In sport, the difference between winning and faltering often comes down to more than physical training.

It rests on an athlete’s ability to manage pressure, process setbacks, and stay resilient in the face of adversity.

Yet, in India, while coaching and physiotherapy are widely accepted as integral to performance, mental health support has rarely been given the same weight.

That changed in a small but significant way at the World Para Athletics Championships 2025 in New Delhi.

For the first time, athletes competing on home soil had access to dedicated sport psychology professionals, thanks to a partnership that brought Mind Matter Performance (MMP) into the fold in coordination with the Centre for Sports Injury.

Both Gayatri Bhushan and Akash Prasad, the co-founders of MMP, describe their work as an effort to create a holistic ecosystem where athletes can thrive in an exclusive interview with Read.

Why sport psychology mAtters in sports

Sport psychology in sport has long carried a paradox.

Globally, stars like Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles have forced the conversation into the mainstream, showing that even the most decorated athletes can struggle with anxiety and pressure.

Yet in India, psychological support is still treated as a luxury rather than a necessity.

Akash, a UEFA B-licensed football coach who has worked with athletes across levels, sees this gap clearly.

“An athlete can be technically sound, physically prepared, but if mentally they are not in the right place, that’s going to show on the field,” he said. “It’s about integrating mental training with the other aspects of performance.”

Gayatri agrees, adding that stigma plays a damaging role.

“Physical injuries are acknowledged immediately, but psychological struggles are often dismissed,” she explained. “If you’re not talking about it, you’re not addressing it. We want athletes to know it’s okay to seek help.”

Their philosophy is simple but radical in an Indian context: treat mental well-being not as a remedial tool, but as an integral part of training from day one.

A breakthrough at Para Athletics

The Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi gave them their first chance to put that philosophy into practice.

With support from the Centre for Sports Injury, Mind Matter Performance was embedded in the athlete village throughout the event.

For Akash, the significance was clear. “It was historic for us,” he reflected. “For the first time, athletes at such a big event had structured access to sport psychology support in India.”

The partnership also revealed the unique challenges faced by para athletes. “They go through challenges on and off the field that are sometimes even harder than what able-bodied athletes face,” Gayatri said. “To see them open up and engage with us was very powerful.”

It was a reminder that while performance psychology is universal, the contexts athletes come from deeply shape the kind of support they need.

Journeys that shaped the mission

Both co-founders arrived at sport psychology through deeply personal routes.

For Gayatri, the path began on the track. As a competitive runner, she encountered not just the physical strain of training but the mental toll of injuries and setbacks.

“I realised I wasn’t just battling physical pain but a mental block that no one was helping me address. So I was no longer enjoying the sport that I loved so much,” she recalled.

Searching for answers led her to explore psychology, and eventually toward co-founding Mind Matter Performance.

Akash’s background was rooted in coaching. After securing his UEFA B License and working with footballers, he noticed a consistent ceiling: athletes could master drills and tactics, yet falter under pressure.

His exposure to training ecosystems abroad reinforced the lesson.

“We saw that there’s actually a huge gap in the system, and we started working with athletes in London. But then we knew that in India it’s going to be a whole different ball game altogether,” he said.

Mind Matter Performance: A unique approach to athlete well-being

Mind Matter Performance (MMP) doesn’t treat mental health as an afterthought; it is woven into every layer of an athlete’s training journey.

Unlike conventional models that step in only during crises, MMP focuses on proactive, holistic support.

Athletes have access to personalized sessions, coping strategies for pressure situations, and tools to manage setbacks, long before they hit the field.

“The fear of failure and the fear of not being able to perform can cause a lot of anxiety,” Gayatri Bhushan explained. “We want athletes to feel supported before it gets to that point.”

MMP operates at the intersection of sport psychology, coaching, and real-world athletic experience.

Gayatri brings insights from her own challenges as a competitive athlete, while Akash Prasad adds a structured coaching perspective.

“We wanted to create something scalable that helps people across the country, not just those in metros. So the model had to work online and offline.” Akash said.

What sets MMP apart is its emphasis on creating a culture, not just fixing problems. “We want athletes to know it’s okay to seek help,” Gayatri said.

The team works closely with athletes, coaches, and support staff to normalize conversations around mental well-being, build resilience, and integrate mental training seamlessly alongside physical and tactical preparation.

For MMP, success isn’t just medals or records—it’s nurturing athletes who are mentally strong, confident, and equipped to handle the pressures of sport and life.

Para vs Able-bodied Athletes: Similar struggles, different layers

Working at the Para Athletics Championships highlighted how psychological challenges cut across both para and able-bodied sport, but in different ways.

Akash explained: “Para athletes have to battle not just performance pressure but also the way society views them. That makes access to mental health resources even more urgent.”

Gayatri added that para athletes bring with them a resilience that reshapes the conversation.

“Because they’re very used to working through a lot of adversity, that was very enriching for me to work with them. Just to see the amount of resilience, it’s incredible.”

The contrast underscored their belief: every athlete, regardless of background or discipline, deserves structured mental health support as part of their preparation.

The larger Indian Sports landscape

If the Para Athletics partnership was a breakthrough, it also underlined how far India has to go.

Compared to countries where sport psychology is routine, India’s structures remain patchy.

“There aren’t enough accredited sport psychologists,” Akash admitted. “Even when there are, many federations or academies don’t budget for them.”

For athletes outside elite systems, the gap is even wider. At the grassroots, many encounter mental health support only when a crisis hits, a debilitating injury, a run of poor form, or burnout.

Gayatri believes this reactive model must change. “If we start building awareness from the ground up, athletes will grow up seeing mental training as natural as physical training,” she said.

That shift, however, requires not just individual awareness but systemic investment.

Looking Ahead: Building a culture, not an exception

For Mind Matter Performance, the goal is not to be an outlier but a catalyst. They see their role at the Para Athletics as the start of a broader cultural change.

“This was a step,” Akash said, “but the goal is to make it standard practice, not an exception.”

Gayatri sees success as creating a space where athletes can be both ambitious and vulnerable.

“We want to create a space where athletes know they’re not alone,” she said. “Because when performance and well-being are treated equally, that’s when true potential can be unlocked.”

At its core, their mission reframes what success in sport should mean. Yes, medals and records matter. But so does the well-being of the people chasing them.

The work of Mind Matter Performance at the Para Athletics Championships showed that supporting athletes holistically doesn’t diminish performance; it sustains it.

For Indian sport, the lesson is clear: building champions for the future requires more than stronger bodies or sharper tactics.

It requires minds that are cared for, understood, and supported.