Sports Psychology
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Introduction
Sports psychology is a branch of applied psychology that studies the impacts of psychological skills and knowledge on physical activities, athletic performance, exercise, issues involving sports organization and setting, and sports in general. Apart from helping professional athletes use psychology to improve their mental health and sports performance, sports psychologists also work with regular people to improve their general life and health. Sports psychologists use psychology to make regular people and professional athletes persevere to an exercise routine, participate and enjoy sports. Sports psychology is interdisciplinary that banks on knowledge from other sectors of psychology such as physiology, health, nutrition, counseling, biomechanics, and counseling. Sports psychologists are professionals in psychology; they are certified mental health professionals who work as therapists, trainers, and consultants to all athletes across different sports (Dagar and Chauhan, 2020).
The Focuses of Sports Psychology
This subsection of psychology is attentive to the mental factors that positively and negatively influence athletic performance and helping athletes reach their maximum potential. Sports psychologists employ psychological skills training (PST) to improve athletes’ athletic performance by helping them control mental factors like anxiety. Psychological skills training will include learning how to concentrate (thought control), set goals, and visualize. When athletes gain the skills available in psychological skills training, they are able to increase their decision-making capabilities, reduce anxiety which is very harmful to athletes, and increase their physical performance (Castro-Sánchez et al., 2018). Another key area of focus is the rehabilitation of athletes after injury; it is beneficial to athletes when they fully recover because they are able to return to sports without worrying about their health. Injuries sustained in sports can lead to mental reactions that leave athletes feeling angry, hopeless, afraid, and frustrated. Sports psychologists help athletes regain their confidence when returning to sports, and to cognitively cope with the recovery process.
This field of psychology also focuses on athletes’ development and the benefits and cost of sport participation. The psychologists will help the athletes find a balance between other aspects of life and sports. Athletes have lives outside sports, and most of them have families while others are in school. It is essential to their mental health when athletes take time outside sports to deal with other aspects of their lives, and when they are healthy mentally, it becomes easier for them to be physically fit. In a team setting, psychologists will work closely with coaches to build a strong team that works together effectively and efficiently (Castro-Sánchez et al., 2018).
Functions of Sports Psychology
Sports psychology is vital in athletes’ development because it deals with professional and amateur athletes’ minds. This psychology branch deals with anxiety, difficulties in communicating with teammates and coaches, anger, and loss of focus during training and competitions. Apart from dealing with athletes’ mental issues, sport psychology also enhances performance by employing cognitive strategies such as imagery (visualization). These mental strategies assist athletes in achieving their maximum potential and overcome hurdles (Navale, 2018). This psychology field will help coaches because they learn how to instill self-esteem and make sports interesting and enjoyable to professional and amateur athletes and kids. Sports psychologists help injured athletes deal with the emotional stress resulting from injuries sustained during competitions and training. Injuries sustained in competition and training may cause mental reactions such as frustration. Athletes get counseling where the psychologist restores the athletes’ confidence when returning to sports. Sports psychologists will help athletes deal with life stressors by finding a balance between their careers and other aspects of their lives. This field of psychology will assist regular people and professional and amateur athletes in maintaining an exercise routine. Keeping up with an exercise program may be challenging because of mental factors and a lack of motivation. Sports psychologists help people and athletes deal with these factors to maintain an exercise routine (Dagar and Chauhan, 2020).
Psychological Theories
Sports psychology heavily relies on three theories that form major principles and ideas. The three theories are personality theory, motivation theory, and social influence theory. Personality theory suggests that each athlete is different, and their environment influences their character traits and behaviors. Athletes taking part in a sport have different behaviors and character traits than athletes in a different sport. Some psychologists associate certain behaviors and personalities to certain sports; a good example is introverts tend to play golf. Motivation (arousal) theory focuses on athletes’ maximum arousal level (Rhodes et al., 2019). Psychologists use records that contain information on what makes athletes in different sports feel motivated to train or compete. Studies suggest that when athletes control arousal, they can focus their attention which generates good results. Social influence theory concentrates on teammates, spectators, coaches, trainers, family, and competitors’ influence on an athlete. People will tend to behave according to their environment. An athlete may be aggressive in the field because his opponents are aggressive towards him. When sports psychologists teach athletes how to deal with life stressors, competition, and the people around them, it becomes easy for athletes to control their emotions (Rhodes et al., 2019).
Conclusion
Sports psychology is a branch of applied psychology that studies the impacts of psychological skills and knowledge on physical activities, athletic performance, exercise, issues involving sports organization and setting, and sports in general. Sports psychology is interdisciplinary that banks on knowledge from other sectors of psychology such as physiology, health, nutrition, counseling, biomechanics, and counseling. This subsection of psychology focuses on the mental factors that influence athletes’ athletic performance and injured athletes’ rehabilitation. This psychology field also focuses on athletes’ development and the benefits and cost of sport participation. This psychology branch deals with cognitive problems such as anxiety, difficulties in communicating with teammates and coaches, anger, and loss of focus during training and competitions. Apart from dealing with athletes’ mental problems, sport psychology also enhances performance by employing cognitive strategies. This psychology branch helps coaches instill self-esteem in their athletes, make the sport interesting and enjoyable, and help regular people and professional and amateur athletes maintain an exercise routine. Three psychological theories form major principles and ideas in sports psychology. These three theories are personality, motivation (arousal), and social influence theory.
References
Dagar, R. K. S., & Chauhan, S. K. (2020). Sports Psychology and Sociology. Friends Publications (India).
Rhodes, R. E., McEwan, D., & Rebar, A. L. (2019). Theories of physical activity behaviour change: A history and synthesis of approaches. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 42, 100-109.
Navale, D. S. (2018). Significant of sports psychology in sports.
Castro-Sánchez, M., Zurita-Ortega, F., Chacón-Cuberos, R., López-Gutiérrez, C. J., & Zafra-Santos, E. (2018). Emotional intelligence, motivational climate and levels of anxiety in athletes from different categories of sports: analysis through structural equations. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(5), 894.