Taking a Look at Sports Psychology

Behaviour becomes either more or less likely depending on its consequences. The theory is that if you reward behaviours they are more likely to occur again, while punishment is more likely to reduce the chances of that behaviour occurring in the future. Coach Carter successfully uses negative motivation, however, positive motivation is rarely used and sport psychology research overwhelmingly supports the use of a predominantly (80-90%) positive approach. (Peak Performance issue 214) That said, the negative approach works very well in this situation

Sara D’Esposito

The job I have chosen to do my interview on is a sports psychologist. The responsibilities of a sports psychologist include the following things: evaluate what the client is in need of as well as evaluating their abilities; and observe athletic performance and behaviors that go with that; come up with different strategies that are going to help the client overcome whatever they are having a hard time with and putting these strategies into effect; putting an update on the athletes performance; seeing that the individual has the ability to develop as time goes on; working with a other psychologists, nutritionist, and physiologists; providing the individual with counseling and different kinds of workshops that go over the different

The mentally tough athlete has the ability to attain, maintain, and regain a flow-mindset with a total focus on process and performance goals with a growth-mindset operating at the Ideal Performance State (IPS) and not be influenced by the fans who are only looking at the outcome.

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.

According to James Loehr, a famous sport psychologist, mental toughness is defined as the ability to constantly maintain a perfect performance state during the heat of competition (Loehr, 1986). Since then, Goldberg (1998) has well-defined mental toughness as the ability to stand high in the face of difficulty, and being able to rebound from repetitive setbacks and failures. Fletcher and Fletcher (2005) defined mental toughness as the ability to manage with various

My preferred future career is sports and exercise psychologist because being fit and healthy is an important essential in anyone's life. Happiness, success, goals and opportunities are one of his major roles of why I picked this job.

The articles employ different structures; one is written in chronological order and the other is organized by problem and solution. “Sport Psychology: the Ultimate Spring Board of Excellence” is formatted so that the reader can understand the origins of sport psychology. The author, Jitendra

Athletes have many ways of preparing for games. Some use a path of mental strength to use over competitors. This could be done through a mental training program (MTP). These programs started appearing about 20 years ago, and target adult athletes to help improve performance (Doganis, 2004, p. 118). On the other hand some athletes are conditioned to use their mental strength and chanel it into confidence (Grandjean, Taylor, & Weiner, 2002, p. 325) or some older athletes are just naturally different in their mindset due to years of practice and performance (Gyomber, Kovacs, & Lenart, 2016, p. 228).

My philosophy is based on providing the athletes with an opportunity to enhance their performance and develop their skills in a supportive and enjoyable environment.

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

For example, Jones, Hanton, and Connaughton (2007) investigated mental toughness in some athletes who had achieved sporting success at the highest level. Participants included 3 coaches, 4 sports psychologists and 8 world or Olympic champions. Three matters were addressed – the vital attributes needed to be mentally tough, a mental toughness framework and how mental toughness is defined. The results of the investigation verified the definition formed by Jones, Hanton, and Connaughton (2007). Also, 30 attributes required to be mentally tough were identified. These attributes were included under 4 headings within the mental toughness framework: training, attitude/mindset, competition and post competition. Through the mental toughness framework, the results suggest that mental toughness can be linked to sporting

At a young age, sports is more of a mental game because athletes consciousness and vocabulary are still developing. Coaches need to realize how important it is to have mental toughness as athlete. Mental toughness plays a role in athlete by build confidence that transfers from practice to competition. It teaches the athlete to supercharge focus and confidence before competition and let go or move on from mistakes, losses, and setbacks. The sport psychology knowledge will help the coaches manage distractions and negative self-talk to perform with laser-like focus of the athlete. When a young athlete learns the concepts of sport psychology during sports, it will help they develop into confidence individual without reacting negative when they are off their game. When working with young athlete, the individual need to know how to encourage and making sure they are confident. Young athletes mental state at young age is important because you can hurt them or benefit them depend on how you teach

Mental toughness is regarded as one of the most pivotal attributes needed for athletic success. However, past research on the topic has been varied in quality, as it lacked scientific rigor and conceptual clarity. Sports psychologist Graham Jones, using qualitative methods, attempts to remedy the problem via ten case studies that study elite, international athletes. Jones proceeds with two primary research questions: How can mental toughness be defined? What are the essential attributes required to be a mentally tough performer? Through the use of focus groups, follow up interviews, and detailed assessment of the data procured from the two aforementioned methods, Jones finds that the elite athletes define mental toughness in two primary ways:

Mental toughness is not a new concept in sport, but is generally misunderstood. Coaches design programmes to develop mentally tough athletes, predominately in professional sport, to separate elite performers from good performers (Gould, Jackson, & Finch, 1993) as physical talent itself is not the only component that can lead an athlete to success (Gucciardi, Gordon, & Dimmock, 2008).

Developing mental toughness has become an important concentration for athletes, coaches, and sports psychologists. Mental toughness is an athlete’s ability to focus, rebound from failure, cope with pressure, and persist in the face of adversity (Weinberg, Gould, 2015). In addition, mental toughness is used to measure athletes’ resilience and confidence, which may predict their success in sports. Also, mental toughness is the reason why athletes attain great achievements. A person with mental toughness faces challenges directly and is effective in solving them. Athletes who are mentally tough have a combination of self-control, skill and resilience. Mental toughness consists of four factors, which are labeled as determination, self-belief, positive cognition and visualization (Weinberg, Gould, 2015). Moreover, athletes are not born with mental toughness; rather, it includes a set of learning attitudes and ways of viewing competitive situations in productive ways. Psychological skills’ training enriches the mental toughness of athletes and increases their emotional wellness, which can have great benefits to overall health and performance.