Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) club, Rivers United FC have employed the services of a professional psychologist to boost their chances of success in the 2017 Caf Champions League.
Top officials of the club also believe that the latest development will spur the players of the football club to improve on their performances in the NPFL.
The psychologist, Professor Joseph Vipene who had a session with players of the club on Wednesday at the camp in Elekahia, Port Harcourt expressed satisfaction with the exercise especially the manner in which the players applied themselves to the exercise.
“The mind of a human being is very powerful and physical training is just not enough for footballers to excel at this level.
“The next frontier that sport, especially football requires in this day and age is the human mind and that is where psychology comes in.
“The make-up, trait and characteristics of a man is integrated. These footballers can achieve things with their mind even without physical exertions,” he said.
The session was also attended by the club’s medical doctors, Chukwuemeka Agi and Vincent Wachukwu.
Speaking after the session, the Rivers United captain, Festus Austine expressed happiness at the opportunity given to the players to interact with the highly-respected psychologist.
Austine explained that the players learned a lot from the session and noted that he was confident the lessons drawn will positively impact on performances on the pitch.
“We are very happy with this exercise and hopefully, all we learned will help us achieve our objectives on the pitch this season, he said.
Some of the other players of the club, Gabriel Wassa, Esosa Igbinoba, Bernard Ovoke and Best Deemua also expressed positive sentiments about the development.
Rivers United is currently in fifth place on the NPFL standings with nine points from five matches.
The Pride of Rivers will face 3SC in Ibadan in their next NPFL game on Sunday before jetting off to Bamako, Mali for their opening fixture in the 2017 Caf Champions League next weekend.
