Cognitive training at training ground sharpens Corinthians minds

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Central do Timão

·23 octobre 2025

Cognitive training at training ground sharpens Corinthians minds

By Daniel Keppler / Central do Timão Editorial Team

Corinthians has introduced an unprecedented structure for Brazilian football at the Joaquim Grava Training Center: a cognitive training room equipped with flashing lights, interactive screens, virtual reality glasses, and technology-guided activities. The space, inaugurated in May next to the gym, aims to enhance athletes' mental performance through scientific and technological methods.

Details of the tool were revealed by the portal ge.globo, which interviewed Lulinha Tavares, who coordinates the space and accompanies the delegation on game days, bringing cognitive activities to the locker rooms: “Today, the mental aspect is seen not only as a health care issue. High performance has nothing to do with mental health. What is required is mental performance.”

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Photo: Reproduction/Corinthians TV

He continued: “Mental performance is divided into two parts: the athlete knowing themselves, self-regulating, and controlling anxiety, breathing, and heart rate, as well as training aspects like attention, reaction, peripheral vision, and impulsivity control, which aids in decision-making, the new frontier of athlete development.”

The exercises performed include glasses that block vision in specific areas, forcing the brain to “complete” the image and stimulating neuroplasticity. “It is now known that, through neuroplasticity, you can train the neuron, so the athlete's reaction speed is much faster. What does this give them? Confidence and self-control. A difficulty is created, and the athlete finds solutions”, explains the mental trainer.

In addition to traditional physiotherapy assessments and physical activation before training, some Corinthians players have voluntarily joined the new space. Among them are Yuri Alberto, André Ramalho, Cacá, Felipe Longo, and Gui Negão, the latter being the leader in the “quick touch” exercise — a competition on an interactive screen where he has already scored 114 points and an average reaction time of 526 milliseconds per touch.

“I used to be afraid to go there. The people who did it were more experienced, and I was afraid to go and do it wrong. But today I find it very important for training and games, it helps with concentration, attention, and decision-making”, says Gui Negão.

Yuri Alberto highlights the team's mental evolution: “I am improving my focus a lot because we are doing many positive things with Lulinha”. He adds: “It has been very positive for us. I already have hyperfocus during the game, but for some who don't, being able to train impulsivity control, agility, and reaction has been very positive for us. Every day, a large part of the group tries to pass by there to do some things to keep the mind more active for training time.”

The project is seen as strategic by executive Fabinho Soldado, who stated: “It is proven that high-performance football is about details, and this department comes to help athletes have greater focus in each game through mental training. And for the club to ultimately have a better-prepared athlete to help Corinthians in pursuit of its goals.”

The expectation is that, by next year, cognitive tests will be included in pre-season evaluations, adding to medical and physical exams and allowing for more precise monitoring of athletes' progress. Victor Cavallari, sports psychologist and founder of Sensorial, the partner company responsible for the new space's equipment, argues:

“More and more sports professionals are bringing neuroscience as a differential point for daily work. The next evolution in sports is the neuroscientific evolution. It's about exploring cognitive capacity more because the body is already reaching its limit. Sleep, nutrition, physiology, physical recovery, strength training, power training, all of this is already reaching the limit. But we haven't explored the brain much yet. The era of the brain has arrived.”

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