Mental Coach Sports are generally stereotyped as physical activities that require little to no cognitive abilities, but this could not be further from the truth. Sports are extremely mentally driven, and the psychological maturity of an athlete greatly influences their physical performance. These athletes’ coaches play a key role in not only strengthening the physical component of their game, but also the mental maturation within their chosen sport. Many researchers have studied how the coach affects the athlete on a psychological level, but one of the most prominent studies is, “The Association Between the Perceived Coach-Athlete Relationship and Athletes’ Basic Psychological Needs” by Hunhyuk Choi, Seongkwan Cho, and Jinyoung Huh. This study would appeal to a vast majority of the population, but would specifically intrigue both current, and future collegiate-level athletes, and coaches. It would inform both parties of their role within the Coach-Athlete-Relationship (CAR), and what a healthy CAR should both mimic and produce. This matter would also be of interest to anyone working in positions of authority over both the athletes, and the coaches. This could be parents, athletic directors, psychologists, department directors, or psychiatrists to name a few. All of these people holding leadership roles should know how the CAR will affect the athletes on both a physical and psychological level. This study shows that the CAR impacts every area of the athletes’ loves including
Sport’s are an aspect of life that affect societies across the globe. Athletics affect everyone's life, whether that be playing the sport, watching games, or hearing about a sporting event. There is a big difference between playing an individual sport and players relying on their own athletic abilities versus a team sport when members of the team rely on their teammates to complete each individual's specific responsibility to reach the team's goal. Team sports bring people together in countless ways, and they teach many life skills for the athletes that participate in them. Some of these skills include communication, teamwork, discipline, work ethic, dedication, leadership, and numerous more that will help them in their personal and work
Growing up many of us knew the importance of sports and recreational activities and how they benefit both physical health and mental health. Our parents, school teachers, the media, and even our childhood sporting hero’s told the importance of sports and how it can keep us fit and healthy.
They will also realize that student-athletes are responsible for taking care of their business on and off the field. There was a study that found that almost half of the male athletes and slightly more than half of the female athletes, who were involved in the study, implied that stresses like pressure to win, excessive anxiety, frustration conflict, irritation, and fear affected their mental and emotional health (Humphrey et al., 2000). This is important to know because this can later or even immediately affect a person’s confidence and self worth. Freshmen are not the only class that deals with stress, which will affect their performance. Although these stress factors are brought to their attention early in their careers, most do not seek help nor do they find a solution to their problem. It is important that coaches have sport counselors that sit in and talk with these often to insure they are doing ok. These athletes are psychologically and physiologically hurting and need
It is said that the reason for student-athletes experiencing higher stress levels are because of their extensive time-demands, pressures to achieve, physical burn-out and conflict with teammates, coaches and teachers. (J. W. 2015). In one hand I believe that this overall statement is true, but on the other hand I believe the amount of stress depends on the individual and there involvement with their academics and athletics (Sudano, L. E., Collins, G., & Miles, C. M. (2017). With social stress, the
Since athletes are people with social influence, they are able to mobilize citizens towards social activities that can be beneficial to the society (Smith, 2013). In addition, they can come up with a project that is aimed at benefiting the less fortunate in the society. It can bring about a social change as well as economic development to those who they give a service to. Athletes have to stand up for the people whose voice has been silenced and whose living are being banished by the policies and orders of the country. Athletes are the most visible expression of performance and financial success in the United States. They have an influential power that can bring people from different cultures or religious to come up with amazing strategies in the society (Smith, 2013). They can allow the people through their different activities related to the society. They should be confident, honest and supportive. They have to get past to athlete’s association and personal advisers and think about what is best for the people of their nation.
Occasionally in some athletes’ lives, the parents pick the sport their child participates in. They may do this because they want to envision themselves and their child participating. Athletes’ parents push them to go to practice and games, and they end up quitting due to the parents “gap between the child’s desire to have fun and the misguided notion among some adults that their kids’ games are a miniature version of grown-up competitions, where the goal is to win (Atkinson). This problem can lead to psychological and anxiety issues in children. If a child believes they have to be the best, but they physically and emotionally can’t, it can make the relationship between the parent and child distant and not as strong. Parents hope to see their children in the professional sports; however, only “one in six thousand high school football players will make it to the NFL” (Atkinson). With these statistics, the odds are very low for athletes to make it that far, and parents pushing their children to be that .0001 chance can stress a kid out and strain their academics. In bigger schools, it is more competitive to be on a school sports team, which can cause heartbreak if an athlete does not make the team, but the parent can take it to a whole new level believing that the child did not work hard enough. This can sometimes lead to the student being punished, with
Over the years, the growth and changes in competitive sports has increased significantly. Sports games are now available twenty four seven weather it’s on national television or the radio, these activities have become a staple to American culture. Due in part to this, organizations have changed American athletics from more of a fun playtime to competition. Although, we may enjoy watching an intense sports game on television, the emotional and physical long term effects outweigh the entertainment of the people eagerly watching these activities occur. Also, the motivation to play the sport has become less about the team aspect and more about the emphasis on victory. Due to the unhealthy support from those around developing athletes, they’re
At their finest, coaches perfect their player’s flaws to push them to their potential ability, improve their skills, and create determination within the team. They can expand the importance of such a sport to intensify motivation and the value of good sportsmanship for the sake of not only their reputation, but the outcome that comes from it. Coaches must not lag when it comes to hardships that comes about; they must stay connected. The closer the connection between a player and a coach the better they are moving forward and continuing on the love of the sport and job.
many young athletes’ perceptions that their parents expect them to be extraordinary and would criticize them if they failed to deliver. The added pressure from coaches to be perfect can also deter young athletes’ focus on doing what is right or doing what will allow them to succeed and ultimately satisfy their parents and coaches desires (Madigan, Stoeber & Passfield, 2016).
However, when we talk about youth sports, our main concern is with providing players with a positive, character building experience. Winning is not the only acceptable outcome for youth players, and coaches need to understand this principle. “With a winning philosophy young athletes may lose out on opportunities to develop their skills, to enjoy participation, and to grow socially and emotionally. Well informed coaches realize that success is not equivalent to winning games, and failure is not the same as losing.” (Enhancing Coach-Parent Relationships in Youth Sports, 15)
for one's mind and body work in tandem. The mind is a message center that
When considering enjoyment, known factors that affect the participation for youth sport participants are motivational climate and coaching behaviors. . The very first coach that a child encounter plays a very important role in the child’s sports life. In fact, the first coach a child encounters can be the determinant if the child will return to participating in the sport or not. Coaches need to motivate the children to play and continue athletic involvement. However, there are numerous external factors that are involved in the child’s sports life such as: peers, academics, parents, anxiety, and of course the relationship between the coach and the athlete.
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
Taking the time to reflect on why it is someone coaches is beneficial for personal growth, and for creating an awareness of one’s changes in motivation, which affects behavior. Therefore, changes in motivation can be reflected in someone’s behavior and his or her well-being. Those who feel that they are coaching because they want to, will be successful, and feel that coaching allows them to acquire relationships with their players, and display more motivation for coaching. Being aware of why someone coaches their sport is an important part of reflective practice. One person’s
My topic is similar to yours. I have always been intrigued to examine the relationship between coach and athlete. In my experience, I have found coaches who provide positive support and are constructive with their criticism are more enjoyable to play for and give the athlete a more positive experience. Coaches that come across as condescending seem to push kids away from the game. It is important that the student-athlete has a positive experience, especially student-athletes at a young age. I feel if a student-athlete has a negative experience at the interscholastic level he or she will be less likely to stick with the sport.