Sport psychology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sport psychology is a specialization within psychology that seeks to understand psychological/mental factors that affect performance in sports, physical activity and exercise and apply these to enhance individual and team performance. It deals with increasing performance by managing emotions and minimizing the psychological effects of injury and poor performance. Some of the most important skills taught are goal setting, relaxation, visualization, self-talk awareness and control, concentration, using rituals, attribution training, and periodization.
The principles and theories may be applied to any human movement or performance tasks (e.g., playing a musical instrument, acting in a play, public speaking, motor skills).
There are over 100 graduate programs in sport psychology available world-wide. Usually, experts recommend that students be trained in both kinesiology (i.e., sport & exercise sciences, physical education) and psychology/counselling.
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[edit] The History Of Sports Psychology
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Sports psychology is the scientific study of people and their behaviours in sport. The main job of a sports psychologist is to recognize how participation in sport exercise and physical activity enhances a person’s development.
The first sports psychologist has said to be a North American man from Indiana University called Norman Triplett who was born in 1898. Norman Triplett’s first finding, as a sport psychologist was that cyclists cycle faster in pairs or a group, rather than riding solo. Carl Diem, a German who lived in Berlin, was the next person to have some sort of break in the world of sports psychology by founding the world’s first sports psychology laboratory in 1920. The next lab was to be opened five years later in 1925 by A.Z. Puni at the Institute of Physical Culture in Leningrad. It was also in that same year that Cloman Griffith opened the first sports psychology lab in North America. Griffith did a lot for the world and the evolving of sports psychology. He begun his research in ‘Factors that affect sport performance in 1918 and in 1923, offered the first ever sports psychology course. With saying this though, the most important development that has ever taken place in sports psychology was the International Society of Sports Psychology or The ISSP, which was formed by sports scientists from all over Europe and in 1966, a group of sport psychologists met in Chicago and they then became known as the North American Society of Sport Psychology and Physical Activity or The NASPSPA. These were the most important times in the history of sports psychology and without these things, sports psychology, probably wouldn’t be where it is today.
Today, sport and exercise psychologists have begun to research and provide information in the ways that psychological well-being and vigorous physical activity are related. Also, sport psychologists are beginning to consider exercise to be a therapeutic addition to healthy mental adjustment. In conclusion, sport psychologists are really beginning to be recognized for the valuable contributions they make in assisting athletes and their coaches in improving performance in competitive situations, as well as understanding how physical exercise may contribute to the psychological well-being of the everyday man or woman. As you can see from this brief history of sports psychology, the profession has not been around for that long considering other professions, which have been around for decades. But in that short time has come a long way! A few terms used in sports psychology: · Cohesion- What Factors contributed to an individual or team success. · Imagery- Using your imagination to enhance your performance. · Attention Focus – Being able to block everything out, i.e. a crowd. · Motivation – There are two types of motivation. Intrinsic motivation, meaning inner motivation, i.e. self accomplishment. Or Extrinsic motivation, meaning outer motivation, i.e. money or awards.
[edit] External Links & Bibliography
Brian Haney http://www.wcupa.edu/_ACADEMICS/sch_cas.psy/Career_Paths/Sports/Career07.htm Careers in Sports Psychology: Pennsylvania, 2000.
Paul Susic http://www.psychtreatment.com/sport_psychologists.htm Psychologists and Counselling: Illinois, 1984.
Author unknown http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~rostraub/lecture1.htm History of Sports Psychologists: Place and date of creation unknown.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology
- Sport Psychologists at the Australian Psychological Society (APS) website
- McGaughey, William (2001). Rhythm and Self-Consciousness: New Ideals for an Electronic Civilization. Minneapolis: Thistlerose Publications. ISBN 0-9605630-4-0.
