Sports Psychology And What Goes On The Brain Of An Athlete

Common factors that can contribute to performance anxiety include; fear of performance failure, negative social evaluation and/or physical harm, as well as disruption of a well learned routine (Cox, p.201, 2007). The effects of these factors can be further heightened in correlation with importance of an event, or the level of competition. These fears and feelings of anxiety may affect the athlete’s perception of their abilities and hinder their self-confidence, which can be detrimental to their performance. Patterns of perfectionism can also lead to sport-related anxiety, mainly involving setting exceptionally high performance standards of oneself (Cox, p.202, 2007). Setting high standards can often be beneficial to a performance, but athletes that succumb to unrealistic thoughts, that nothing but a perfect/ideal performance is good enough, are more likely to experience negative emotions and heightened levels of anxiety due to the discrepancy between ideal and current self/situation (Koivula, Hassmén, Fallby, 2001).

A common adverse affect of overtraining for an elite athlete is ‘Overtraining Syndrome’. Overtraining syndrome is a neuroendocrine (neural input cells in the brain) disorder characterized by poor performance in competition, inability to maintain training loads, persistent fatigue, frequent illness, disturbed sleep and the most frequent in an elite athlete: alterations in mood state (Nature Immunology and Cell Biology Laurel T Mackinnon May 2000). Nearly all athletes experience the mood deterioration observed without impairment in sport performance. Since the goal is to reach a point of improved performance within the athlete the athlete then has to reach his/her limits of physical capacity (or even beyond) and since the balance between the right amount of training and overtraining is a fragile line many athletes suffer from this overtraining syndrome. It is not the hard training that makes you stronger in fact it makes you slightly weaker, it is the rest that will allow your body to grow stronger. Physiologic improvement in sports only occurs during the rest period following hard training. Due to this need for hardened training many elite athletes overwork themselves

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,

Starting from my freshman year in high school I have always been more intrigued by the human mind and how it operates. Thanks to the study of psychology my curiosity only flourished even more as I got older. I find the observations psychology gives about human behavior very interesting, and I have been fascinated by it for as long as I can remember. I’ve been caught in between approaching the journey of being a sports psychologist and an industrial organizational psychologist. I am passionate about sports and studying Psychology. I plan on extending my knowledge in the mixture of the two and contributing it towards my future. I want to examine the various areas of sports psychology and also learn more about the idea of improving quality performance

Something that has always been in my life and repeatedly been said to me, or mentioned is that during a sporting event everything is mental. Now what I have always wondered was that everything in the mental game is based on one’s own preferences, the way one thinks and processes information and how he reacts to a situation. There are various components of an athlete’s mental game such as motivation, agility, confidence; all of which contribute in actual competitions, games or even at practice. More importantly, confidence is more complex because it is what is affected most of the mental game, that’s what makes or breaks an athlete, and that can be affected by a coach, parent, or negative teammate, it’s not just personal thoughts reflecting

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

Their responsibilities are to aid their athletes in overcoming psychological barriers and assist them in reaching their maximum potential regardless of the mental behaviors that may render them from doing so. In order to help their athletes overcome these barriers a sports psychologist may introduce strategies that improve an athlete's trust in their team or coach, encourage the team to work together and work on that athletes self confidence. In order to become a sports psychologist you must have at least a master’s degree in psychology but, having a doctorate’s degree would provide you with a larger variety of opportunities. Before applying for a job as a sports psychologist it would be wise to possess basic medical knowledge (since you’ll be working with athletes.) The most successful sports psychologists have had prior experience working in the psychology field, have gained experience teaching and conducting research and have participated in or watched various sports.

The field of sports psychology is only beginning. A short while ago in 1898 an experiment that was conducted by Norman Triplett successfully discovered a positive correlation between a biker’s performance and a social component or audience. Since then the only major progress has been the sports psychology lab established at the University of Illinois in 1925. The man responsible for the lab Coleman Griffith has also offered courses that teach the nature of sports psychology. Griffith’s research focuses on the factors that effect athletic performance such as “reaction time, mental awareness, muscular tension and relaxation, and personality”. Fortunately, a new study has surfaced the Psychology

They were also more focused on their individual performances than that of their team and were in general highly motivated to do well in sport. Coaches and Sport Psychologists would therefore want to provide the pre-elite athletes the knowledge and exposure to these psychological skills so that the latter would exhibit a more elite profile and increase their chances of success. (Mahoney et al 1987 in White, 1993). Waldron and McCann state that elite athletes have the following characteristics: "mentally relaxed, physically relaxed, confident, focused on the present, highly energized, extraordinary awareness, in control and in the cocoon". Beginners should aspire and aim to gain these characteristics through mental skills training.

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

The reason for this is because when it comes to sport psychology, nobody can tell you what to do or not do to mentally prepare for failure. Everyone handles failure in their own way. However, what this article does do a great job with is explaining different routines and methods for preparation. Some have worked for the athlete’s others haven’t. Although I don’t have any professional experience in the sport psychology field, I believe that all the topics discussed in this article are both relevant, logical, and accurate methods to mentally prepare for your job at

I agree every athlete deals with some sort of anxiety. I can understand how anxiety can be over came by being though methods. An athletes mental toughness can be decided how they conquer there state of mind. I mention about how watching game tape before a game help me with anxiety about not preforming at the top level.

It has been identified that through sports psychology one can improve their physical ability and performance. Sports psychology is the study of how the mind, mental states and behaviour effect sporting performance. There are several sport psychology techniques, which have helped me become a better volleyball player. These techniques include planning for performance, controlling arousal levels, mental rehearsal and concentration.

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

Top level sport is characterized by a demand to excel at optimal levels while performing under conditions that are considered extremely demanding. The pursuit for performance excellence in sport encompasses the continuing development of four key facets of performance, namely physical, technical, tactical, and mental skills. However, when physical, technical, and tactical skills are evenly matched, which commonly occurs in competition especially at the highest level , performers who possess more of what is commonly referred to as ‘‘mental toughness’’ appear to prevail more often than those with less mental toughness (Gucciardi, Gordon, & Dimmock, 2008). Psychological attributes such as self-confidence and