Could Emma lift players' mind game? AS FANS PREPARE FOR ENGLAND'S QUARTER-FINAL CLASH AGAINST PORTUGAL TONIGHT, AN INTRIGUING GLIMPSE INTO THE WORLD OF SPORTS HYPNOTHERAPY.

THERE is no doubt the England football squad are at the peak of fitness - but could their minds do with a good workout too?

As our boys take on Portugal in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004 tonight, millions of fans will be praying their winning streak continues.

But winning isn't just about keeping in peak physical condition, you need mental focus too.

Feature writer KAREN HAMBRIDGE talks to a Kenilworth-based woman who could have the perfect solution - a sports workout for the mind.

WHILE football wunderkind Wayne Rooney has been grabbing all the headlines - and the goals - in Euro 2004, Michael Owen, his England striking partner, has been appearing strangely out of sorts.

Much debate has centred around the young Liverpool striker's form and his early departure from England's two opening matches surprised fans and pundits alike who have come to expect him to be banging them in the back of the net like there's no tomorrow.

A better, and full 90-minute performance against Croatia has given us a glimpse of the Owen of old.

While it's clear there are no question marks over his fitness it seems he could do with a bit of mental coaching to bring back that goal-scoring feeling.

A workout for the mind could be just the thing Michael needs.

Because sportsmen, both professional and amateur, are realising that if they can get their head together their performances will undoubtedly follow.

This is where Emma Cole comes in. Emma is a qualified hypnotherapist who has decided to offer a little bit more than simply helping people quit smoking or lose weight.

Having been a singer in a covers band working the St Albans and north London circuit, Emma decided on a career change.

She had moved to the Midlands when husband Alan, an electronic product development manager, relocated for work, and having an interest in the workings of the mind and the power of the psyche, she looked around to see if there were any suitable courses available.

"I have always been quite passionate about what I do, whatever it is, and I remember reading a lot about psychology when I was younger," she says.

"I remained interested but I suppose I didn't really follow up on it until a few years ago. I had been a singer in a band and worked in marketing and PR. But I wanted a change. I wanted to work with people and if I could I wanted to help people."

The 34-year-old mum to two girls, Lauren, 11 and Lucy, four, plumped for a person-centred counselling course at Warwick University.

But at the end of it she felt counselling wasn't the career road she was looking to travel.

Investigating other avenues she came across hypnotherapy and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and her fate was sealed.

"It was such an effective and quick form of therapy," said Emma, who is a member of the General Hypnotherapy Register and has qualifications in both hypnotherapy and NLP. "To me it seemed the way forward in empowering the individual to take control of their life."

And so EmPowersYou was born.

Recently, when Alan was made redundant, he began assisting Emma by running the business side of the concern, leaving his wife with more time to concentrate on clients.

Like all hypnotherapists Emma works with the subconscious mind, reprogramming it with positive suggestions to overcome unwanted habits or behaviours.

As she worked she realised there was an area of untapped potential where hypnotherapy could produce real results. Sport.

"I thought hypnotherapy would be an ideal way for sports people to maximise their abilities.

"I approached James Blower, leisure club manager at the Forest of Arden Hotel in Meriden, with the idea of the EmPowersYou Mind Workout.

"The mind workout works in a similar way to a physical workout. To achieve your maximum potential in any sport you need to be dedicated and work out the body on a regular basis to keep it in peak condition.

"The same applies to the mind. Most sports people will be physically excellent but to be a winner you need something else, you need mental focus.

"By using visualisation and practising focus and concentration techniques while in hypnosis you are mentally prepared and one step ahead when it comes to the sporting event.

"Hypnosis can also help to overcome any blocks that are inhibiting a good performance, blocks which the sports person may not even realise they have."

Through her links with the hotel's leisure club - a popular training centre for local sports stars - she has built up a range of clients, from golfers to motorbike riders to enthusiastic gym members.

Some simply want that extra leg-up to improve their fitness, hone their swing or drop a few pounds, others have grand designs on reaching championship level in their field.

She has found there is a lot of fear and misunderstanding about hypnosis as therapy and is keen to put the record straight - hypnotherapy isn't about losing control, it's about taking control.

"I'm on a mission to change those misconceptions," said Emma. "People do not 'go under', they don't lose control.

"When you are put into hypnosis it is a pleasant, deeply relaxed yet heightened state of awareness.

"You are always in control and your senses are aware but you are more open to positive suggestion, helping you to become desensitised to fears, phobias or even pain.

"The main thing is you have to want to participate and change whatever it is that is troubling you. I can work in partnership with you but you have to be ready for it."

Aaron's hopes ride on latest workout

EMMA'S clients include motorcyclist Aaron Brown, 20, of Whitestone, Nuneaton. He has just started riding in the Yamaha Virgin Mobile R6 Cup, a series for riders aged 16 to 22, aimed at finding future motor racing stars.

The winner of the championship, which involves 30 riders in 12 rounds of racing, claims a place in the next season's Virgin Mobile Samsung British Superbike squad, a high honour for any serious bike racer.

At pounds 24,000 a year it's an expensive business and there is hot competition to be the best.

Knowing other riders have benefited from Emma's expertise, Aaron was keen to see what the mind workout could offer him.

It is the rider's talent which makes the grade on the track," Aaron says. "Every bike is the same, so the difference is how you ride. Fitness is important which is why I'm training at the Arden's leisure club.

"I saw Emma was doing the mind workout and I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a go. If it can help me focus on my riding then it will be a good thing."

FOR more information on EmPowersYou or to book a free consultation phone [phone] or contact the leisure club on 01676 526107.

Emma is also holding workshops at the Esporta Health and Racquets Club in Abbey Road, Whitley, Coventry. The next one is on Tuesday from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Phone [phone].

10 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT PORTUGAL

IT'S a favourite with golfers and sunseekers and, at the moment, football fans who are lapping up England's success so far in the Euro 2004 Championships.

But what do you really know about Portugal?

1. PORTUGAL and Great Britain share a common link through the Celts. The tribe settled the Iberian peninsula around 700 BC.

2. PORTUGAL became an independent state in the 12th century and its borders, as they are today, were in place by 1267.

3. MODERN football was introduced to Portugal in 1884 by Guilherme Pinto Basto, who had recently returned from studying in England. It was four years later when the first official football match took place.

4. ENGLAND and Portugal have a long history of alliances, beginning in 1147 when English crusaders helped the Portuguese oust Moor invaders from Lisbon.

5. THERE is an annual festival in Porto in June when people dance through the streets hitting each other over the head with leeks!

6. PORTUGAL once boasted an empire that included Brazil, Goa, Angola, Mozambique, Macau and Guinea.

7. A FAVOURITE sport in Portugal is bullfighting, but unlike Spain it is illegal to kill the bull. The fight ends with a team of eight trying to wrestle the bull to the ground.

8. DESPITE being a hugely popular holiday destination Portugal apparently has fewer hotel beds than Blackpool.

9. PORTUGAL shares St George with England as a patron saint. St George's other responsibilities, include Germany (!), Lithuania, Malta, soldiers, skin diseases and syphilis.

10. PORTUGAL is the world's leading supplier of cork.

It's all in the mind

TO QUOTE a very well-worn phrase, it's a funny old game.

Football is packed with superstitions - from the top players to the fanatical fans.

Take tonight for example. As England prepare to take on Portugal for a place in the semis there will be millions of us wearing exactly the same thing as we did when our boys beat the Croatians, sitting in the same seat and drinking the same brew.

Here's a selection of soccer superstitions and other trivia.

FORMER Man Utd, Liverpool and England midfielder Paul Ince famously never puts his shirt on until he is running out on to the pitch.

FRENCH defender Lauren Blanc always used to kiss the bald head of goalkeeper Fabien Barthez (right) before a match.

BRYAN GUNN, ex-Norwich goalkeeper, used to wear a braid of his daughter's hair around his neck. She died from leukaemia about 10 years ago.

SUNDAY league side Moneyfield Sports from Portsmouth were stuck in a losing streak, when one of their players suggested they do a Beckham and wear ladies' underwear for a match. The team duly sported a pair of their other halves' undies for the next game and won.

LIKE many religious footballers, Chelsea midfielder Claude Makele always crosses himself before running on the pitch.

IN the 1998 World Cup the Romanian team all dyed their hair blond, a talisman or perhaps just a weird style statement. Back in Romania buses taking teams to a game cannot reverse, as it is seen to be unlucky, while players have to put their right foot on the pitch before their left or be cursed in the match.

FORMER Liverpool man Ronnie Whelan refused to shave on a match day.

MANY Liverpool players touch the 'This is Anfield' sign as they head down the stairs to the pitch from the dressing room.

A SURVEY of fans' superstitions revealed that more than one-third of male football fans come out in sympathy with their idols and abstain from sex the night before a big match. Almost half have a lucky shirt they wear for matches and four per cent don't wash the shirt if there has been a good result. Ten per cent say they eat the same breakfast every match day. Other superstitions include not speaking to anyone on the day of the game and watching the TV with the volume down.

Quick quotes . . .

Terry Venables, former England manager and ITV Euro 2004 pundit:

"..I felt a lump in my throat as the ball went in."

Jimmy Greaves, striking legend:

"..He hit the post and after the game people will say, well he hit the post."

Barry Venison, who could have been talking about Monday night:

"..the Croatians don't play well without the ball."

Reporter:

"..This might sound like a daft question, but you'll be happy to get your first win under your belt, won't you?"

Gordon Strachan, the interviewers favourite:

"..You're right. It is a daft question, I'm not even going to answer that one. It is a daft question, you're spot on there."

Ron Atkinson, currently TV leper after racist remarks:

"..Well, either side could win it, or it could be a draw."

Kevin Keegan (right), he of the classically indecipherable quotes:

"..The tide is very much in our court now."

And again: "..In some ways cramp is worse than having a broken leg."

And again: "..that would have been a goal if the goalkeeper hadn't saved it."

And again: "..Argentina are the second best side in the world - and there's no better praise than that."

And again: "..We deserved to win this game after hammering them 0-0 in the first half."

What the Portuguese flag means: The central design is of an armiliary sphere, representing navigation, surmounted by a shield containing seven yellow castles, representing expansion, and five shields representing the five Moorish princes defeated by founding king Alphonso Henriques. Each of these have dots representing the stigmata of Christ.

CAPTION(S):

D20415_1 RELAXED: Emma Cole gives young rider Aaron Brown a hypnotherapy session. Picture: JAMES BALFOUR; DIP IN FORM: Would England international Michael Owen benefit from a hypnotherapy session?; D20415_2 GETTING FOCUSED: Rider Aaron Brown