AC Milan’s Mind Room — the world’s first psychological lab
‘You don’t play football with your foot, you play football with your brain’ — this was the first line that struck my mind when I read about this innovative exercise at AC Milan.
Let’s uncover what made San Siro one of the strongest forces in Europe that won 21 trophies from 1986, the time when “Mind Room” began.
Introduction
Ever wondered what would it feel like to take a penalty in the World Cup? The pressure of millions of people waiting to see you score from the spot with the nervous faces of your teammates.
Here’s someone describing his emotions
“I put the ball down and took three or four steps back. If I score, we are champions of the world. And then a little thought crossed my mind: what if I miss? That hit me. I started looking at the ball like it was a tiger. Then I looked at the coach: another tiger. Then I looked at the players and my teammates: another 21 tigers. Then I thought about the people watching at home. In a moment, I had four billion tigers looking at me. I was shaking. I felt confused. I almost felt like crying.”
Imagine what were Roberto Donadoni, Franco Baresi and Robert Baggio thinking when they missed their chances in the shootouts at the Italia 90 and USA 94 losing in the semifinals and finals. They were shattered and took refuge in the “Mind Room”
Mastermind of the “Mind Room”
Started by Dr Bruno Demichelis, a sports psychologist at AC Milan, established a division that made use of biological monitoring and cognitive training. He tracked measures like blood pressure and respiration rate to monitor attention span and stress levels.
During training, he used sensors to evaluate every area of their health. Tests were done to detect the electrical activity of the player’s muscles if, they felt mental discomfort as a result of physical stress. With this data, he was able to recommend the appropriate type of treatment. He used biofeedback methods, such as implanting electrodes on players’ scalps to examine the functioning of their neurons and to track the electrical activity of their brains.
Demichelis was able to increase the player’s attention span through a variety of cognitive training activities, helping them take better and faster decisions on the pitch. As per him, these methods also reduced soft tissue injuries by 91%!
In the 23 years that Demichelis’ Mind Room was in operation, the club’s data-led approach was a huge success, leading them to 21 major trophies.
My thoughts
A streak of AC Milan championship and cup victories during the decade undoubtedly boosted its reputation. Some players acknowledged the unit’s contribution to their ability to transform “positive thinking” into a winning mindset under duress. The Mind Room’s function in Milan practically came to an end when Ancelotti and Demichelis left in 2009, but the Italian duo met again at Chelsea and developed something similar but that’s a story for another day.
Checkout my other two blogs, McLaren’s drive with data and Liverpool FC — dominating with data
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