Sports Psychology Research Paper

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

Sports psychology deals with the mental and emotional aspects of physical performance. It involves describing, explaining and predicting attitudes, feelings and behaviours in an attempt to improve performance. In the film 'Coach Carter,' directed by Thomas Carter, sport psychology is used effectively to enhance the performance of a high school basketball team. However, this improved performance is not limited to the basketball court, it extends into the classroom where the students use goal setting, motivation, concentration and confidence control, ultimately to become accepted into college, avoiding a life of drugs, gangs and prison.

Men and women are psychologically different in many ways. Some of these differences include competitiveness, goal orientation, self-confidence, motivation, mental toughness, incentives, preferences, etc. According to Anne Bowker in Sports Participation and Self-Esteem, Men have an advantage over women in sports because they're more aggressive and have higher self-esteem (2003).

The movie “The Blind Side” originally written by: Michael Lewis is about a highschool boy named Michael Oher who gets adopted by the Tuohy family. The family financially help Michael with his school grades in order to play football, after his grades went up Michael got the proper training to play in his school team. Eventually, he struggles but Sean motivates Michael training him using Football strategies. Sean recorded a video of his sports performance Therefore it made him famous and received a scholarship.

Being an athletic trainer in various sports for over five years, Pete has a great deal of insight and suggestions for someone who is interested in the field. As I am now considering a supplementary degree in athletic training, Pete has been exceptionally helpful in guiding me through that world. As many of my courses in Kinesiology also apply to an Athletic Training degree, he proposes that I get another bachelor’s degree, as it would take only a short period of time. In lieu of that option, he recommends that I begin a master’s program in athletic training upon completion of my current degree. Nevertheless, I must first decide if this career is the proper choice by evaluating the negative and positive aspects.

This report was created to help the Florida Sports Committee understand why Clear Choice Coaching will want to partner and incorporate the sport phycology discipline in our practices to help us with our approach to recruit, retain and develop our coaches. This report was created to bring attention to the benefits of working together with coaches and sport psychology professionals to help advance and implement reliable yearly platforms of activities that carry out quality measurable assessments. We concentrate in coaching Soccer, Basketball, Tennis and Football. We are confident by integrating this discipline we will develop increased efficiency, knowledge sharing and transfer of improved skills to our athletes. We can see the benefits that

In accordance to Rotella (1990)’s philosophy of service, I think the most important thing to accomplish when one first starts working with a client is to figure out what exactly the client wants out of this relationship, what goals they want to accomplish, how they think they can accomplish these goals, and what they need from me in order to get there. A consultant can do this by being completely up front with their athlete about what they are or are not capable of doing and what they are trained to do. Although I would be thrilled to work with any type of professional or college athlete, my ultimate dream is to be the on-staff sport psychology consultant for a collegiate athletic department. My goal in that position, besides being the best consultant I can be for my clients of course, will be to normalize counseling. Many athletes shy away from seeking out consults from a sport psychology consultant because they are afraid of being seen by their teammates, coaches, friends, etc. as “head cases” going to see a “shrink” (Gould & Damarjian, 1998). If I can change that perception and help athletes see the benefits of sport psychology consulting, then I would have done my job well. I think the best way I can accomplish this goal is by keeping a friendly, laid-back, non-judgmental attitude with my clients

The study results included that there were few differences between the male and female athletes perception of sport psychology except the males tend to view sport psychology as having to do with mental things and females viewed it as having a problem. Both genders seemed to view the barrier of using sport psychology services to be admitting you have a problem and how others (peers) would view it, embarrassment. Other conclusions from this study were that high school athlete has a positive attitude about sport psychology and want to gain a better understanding of the field. It was noted, the focus group facilitator’s background in the field of sport psychology was shared in the group and may have influenced the participates positive attitude

Today in sports athletes endure many mental and physical obstacles from there competitive environment. Many of today's best athletes work with sports psychologists to help them handle the pressures found in this competitive atmosphere. One question that athletes ask is, why cant they play in big games as well as they anticipate themselves doing? Sports psychologists feel that spending all their time on body conditioning and athletic skills will not ensure that athletes reach their peak performance.

Regarding the sport psychology consultant perception of performance profiling usefulness and impacts, a decretive analysis revealed that consultant believed profiling to be useful in providing the basic of goal, setting, and identifying strength and weakness. Also, sport psychology consultants perceive that performance profiling could be helpful in raising athlete’s awareness, evaluating,

When it comes to emotions and psychological well being athletes are not machines and they should not be expected to deny any mental struggles. Trainers, coaches, and physical therapists are there for their physical training but they also require psychological support. Those closest to the athletes need to learn to recognize the warning signs such as an overly self-critical nature, perfectionism, and fear of failure to be able to seek out help for the athletes. Sport governing bodies and organizations should induce protocols and procedures about how peers, coaches, and support staff can help when dealing with an athlete suffering from a mental illness. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has released “Mind, Body and Sport - Understanding and Supporting Student-Athlete Mental Wellness” which is a resource developed to provide information and outline the roles and responsibilities of sports staff and coaches as well as identifies the Models of service, and NCAA resources and policies. This is an extremely helpful and reliable source that other sporting organizations should follow. Also, high performance programs for both individual and team sports should require programs to have a team sport psychologist to be readily available for athletes, and to work with them on throughout the sporting season to be able to develop mental skills to better them on, and off the court. It should become the “responsibility (of the sport association) to provide the services and care to help each athlete reach his or her full potential” (Hainline 2014, 7) In some situations, Sport psychologists may find themselves having to address mental health issues with the athletes they counsel that they may find is out of their capability to deal with mental health problems. It may be

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

Children who participate in sports are developing rapidly in sports skills, sportsmanship, and psychologically, but does this come from organized sports are just nature’s process. Children develop emotional and social benefits from participating in sports. Children experience character and leadership development through peer relations leading to an increase in self-esteem and a decrease in anxiety levels. Children will get opportunities to experience positive and negative emotions throughout their practice and games trials. It is important for the coach to understand the “psychology of youth sports and physical activity participation” (Weinberg & Gould, 2011 p.516).