What separates the best from the rest in sport? Neuroscience tells us that it is elite athletes’ anticipation and decision-making skills. Strength & conditioning, medicine, and nutrition may be staples of performance set-ups these days but the penny is beginning to drop when it comes to the importance of cognitive skills.

For the latest edition of the Leaders Performance Podcast, we spoke to sports science and technology writer Amit Katwala, author of The Athletic Brain: How Neuroscience is Revolutionising Sport and Can Help You Perform Better. He emphasises that the brain is trainable and it is within the capability of all to identify which cognitive skills are most important in their discipline and adapt their training programmes to make them more efficient.

Further topics on the day included:

-The importance of studying the very best athletes

-Neuroplasticity and the opportunities it presents for young athletes

-The concept of flow in performance

-Why athletes choke under pressure

To learn more about neuroscience in sport read The Athletic Brain: How Neuroscience is Revolutionising Sport and Can Help You Perform Better. Widely available from Simon & Schuster.

Twitter: @amitkatwala