Rajesh Sharma, MA-1 Physical Education : Sport psychology is the scientific study of people and their behaviors in sport contexts and the practical application of that knowledge. Sport psychologists identify principles and guidelines that professionals can use to help adults and children participate in and benefit from sport and exercise activities in both team and individual environments. Sport psychologists have two objectives in mind: (a) to understand how psychological factors affect an individual’s physical performance and (b) to understand how participation in sport and exercise affects a person’s psychological development, health and well-being. Sport psychology 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, confidence, using rituals, attribution training, and periodization.
What do Sport Psychologists Do?
The contemporary sport psychologist is expected to fill three primary roles, they are: Research, Teaching and Consulting.
* Research: The primary role of any participant in tertiary education is to further the knowledge in that field. Sport psychologists conduct research in many areas. They may study the arousal levels of athletes before a hockey game, or ask children why they play a certain sport. The findings are then shared with colleagues, allowing others to benefit from this research.
* Teaching: Many trained sport psychologists are expected to teach in their chosen field, whether it be at a tertiary level or teaching an intern in the field of psychology. This is so the skill is passed on and sport psychology remains strong around the world.
* Consulting: The consulting process is very important as one has to consult with individual athletes or team athletes to derive skills to enhance performance levels. Some sport and exercise psychologists work in the fitness industry to design exercise programs that maximize participation and promote psychological well-being.
Sport Psychology terminology
A few terms used in sport psychology:
* Cohesion – Group cohesion refers to the extent to which a team or group shares a sense of shared task or social bond
* Imagery – Refers to ‘imagined’ sensations, for example visual imagery is known as ‘visualization’
* Attention Focus – Being able to block everything out, e.g., a crowd.
* Motivation – There are two types of motivation: intrinsic motivation, meaning inner motivation, e.g., self accomplishment, and extrinsic motivation, meaning outer motivation, e.g., money or awards.
* Internal Monologue – Maintaining positive thoughts during competition by keeping a running conversation going in one’s mind
* Criticism – A tenet of motivational theory that is necessary to improve performance. The delivery is imperative as criticism can either better performance or drastically reduce it. There are three types of criticism- Destructive, Self, and Constructive. The best utilization of constructive criticism is through the sandwich approach. In using the sandwich approach, you would first a compliment, then offer directions and critical feedback, and then follow up with another compliment.
Courtesy : wikipedia