All the great coaches in all the major sports are agreed on one thing: the most important part of an athlete's body is the top three inches of his head.

The brain is a wonderful and infinitely versatile tool - it controls everything - and is at the very heart of how sportsmen and women perform around the globe. A fit brain is worth a million press-ups or thousands of hours ploughing up and down the pool every morning.

You will instantly recognise many of the following phrases that we journalists tend to use, all of which hint at how a fit and strong mind is at the very heart of sport: mind over matter, the power of thought; will-power; iron will; positive thinking; strength of character; clarity of thought; resilience; concentration; coolness under pressure... and so on. I'm sure you have your favourites.

It's a huge subject but let me try and give a few examples of 'mind over matter' in sport to spark a debate among yourselves and who knows perhaps improve your performance.

• Mike Brearley
  Mike was one of England's most successful ever cricket captains - and one of the brightest academically gaining a double first from Cambridge University and subsequently working as both a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist. He brought a scientific approach to captaincy and also to the man-management of his team.

  If Ian Botham was struggling a little on a flat track and looking tired he would go up to Beefy and tease him as to why he was only bowling medium pace and warn him that he was going to bring on the spinners instead. This would almost certainly guarantee three or four overs at express pace from Botham and, usually, a couple of wickets.

  Brearley was also interesting on the art, as an opening batsmen, of facing the four West Indian fast bowlers of the mid 70s - Michael Holding, Colin Croft, Joel Garner and Malcom Marshall - undoubtedly the most fearsome fast bowling attack ever assembled.

  To try and remain calm and slow his heart beat down Brearley would hum some of the great works of Beethoven and Mozart to himself as they approached in their run-ups! Many other players have revealed that they use similar ploys.

• Arthur Ashe
  The late Arthur Ashe was the first black male tennis player to have a major impact on the world scene, and as a result was clearly the target of massive media attention and crowd interest. As if simply playing a Wimbledon final wasn't stressful enough!

  His greatest moment was in the 1975 Wimbledon Final against strong favourite Jimmy Connors when he stunned the crowd at every cross-over break by pulling his towel completely over his head and meditating for 60 seconds. Clearly refreshed and inspired he played the game of his life and won.

  There have been a lot of imitators since but Ashe was for real. His favourite sporting mantra was "You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy."

• Muhammad Ali
  Ali's great mental trick was to make his opponent feel beaten before they even got into the ring. Ali had such a quick wit and was so verbose - and looked so supremely athletic and self-confident - that his opponents would cower and become apologetic and defeated at the pre-fight press conference and weigh-ins.

  If you didn't stand up to Ali mentally you were beaten before the first bell even rang. Those who beat Ali, who went close, were those who stood up to him mentally.

Visualisation

Many great sportsmen talk about this. Before your game/innings/match - you should try mentally rehearsing in minute detail everything that you want to achieve. Over and over again. Then when the moment actually comes, your brain has been there before and reacts accordingly.

For me the prime example of this is Jonny Wilkinson's famous dropped goal to win the 2003 World Cup. There was nothing random about this dropped goal, it was both a rehearsed move - it was called zig-zag and England has practiced it in training two days before the final - and a dropped goal Jonny had also kicked many times in his mind. In Sydney on the night of 22 November 2003 mind and body came together.

On the subject of rugby and the mental approach, Sir Clive Woodward has an expression that he drummed into his great England side of 2003 which won the Grand Slam, defeated New Zealand and Australia during a summer tour and then won the World Cup. He called it TCUP. Thinking Correctly Under Pressure. This is an easy concept to understand but difficult to enact.

Essentially it means doing the right thing at the right time. That's easy enough to understand, but when your adrenalin is pumping and you are playing for your country in front of 80,000 people it is the mind you have to train, not the body. Don't argue with the ref and get him to advance the penalty 10 yards into kicking range, don't get yellow carded, don't take risky singles when there is no need, don't eat dodgy prawn curries the night before a big game, don't buy new boots for the biggest game of your life - use your old tried and trusted ones - don't start playing catch-up when there is still 40 minutes of a match to go.

So there you have it! TCUO. Think Correctly Under Pressure - and you will be much more successful at whatever sport you enjoy.