The Maps › Map of the Athlete

Map of the Athlete.

For people whose life is elite sport. A document about the pace, the temperament and the cycles of the person who competes.

For · Athletes in elite sport, with a technical team around them and a life most people never see.

Written in English

I write your Map in English, and the interpretation session is held in English too.

What it is

A document for someone who lives by competing. Your own pace, your temperament, your cycles, and what tends to go on inside during the weeks nobody sees.

It speaks about the person who trains: what holds you up, what wears you down without warning, and what the body usually knows before the head does. Technique and the training plan belong to your team.

In this Map the session is part of the work, not an option. What gets read here touches on career decisions and on the body of someone who competes, and handing that over in writing alone does not sit right with me.

Who this is for

Athletes in elite sport, with a technical team around them and a life most people never see.
Anyone in a transition: on the way up, on a plateau, coming back from injury, or thinking about the end.
Anyone who wants to understand their own pace, rather than the pace the calendar imposes.
Anyone with a career decision ahead who wants to read it from themselves, and not only from results.

When it is better to wait, or to look elsewhere

If you are looking to improve performance, this is not it. There is sport psychology and there is coaching for that, and that is work for other people.
If you are burnt out, or training beyond what you can take, the body comes first. We talk, and the Map waits.
If you had a serious injury recently and have not yet digested it, I would rather wait.
If there is an eating disorder, an addiction or a depression under way, the right place is clinical care, and I will help you get there.
If you are under 18, I write to whoever is looking after you before going ahead.

This is not sport psychology, or psychological care for athletes, or mental preparation for competition. No diagnoses are made, and this does not replace whoever is looking after you clinically. Technique, training plan and performance are for your team to handle. If care is what you need right now, I will say so plainly and, if you want, point you to someone.

If you are in crisis or at risk, do not wait for me: in Portugal, call SNS 24, 808 24 24 24, or 112.

If you are unsure, write to me first and we will see whether this is the moment. I would rather you waited than bought at the wrong moment. Write to marta@serpaciente.pt.

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Your body always warns you. What you learned was to train straight over the warning.

this is how a Reminder Map sounds

What is included

· PDF document written about you.
· Reminder Map, one A4 page with the essentials, to carry with you.
· A 90 minutes session, to read it together before it is delivered. In this Map it is always part of it.

The 90 minute session happens once the Map is written, and it is part of the work: handing over a document like this one in writing alone does not sit right with me. That session is held in Portuguese, which is why this Map is not sold in English.

Delivery is within a month. If you are in a hurry, write to me before ordering and we will see what is possible. The Map arrives digitally; if you would like it printed, I will send you a quote.

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