Mind games

Global – Nike has added a series of exercises to its existing Nike Soccer app to help train the brains of the next generation of football players.

• Pro Genius offers exclusive techniques used by sports performance psychologists to train professional players
• Nike plans to update the app with new challenges that will put users’ cognitive skills to the test

The free update, which aims to help users ‘train like a football genius’, was distributed to 2.6m Nike Soccer app users on release day and is available in 20 languages.

‘The tools were developed working closely with the world’s best footballers as well as renowned experts in the fields of sports performance psychology and mind training,’ the brand said in a statement.

Pro Genius comprises five games and tools that enable users to develop their decision-making, strategy, confidence and visualisation skills.

Nike collaborated with advertising agency AKQA to create a series of 60-second video spots that show superstar footballers such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Mario Götze and Joe Hart using the Pro Genius suite of performance-enhancing tools.