By Elliott West
“If it hadn’t have been for Steve Peters I would probably be in some hot country like Portugal living in a nice beach house and coming to the UK once every six weeks to see my family”.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Introduction
Ronnie O’Sullivan had hit a mental wall in 2011, reaching his mid-thirties, O’Sullivan wasn’t enjoying snooker and was seriously considering checking out of the game. This was a low period for this snooker titan, who was entering a sparse period of his career and as he wasn’t winning, he seriously felt what was the point of continuing. Thankfully a saviour and guiding light walked into Ronnie’s life, just at the time when he needed it most. O’Sullivan was right to reach out and seek a new sense of direction.
So the snooker doors opened for Dr. Steve Peters to enter Ronnie’s life. A man who Ronnie would go on to say was a “father figure”. A mind coach who gave O’Sullivan the spark needed to reignite his snooker fire, making him mentally sharp and victory hungry. A mental revolution that would be vital for Ronnie and putting his snooker disconnect to bed.
A Different Way of Thinking
Steve Peters became the breath of fresh air that Ronnie O’Sullivan needed. He oiled his mental cogs through a series of face-to-face, Zoom, and FaceTime meetings. This was a working partnership on two levels, business, and friendship. A continually evolving project where themes were set, worked on, and returned to when needed. Even when Ronnie was at his lowest, Peters created coping mechanisms for his student so that he didn’t sabotage the situation with his mental anguish.
These strategies could be as simple as just Ronnie spending some time on his mobile phone before a match to take his mind off the pressure involved. Watching programmes such as Only Fools and Horses and Storage Wars, made this traumatic period more enjoyable, stalling Ronnie’s brain from wandering as he admits that he has an overactive brain.
Fine Tuning
Steve Peters was instrumental in helping Ronnie O’Sullivan win the 2012, 2020, and 2021 World Championships. A tally that takes his Crucible crowns to an incredible seven titles, equalling his rival Stephen Hendry. A fantastic achievement seeing as he struggles with the mayhem and pomp of the event and the confined audience of the Crucible Theatre. The 2013 win was an exception because due to Coronavirus restrictions, the final was played without an audience and behind closed doors. A situation that took the heat off O’Sullivan and allowed him to relax and enjoy the occasion for once. A fleeting moment but definitely an important one in the career growth of this snooker icon. The weight of a noisy audience wanting him to do well is definitely one that Ronnie tolerates but doesn’t embrace.
“I had the talent, I had the game… If I was on it was great, but if I was off I was looking for the exit doors, thinking ‘It’s time to go home’, because I didn’t enjoy digging it out”.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Steve’s World
As a sports psychiatrist, Dr. Steve Peters works with a large number of people in sports. His ethos is everyone is unique and works in a unique environment. When Ronnie approached Steve, he set out a list of things he wanted to tackle with his mind, emotions, way of thinking, and his frustrations on why he couldn’t do that. Everyone he works with is a student, he provides the equipment to deal with their minds and work with it, a mental fixer. Peters describes O’Sullivan as an “amazing student” and someone who was willing to buy into his ethos of managing your mind.
It is an ethos that Ronnie wished he discovered 20 years previously and believes that if he had, he would have won a lot more titles. However, he appreciates that Peters’ methods of mind control have to work in tandem with the job at hand, executing the shots, playing, and performing. Steve gave Ronnie back his appetite. Steve works with a model called the ‘chimp model’, understanding how the mind works and what the rules are. The chimp obviously kicks off in a hostile environment, ie a snooker match precisely because in this case, Ronnie doesn’t want to be there but then the backup system, the computer kicks in. It’s all about learning what your particular emotions are going to do to you and what your belief and value systems are when you go into this environment.
Thanks to his mind mentor, Ronnie can now deal with pressure rather than cope and react to it. It’s an evolving process where the student improves throughout the process. Trial and error is the key to success and no process is infallible but Steve’s take on the mind definitely has powerful results, especially in the case of Ronnie O’Sullivan. He is the bridge over O’Sullivan’s troubled waters, the strong rudder that kicks back adversity and provides a cushion of support against the many snooker obstacles that block O’Sullivan’s snooker path.
