“We Have to Win!” Reflections on Delivering a Rational–Emotional Behavioral Therapy Informed Intervention in an Elite Youth Football Academy

In this article, we describe the experience of employing a rational–emotional behavioral therapy informed intervention to reduce irrational beliefs of academy football players in Portugal. We describe the use of the intervention “Mindset: Performing Under Pressure” as an addition to the existing psychological provision for three male football players, two of whom also represent their country. The program consists of six sessions and was delivered on an individual basis. We explored the feasibility of the program and offered applied reflections on practical strategies and challenges involved in addressing irrational beliefs in a context where “winning at all costs” is prevalent. Insights are shared regarding changes in the four types of irrational beliefs identified in rational–emotional behavioral therapy—demandingness, frustration intolerance, depreciation, and awfulizing with reductions in demandingness and frustration intolerance observed, although these should be interpreted cautiously given the small sample and descriptive nature of the evaluation. We concluded by sharing reflections on the delivery of the program and offered applied recommendations for practitioners who wish to target irrational beliefs or adopt a multimodal program to support elite players to perform under pressure.