these wonderful
bones of yours this very forenoon.”
“My bones! What’s the matter wi’ my bones? I’ve Hielan’ bones and
Hielan’ blood, and if——”
“I know, Mac, I know. But I mean that heap!”
“I’ll tak’ naething to do wi’t. It’s hardly canny to bide (stay) in the same
room wi’ such an awful cairn. But to touch them—Ugh!”
But the men were not so superstitious, and heavy though they were, soon
had most of them carried out to the light, and, under Curtis’s direction, they
were arranged to form complete skeletons.
Even this young scientist himself was a little puzzled until he had
examined the strata of the cave, for what had been bones originally were
now petrified, or turned into stone by the drip of water containing silicates,
etc., from above.
The monsters had belonged to ages long past, when the now snow-
capped Antarctic continent was a world of life and wild beauty. The biggest
skeleton was sixty-four feet long, and with terrible jaws and teeth. They
were evidently saurians of a prehistoric period, with the bodies of gigantic
snakes, and the flippers of seals to enable them to seek their prey in the
water as well as on the dry land.
A mystery of the past! They were carefully restored, but some day will
doubtless be seen in one of the great museums of Paris or London.
But autumn was now far advanced, and it was not without some degree
of uncertainty that Curtis himself looked forward to the long dark night of
winter.
CHAPTER X
A CHAPTER OF JOY AND SADNESS
It would not be far wrong to say that for the next month or six weeks, ere
the sun went finally down, Hope sustained the hearts of our heroes almost
as much as did the food they ate.
That there was a bad time before them they seemed to feel. Coming
events cast their shadows before. But they wanted to have the shadow over
and done with, and come to the dark stern reality itself.
They meant to make a bold stand for life anyhow.
Moreover, the behaviour of the Yak-Yaks themselves gave them
additional courage. They pooh-poohed the winter darkness. Sheelah and
Taffy were quite gay now, and made every one who heard them talk, more
happy. Their own tongue is singularly sweet and labial, but even their
broken English sounded musical.
“Fo’ de cold and de dark I no care—Pah!” cried Sheelah, snapping her
eyes.
The younger Taffy waxed even sentimental over the thoughts of the
winter.
“The col’ plenty much I lub,” she said, “and de night, oh, I lubs plenty
much mo’.”
And these two strange little women went about all day long, humming
little songs to themselves, but working as hard as honey-bees.
As the days grew shorter and shorter, the scenery in fine weather grew
more mysterious, the hills and the snow assumed tints, ay, and strong
colours, that were often magically beautiful.
Cold as it now was, it was a positive delight for our heroes to get away
some distance from the cave-camp, and behold a sunset or a sunrise. Oh,
you didn’t require to get up at all early now, reader, to see a sunrise.
Will the day ever come, I wonder, when the artist will be able, in
colours, to interpret the descriptions which the author and student of nature
try to depict?
Till then, much, so very much, must be left to the imagination.
* * * * *
No one in this country, probably, has ever seen a vermilion sun. But this
is what greeted the eyes of our heroes on one of the last, short days of
autumn.
A sun that you could gaze at unflinchingly, for it was rayless, gaze at and
wonder.
In all their difficulties the boys appealed to Curtis, for whom, young
though he was, they had the very highest respect. On this occasion,
however, he owned up, as young folks say, that he was a little puzzled, for
there was neither fog nor haze upon the earth, whatever there might be very
high up. But yonder was the sun all day long, figuratively speaking, turned
to blood.
Mac averred that it wasna canny, and that something was sure to follow.
Well, night followed, anyhow, and a long and dreary one it was, with
ne’er a star, although the sky, to all appearance, was cloudless.
About this time it was noticed that the bears got altogether more friendly
together. Gruff no longer kept Growley in his corner, and he ceased to show
his affection to his “sonsy” wife; I mean he whacked her no more.
For a whole week they were ravenously hungry, and one night they stole
more of the frozen seal-flesh, and devoured it, than would have served to
feed the dogs for a fortnight.
They were missing that night.
Poor Gruff, and Growley, and Grumpey, and Meg. I am indeed sorry to
let them pass out of my story, but they never came again.
Whither they had wandered is, of course, mere surmise, but, owing to
the disappearance of the seal-meat, I think there is little doubt that they had
found a cave and hidden themselves there to hibernate till spring.
Perhaps (quien sabe?) they will live in the Antarctic regions, and, in
future, bears may become a by no means uncommon feature of the scenery.
The sun set for the very last time in a splendour of cloudscape that
seemed almost supernatural and divine.
There was twilight after this, but soon even that was lost to view.
Then came frequent storms of such violence that, but for the shelter of
that mysterious cave—“the Cave of Dead Bones,” as Mac called it—it is
doubtful whether the whole expedition would not have perished.
While these storms raged the winds were cold, cruel, merciless. No one
could withstand their vehemence. They were more bearable when they
brought snow—snow or the thin snowflakes turned into ice-dust, powdered
by wrathful and venomous wind. This snow was swept wildly past the
cave’s front, which was well barricaded; but wherever it was given leave to
rest it lay in “wreaths,” like storm-waves of ocean or Atlantic breakers on a
beach, if you could imagine these suddenly solidified by the finger of death,
and motionless, “wreaths” big enough to have covered a cathedral.
Battling with such winds is out of the question. You get angry, excited
with the unequal contest; your brain is filled with blood, and tears of
vexation roll over the cheeks. Then it is nothing unusual for men so
exposed to drop suddenly dead.
I must confess to you that my young heroes, Charlie and Walter, lost
heart and courage whenever those awful storms began to howl and yell
without; and but for the cheerful voices of Sheelah and Taffy, whom in the
cave they could not see, they would have succumbed entirely.
Luckily the gales and snow-blizzards did not last very long. Seldom
more than a day, and when the wind went down, and moon and stars, or the

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Acceptance and Commitment

Approaches for Athletes’ Wellbeing and

Lewis Charnock Stephen Leckey

ISBN 978-3-030-64941-8 ISBN 978-3-030-64942-5 (eBook)

Cover illustration © Andrew Hamilton

We are grateful to Andrew Hamilton of Elephant Shoes Ink Ltd. for

“Psychological flexibility is thundering into sport and mental performance

“This is an essential guide for anyone coaching athletes towards excellence.

“The book provides cutting edge, up to date coverage of Acceptance and

1 The Flexible Mind Approach: What Is It, and What Does

2 Mindfulness- and Acceptance-Based Interventions for

3 Setting the Scene for the Flexible Mind Approach 67

4 Introducing Athletes to the Flexible Mind Approach

5 Mind Full Versus Mindful (Session 2)115

6 Orientating to Our Inner Compass (Session 3)141

7 Being Open, Living Big (Session 4)165

8 Getting Present with the Discomfort (Session 5)187

9 Flexibility … of the Psychological Kind (Session 6)209

10 Developing the Game Plan (Session 7)237

11 Getting the Environment Right263

Fig. 1.1 The Flexible Mind team 3

Fig. 7.2 This is Sylvie’s P.O.D. of psychological flexibility as the Flexible

Table 2.1 Description of MABI interventions used to address mental

Table 9.1 P.O.D. formulation at commencement of work with Kyle 210

‘Change how you see, and see how you change.’

What might an athlete need to sacrifice to achieve his/her dreams?

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 1

ADJUDICATOR ADAM HELPFUL HENRY

NEED A CLUE SUE METEORITE MEGHAN

Fig. 1.1 The Flexible Mind team

The Road to WExceLLence

Fig. 1.2 The characters’ roles

An important issue to flag is that traditionally the focus of those working

Fig. 1.3 The Flexible Mind pit crew

These factors, including the training dose, place a demand/load on the

with poor load management. The International Olympic Committee

including psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, counsellors, cognitive

So unlike Dave suggests, athletes do experience challenging times that

enhancement setting (McCalla and Fitzpatrick 2016). In turn, coaches,

 ey Considerations in Delivering the Flexible

who is involved in supporting an athlete or sports teams will get new

intervention. We will be adopting the term ‘practitioner’ throughout

This is actually one of Dave’s more rational comments, as he really

 ental Toughness: Contribution

In this next section, definitions of MT will be explored, in a quest to

The sheer number of different definitions has made conceptualising

in abilities and interpersonal confidence. Confidence in our abilities relates

So, the construct of MT seems to be capturing something important.

separate dimensions of attitude, training, competition and post-­

Using long- Pushing awareness controlling

Fig. 1.4 Jones et al. (2007) framework of mental toughness

It is clear that MT is context- and situation-specific, so even within the

More recently research has revealed that MT can be subject to within-­

Fig. 1.5 Cooper (2018) model of functional mental toughness

self-talk) (Cooper et al. 2019). Whilst acknowledging that long-standing

have lacked a shared language for understanding important processes

The emphasis placed in some conceptualisations of MT (e.g. Clough

Conceptualisations of MT/fMT provide little guidance on how to spe-

Introducing Psychological Flexibility

events can have on a variety of outcomes including physical health, health

Being Present: Showing up to distress

These processes are conveyed in the form of the Triangle of Psychological

Psychological flexibility also allows for a greater elaboration and artic-

1 The Flexible Mind Approach: What Is It, and What Does

2 Mindfulness- and Acceptance-Based Interventions for

3 Setting the Scene for the Flexible Mind Approach 67

4 Introducing Athletes to the Flexible Mind Approach

5 Mind Full Versus Mindful (Session 2)115

6 Orientating to Our Inner Compass (Session 3)141

7 Being Open, Living Big (Session 4)165

8 Getting Present with the Discomfort (Session 5)187

9 Flexibility … of the Psychological Kind (Session 6)209

10 Developing the Game Plan (Session 7)237

11 Getting the Environment Right263

Fig. 1.1 The Flexible Mind team 3

Table 9.1 P.O.D. formulation at commencement of work with Kyle 210

The Road to WExceLLence

ey Considerations in Delivering the Flexible

ental Toughness: Contribution

separate dimensions of attitude, training, competition and post-

More recently research has revealed that MT can be subject to within-

Introducing Psychological Flexibility