Jeff Bond, former chief psychologist at the Australian Institute of Sport, believes sporting organisations continue to be fooled by consultants who promise to deliver a mental edge.
"Using people's personal trauma to drive them is so illogical and dangerous it's not funny," Bond told The Sunday Age.
Sam McClure writing in The Age
"Prop guns, combat knives and players tied to trees as teammates hurled personal abuse at them. This is what Adelaide Crows players remember of a pre-season camp that shattered the trust between a football department and its players, and brought about the capitulation of an AFL club.......
...Interviews with six Adelaide Crows players who attended the camp suggest there are lingering issues, and that many of them are still deeply troubled by what happened. But exactly what took place has been shrouded in secrecy until now.The Sunday Agehas obtained detailed and distressing accounts of events and exercises players were put through, and learned of a report written by club doctor Mark Cesana, in which he expressed grave concerns about what took place...."
Bootcamps as opposed to good science
...Bond, who has previously worked for Melbourne and Richmond, is now a psychologist for the Brumbies in Super Rugby.
"They take some of these models out of the military for these camps," he said.
"They are put through highly stressful circumstances to be mission-ready in case they get captured and tortured.
"There's good reason why the military performs resilience-enhancing exercises, because it's to protect life. But this is just sport."