A Little Deception Helps Push Athletes to the Limit

I think the discussed implication (some barriers to physical limits are primarily mental) is accurate, and evidenced years ago by the experience of Roger Bannister [1]. The barrier stood for years, but after it was broken it was beaten often, and "is now the standard of all professional middle distance runners" [2].

My broader question, however, is while it's clear how to apply the findings in timed individual sports (running, cycling, swimming), how can this best be applied to team sports like soccer or football?

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile