The Intervention Strategies Of Self Talk

For some athletes, sports can be a good way to cope with stress. When they hit the court or the field, they feel as if all of their worries from that day vanish. But for others, sports can be how a person identifies his or herself and where they derive most of their self-esteem. So that moment when you realize something in your body or your mind isn’t right, you push through it and tell yourself it will go away. But sometimes the pain gets worse. So you have two

“I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot .. and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why... I succeed.” - Michael Jordan, This quote michael jordan made was very powerful and inspiring. With a man that was the best in nba at the time and in the speech he is talking about missing shots and game winner shots but he made how many shots. He doesn't talk about how good he was or how many rings he got. This speech was his way of telling not give up and you will succeed in whatever you're doing or whatever you are motivated in whatever you want to do. I connect to this quote in a lot of ways, By missing the

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,

Robert Cantu discusses the lessons that can’t be learned in sports like tennis or golf. He writes, “In football, a lineman can execute a crackerjack block that clears the way for the runner to burst through the hole. The runner trips on his feet and plays ends with no gain. Or the opposite occurs and we mess up at the expense of teammates. That’s analogous to real life, isn’t it?” In a sport, one does the best they can, expecting the same from the other team, and is content with whatever result. Pressure is also a crucial learning aspect in sports. Most athletes love the pressure a game or competition has; it keeps the athletes on their toes and ready to overcome the challenge set in front of them. The responses that these athletes give under pressure is amazing and gives them the self-motivation they need to

82 male and female undergraduate students from Princeton University were randomly assigned to a sports intelligence condition, or a racial primed/not primed condition (Stone et al., 1999). Participants who were assigned to the sports intelligence condition read instructions that stated that the true purpose of the test was to measure personal factors that were related to the ability to think strategically during the performance of a task (Stone et al., 1999). Participants who were assigned to the racial prime/no prime condition were given instructions that stated the purpose of the test was to measure psychological factors that were related to general sports performance (Stone, Lynch, Sjomeling & Darley, 1999). Additionally, all participants were asked to fill out a five-item self-report measure on anxiety along with a demographic questionnaire where they were asked to indicate their age, race, gender, and year in school (Stone et al., 1999). This demographic questionnaire was presented first for the racial primed condition and last for the condition that did not receive any racial priming (Stone et al., 1999). During the performance task, participants were given a golf club and ball and were asked to hit the ball into one of three holes using the fewest strokes possible (Stone et al., 1999).

Hours before a match, athletes in all corners of the world tend to freak out due to all the psychological factors that accompany performance in sports. Stop for a quick second and imagine becoming a Manchester United Striker or a Denver Broncos Wide-Receiver. For those who did not know already, these two positions are among the hardest in the sports world to play. Not only must the person assigned to these positions stay up until the early hours of the morning studying plays and formations so they might better assist their team come match day, but they also act as the main way the teams they play for get any points. If the expectation of being the team’s top scorers isn’t enough, they must also act as an inspiration to every other

Many athletes would agree that they have felt butterflies in their stomach or a sudden rush of adrenaline before an important game. This feeling can either translate into legendary performances or monumental failures. According to Sharon D. Hoar (2007), to fully comprehend anxiety’s effect on performance, one must understand the discrimination between two unique sets of sources: trait and state anxiety, and cognitive and somatic anxiety. Anxiety symptoms are numerous and unique to every athlete. Hoar suggests that athletes might report cognitive symptoms (eg. Inability to focus), somatic symptoms (eg. Sweaty palms), or both. The author discusses a variety of sources of anxiety and argues that it can have both positive and negative effects

Athletes are under pressure.the pressure comes from losing or family or friends or coaches or their team.

Have you ever thought to yourself before a game ‘wow I’m going to lose”, “I’m not good enough”, “I’m terrible at this” which was overexaggerating and de-motivating? Negative self-talk can affect your performance whether this is a decrease in your enjoyment, increase in your frustration and cause you to have increased stress or anxiety about your performance. The positive aspect about negative thoughts is that it is a learned behaviour which can be changed because if you can learn to be negative you can learn to be positive. The beneficial effect of self-talk on cognitive anxiety is consistent with theoretical statements that self-talk is the core of anxiety. Also, findings that by reducing negative or anxious self-talk results in less anxious states. This makes a lot of sense as have you ever been down on yourself and suddenly either yourself or someone else has said “you need to stop this and be happier” and all of a sudden, your entire mood changes and you are. One way to stop negative self-talk is to recognise your negative thought, have a cue to stop you whether this be saying “stop” or “no” and then take a deep breath and replace it with a rational, constructive thought.

Regardless of the result, the successful implementation of a training drill during a game boosts self-esteem. Coaches, families and teammates can also boost a child’s self-esteem by cheering and encouraging a child’s skill development. These coping skills transpose into lifetime benefits such as reduced levels of anxiety, a more positive view on life, fewer social problems hence less chance of giving in to social pressure, a better body image and being less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as drug use.

Sports can help improve children’s self confidence. Some people against youth sports might say that children can get made fun for lacking skill in that particular sport. However I believe this is false because all the children work as a team. It doesn’t matter if children win or lose, all that matters is that they’re having fun. I believe that participating in sports can improve children’s self confidence. Sports can improve feelings about themselves by 85% (Doc 1). When adolescents play sports they feel as though they are a part of something important. As a result children are left feeling self-confident.

The correlation of playing competitive sports at college level and self esteem are measured. Subjects were given the Barksdale self esteem questionnaire to fill out and levels of self esteem are measured by scores out of one hundred. The subjects are then separated into categories determined by gender and whether they played sports at the college level. The results indicated that the elite athletes have a higher self esteem than non athletes. The survey also revealed that women have a slightly higher self esteem than men. These findings agree with our hypothesis that athletes will have a higher level of self esteem than non athletes will.

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).

Throughout this semester in communications I have learned a lot about myself, how to deal with others, relationships, and more. There were some lessons that stood out to me the most, and that I thought about after class. The first was in chapter 3 about interpersonal communication and the self. During this chapter, we took a piece of paper and put four people that we knew down. We chose someone who we were just getting to know, and then others that we knew very well or that were very close to us. In this lesson, we were discussing the social penetration theory. The first step is the breadth which is a volunteered amount of information that we tell someone as subjects are being discussed. The second step is depth which is when we began to go deeper into personal information. The four people that I chose were a girl I had just met at work, my sister, my dad, and my boyfriend. After completing the circles and filling in the amount of information that I have covered with them, the girl I work with had the least, and my sister had the most filled in to the core. After completing this lesson, I looked at my paper and realized that almost everyone was more filled in to the core than my relationship with my father. This lesson struck a major cord with me because I never realized how surface level my relationship with my dad was until talking about this lesson. I knew that my father and I were not that close to begin with, but I never knew why. After this lesson, I understood that my

The experiences of failing and trying again provide a learning process that can translate to greater achievement in school.  “A controlled longitudinal study found that adolescents who participated in sports showed improved grade point averages, had increased attachment to school, and were more likely to attend college” (Larson, Reed, and Sean Seepersad).  The persistence children learn while playing sports will carry on in other parts of life, such as learning in school, leading to continual success.  While playing basketball, I began to grow more mentally and socially.  I stayed more active in the games and reacted faster; I would be ready to block a sudden dash to our hoop.  In other activities, such as math, I began solving equations quicker and was more focused.  Also, as a child I was a quiet and shy.  When playing the game, I could not just stand back; I had to get into the action by challenging the ball or trying to get a pass.   As my confidence developed, I became more bold and outgoing in other parts of my life.