Who Is Kishore Kumar? Chennai's Sports Psychologist & National Wushu Medalist

The two halves of the work

Most coaches come from one side or the other. Either they have competed and can teach the physical craft, or they have studied psychology and can talk about the mind. I work from both, and that combination is the whole point.

I competed as a Wushu athlete and medalled at national level. I have also studied sports psychology formally and now serve as a state-level judge. That means when an athlete tells me their legs went heavy in the holding area before a final, I am not reasoning about it from a textbook. I know that feeling, and I know which drills move it.

Who I actually work with

The people who get the most from this work usually fall into one of four groups:

• Competitive athletes who train hard, perform well in practice, and then underperform on the day it counts.
• Students balancing sport with academic pressure, where focus is the scarce resource rather than fitness.
• Parents who can see their child has talent but is being held back by nerves, self-doubt or inconsistency.
• Schools and academies in Chennai that want structured mental-skills training built into their coaching, not bolted on after a bad season.

Why the martial arts base matters

Sports psychology delivered as a lecture rarely survives contact with competition. An athlete under pressure does not recall a slide; they fall back on what they have rehearsed.

Martial arts training is built around rehearsing composure under escalating stress. That gives me a delivery system for psychological skills — you practise the breathing, the reset routine and the refocus cue while someone is actively pressuring you, which is the only condition under which they become reliable.

Where I'm based

I coach in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, working with athletes and academies across the city and surrounding districts, and online for athletes elsewhere in India. Spartacus Martial Arts Chennai is the home base for in-person training.