Mindfulness In Sports

Sports—which involve emotion, competition, cooperation, achievement, and play—provide a rich area for psychological study. People involved in sports attempt to master very difficult skills, often subjecting themselves to intense physical stress as well as social pressure. research has expanded into numerous areas such as imagery training, hypnosis, relaxation training, motivation, socialization, conflict and competition, counseling, and coaching. Specific sports and recreational specialties studied include baseball, basketball, soccer,

Playing tennis, or any sport, year-round at a competitive level is strenuous not only to a developing athlete’s body but to their mind. Because of this mental strain, student athletes that specialize in a certain sport are often susceptible to a phenomenon called sport burnout. For many elite athletes, burnout is a constant threat due to the hypercompetitive nature of modern sports. There are many variables and conditions that can lead to sport burnout, but by identifying and combating these variables, athletes can stay in top physical and mental condition.

Our thoughts, diet/nutrition, exercise, rest, environment and physiology have a positive or negative impact on us which affects how well we perform and feel. In the world of sports, this is very easy to demonstrate because the mind/body connection provides you with immediate feedback. When you are positive, your performance excels. When you are negative, your performance is adversely affected. With various types of distress, or

A study by Nutrition and athletic performance. (2016) identified the relationship between athlete sport anxiety and various outcomes. Athletes were asked to relate seven coaching behaviors (physical training, mental preparation, goal setting, technical skills, competition strategies, personal rapport, and negative personal rapport) to various forms of sport anxiety (total anxiety, somatic anxiety, concentration disruption, and worry). The investigators found that negative personal rapport was a significant predictor of all measured forms of sport anxiety.They found that when coaches superimpose their goals on children’s participation, they can render a child’s experience a negative

At Clear Choice Coaching we are changing our thought process and model from devoting ourselves to winning. We have recognized that this visual is not a long lasting fruitful one to use because there is more to life than the score of the game. We wanted to use a model that provided results and addresses an engaging model for our coaches and athletes to follow. We wanted to address player’s lives in and out of the competitive arena. With this thinking becoming a part of the fabric of our organization we recognized that individuals can choose the way they think and these thoughts can be achieved through the application of specific cognitive strategies and ultimately impact our administrative and athletic performance. With the help of a sport psychology

Few within the realm of competitive athletics would argue with the importance of being mentally prepared prior to an athletic competition as well as the need to maintain that particular mindset during a competitive contest. Nevertheless, recent research has shown that many athletes, coaches, and sporting administrators are still quite reluctant to seek out the services of a qualified sport psychologist, even if they believe it could help. One of the primary reasons for this hesitation appears to be a lack of understanding about the process and the mechanisms by which these mental skills affect performance. Unlike the “harder sciences” of sport physiology and biochemistry where athletes can see the tangible results in themselves or other athletes (e.g., he or she lifted weights, developed larger muscles, and is now stronger/faster as a result) (Gee, Chris J (2010): 386-402.) Using sports phycology has been found to give athletes multiple benefits, such as improvement, and that athlete being able to understand how to develop a growth and or positive mindset. Lastly another way that has been found to improve athletes is taking mental repetitions for their sport. One of the keys to Jeff’s improvement over the years, and certainly a key to him making a roster in the NFL, is his ability to take mental reps. The champion mindset recognizes

Common intervention procedures that have been applied include, but are not limited to, positive reinforcement, praise, error correction, goal- setting, performance feedback, public posting, modelling, and self- monitoring (Luiselli, Woods, & Reed, 2011; Martin, 2015; Smith, Smoll, & Curtis, 1979). These methods of ABA, singly or in combination, have been proven to be effective behavior change procedures among athletes of varying ages, different skill levels, and across a variety of sports (Smith, Smoll, & Curtis, 1979; Martin, 2015). Upon implementing these intervention procedures to young elite athletes, behaviorists must consider the operant relations associated with skill and performance, as well establishing appropriate measurement tools to assess behavior change

State anxiety occurs during competition and decreases performances but interventions can decrease cognitive and somatic anxiety (Prapavessis, Grove, McNair, & Cable). Athletes can also attain anxiety when they do not see their coaches as competent. For example, if a coach were to tell a soccer athlete to do this and then they get hurt they would not trust them and be anxious doing any other directions (Myers, Beauchamp, & Chase, 2011). Since coaches are able to reduce an athlete’s anxiety then, coaches have the ability to create a positive atmosphere and in this study student-athletes had an overall positive view of their coaches' ability to develop autonomy-supportive team climates (Noble & Forester, 2016). According to researcher’s anxiety may be a predisposition but state anxiety is heavily influenced by the motivational climate, more specifically ego environments athletes reported increases in anxiety over the season (Smith, Smoll, & Cumming, 2007). When athletes enter state anxiety many have coping methods, and PPR may influence performance through lowering the athlete’s anxiety (Hazell, Cotterill, & Hill, 2014) or even self-talk (Miles & Neil, 2013), but the success of using these techniques would depend on the situation. However, some research suggests that regardless of competition (good or bad) and sport (long duration/short duration) athletes reported an equal number of experiences and implemented coping strategies (Nieuwenhuys, Vos, Pijpstra, & Bakker, 2011). With this conflicting research on how it effects athletes, there is research that states giving athletes CSAI-2 or sports oriented questionnaires can help both parties understand each other (Hall & Kerr,

All athletes need to be able to regulate arousal to stay in control and focused so they can achieve and compete. Athlete who can’t successfully manage his/her stress may experience decreases in performance, as well as mental and physical distress that will lead him/her to lose competition. Only good athletes who can increase their awareness of their psychological conditions before they can control their thoughts and spirits.

Mindfulness itself relies on a process called automaticity. Automaticity is the ability to unconsciously and without effort, engage in behaviours (Kang, Gruber, & Gray, 2012). Automaticity produces negative societal or individual

At its essence, mindfulness is about developing a focused state of mind through a process of directing and controlling thoughts and thought patterns at a specific time. It involves developing a better sense of self-awareness, being focused on breathing or anything else that helps to create a point of focus, removing mental

There are different ways in which a coach can help their athlete manage and control their arousal levels to prevent negative anxiety. These coping strategies have proven to be successful for various athletes as they try to fix bad habits that are left on the field or court during their performance. The first strategy is imagery and mental rehearsal. This strategy allows an athlete to visualize, in their mind, a specific game event or a skill they feel they need to work on. By an athlete visioning themselves performing the skill, without the use of their body, it allows them to find kinks in their game that might be affecting their play during performance. This strategy can also include an athlete examining video or another athlete to see what

In earlier days sports psychology was mostly concerned with developing assessment methods that would identify those people with the potential to become serious superior athletes. Today the focus is on psychological training, exercises that strengthen the mental skills that will help athletic performances on the path to excellence. These skills include mental imagery and focus training. If an athlete is serious about becoming the best he or she can possibly be, the most essential ingredient is commitment to practice the right things. It takes incredible commitment to reach the top: a commitment to rest and train the body so it can perform under the most demanding conditions and a commitment to train the mind to

Mindfulness can be defined as focusing in the present through the self-regulation of attention to allow for increased awareness of one’s mental events and experiences characterized by acceptance, openness, and curiosity (Bishop, Lau, Shapiro, Carlson, Anderson, Carmody, & et al., 2004, p. 232). A key component of the third-generation therapies are mindfulness

Mindful breathing teaches how to quiet the everlasting dialogue that truly ravages our brain. It is really simplification of the present without thoughts about the past, the future, or any baggage in between. Simply just breathing deeply while focusing on each breath is mindful breathing. The end result is better mental clarity, focus, and increased physical and mental performance benefiting athletes, students, pilots, and businessmen, to name a few. This discussion covers: reasons why to conduct this valuable tool to enhance mental skills and improve health, mindful breathing in sports, techniques on how to conduct it, and my personal experience and suggestions.