SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

What is sport psychology?

Sports psychology is the study of how the mind affects physical activity and athletic

performance. It is an interdisciplinary science that draws on knowledge from many related fields

including biomechanics, physiology, kinesiology and psychology.

The main focus may be on behaviour or on different psychological dimensions of human

behaviour, i.e.affective, cognitive, motivational or sensory-motor dimensions.

Sport psychologists are interested in two main areas:

(a) Heping athletes use psychological principles to achieve optimal mental health and to improve

performance (performance enhancement)

(b) Uderstanding how participation in sport, exercise and physical activity affects an individual's

psychological development, health and well-being throughout the lifespan.

Sports Psychologists deal with different sport and exercise settings, e.g. athletes, coaches,

officials, teachers, physiotherapists, parents, spectators etc.The physical activity can take place in

competitive, educational, recreational, preventative and rehabilitation settings and includes

health-related exercise.

According to American Psychological Association ''Sport psychology is a proficiency that uses

psychological knowledge and skills to address optimal performance and well-being of athletes,

developmental and social aspects of sports participation, and systemic issues associated with
sports settings and organizations.''

“Describing the nature of sports psychology is difficult because many different perspectives on

the field exist. Differences are present not only in the definition of the term itself but also in the

roles psychologists are presumed to play” (Horn, 2008), with some persons viewing the field as a

branch of psychology, and others seeing it as a subfield of sport and exercise science.

History of Sports Psychology

In its formation, sport psychology was primarily the domain of physical educators, not

researchers, which can explain the lack of a consistent history. However, the history of sports

psychology actually dates back to the late 1800s when psychologists conducted research

experiments studying athletic performance. In 1898 Norman Triplett found in his research, that

cyclists increased their speed when in competition with others, as opposed to cycling alone.

The birth of sports psychology in Europe happened largely in Germany. The first sports

psychology laboratory was founded by Dr. Carl Diem in Berlin, in the early 1920s. Despite

various sports psychologist researchers in the late 19th and early 20th century, Coleman R.

Griffith (1893-1966) is commonly recognized as the Father of Sports Psychology.

Coleman Griffith

Griffith opened an athletic research laboratory at the University of Illinois in 1925. He published

an article, 'Psychology and Its Relation to Athletic Competition,' which is considered one of his

most important works. He also published a couple of textbooks, namely Psychology of Coaching

and Psychology of Athletes. His laboratory was used for the study of sports psychology; where

different factors that influence athletic performance and the physiological and psychological
requirements of sport competitions were investigated. He transmitted his findings to coaches, and

helped advance the knowledge of psychology and physiology on sports performance. Griffith

also published two major works during this time: The Psychology of Coaching (1926) and The

Psychology of Athletics (1928). Coleman Griffith was also the first person to describe the job of

sports psychologists and talk about the main tasks that they should be capable of carrying out.

Griffith progress was shunted when his lab was closed in 1931 at the beginning of Great

Depression.

Renewed growth and emergence as a discipline

Hari Charan was another researcher that had a positive influence on sport psychology. In 1938,

he began to study how different factors in sport psychology can affect athlete's motor skills. In

1964, he wrote a paper “Physical Education: An Academic Discipline”, that helped further

advance sport psychology, and began to give it its scholarly and scientific shape. Additionally, he

published over 120 articles, was a board member of various journals, and received many awards

and acclaims for his contributions.

Sport psychology flourished first in Europe in 1965, when the First World Congress of Sport

Psychology met in Rome. This meeting, attended by some 450 professionals primarily from

Europe, Australia, and the Americas, gave rise to the International Society of Sport Psychology

(ISSP). The ISSP become a prominent sport psychology organization after the Third World

Congress of Sport Psychology in 1973. Additionally, the European Federation of Sport

Psychology was founded in 1968.

In North America, support for sport psychology grew out of physical education. The North

American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) grew from
being an interest group to a full-fledged organization, sport and exercise. In Canada, the

Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS) was founded in

1977 to promote the study and exchange of ideas in the fields of motor behavior and sport

psychology.

The first journal “The Journal of Sports Psychology” came out in 1979; and in 1985, several

applied sport psychology practitioners, believed an organization was needed to focus on

professional issues in sport psychology, and therefore formed the Association of Applied Sport

Psychology (AASP). Following its stated goal of promoting the science and practice of applied

sport psychology, AASP    worked to develop uniform standards of practice, highlighted by the

development of an ethical code for its members in the 1990s. The development of the AAASP

Certified Consultant (CC-AAASP) program helped bring standardization to the training required

to practice applied sport psychology. AASP aims to provide leadership for the development of

theory, research and applied practice in sport, exercise, and health psychology. Also during this

same time period, over 500 members of the American Psychological Association (APA) signed a

petition to create Division 47 in 1986, which is focused on Exercise and Sport Psychology.

What do a sports psychologist do?

Sports psychologists help athletes perform at peak levels. They may function as trainers,

consultants, or therapists. Sports psychologists may offer therapy for issues like eating disorders

or career transitions. In some cases, the job includes helping athletes work through off-field

problems and assisting them with rehabilitation after injury.

Psychologists may offer therapy for issues like eating disorders or career transitions. This can

entail helping them with group dynamics, social perception, and leadership issues.
Sports psychologists may be researchers as well as service providers. They may explore the

effects that athletic participation has on individuals, the factors that contribute to success on the

field, or the psychological consequences of physical injury.

Qualification for a Sports Psychologist

According to APA a qualified sports psychologist has a doctorate in psychology, a license to

practice psychology, and postdoctoral training on aiding athletes with sports performance,

kinesiology, physiology, sports medicine, business and marketing and well-being are required.

This proficiency should not be confused with those who have earned a doctoral degree in sport

psychology, but are not licensed psychologists.

Sport and performance psychologists can also choose to specialize in a particular area.

Specialties include:

 Applied sport psychology: Teaching skills to enhance athletic performance such as goal-

setting and imagery

 Clinical sport psychology: Combining mental training strategies from sport psychology

with psychotherapy to help clients with mental health problems

 Academic sport psychology: Teaching at colleges and universities and conducting

research.

How is sport psychology constituted?

Sport psychology as a scientific discipline, as well as a professional field, is loosely associated

with,the three areas of

(1) sport practice, (2) psychology and (3) other sport sciences. These areas are considered

equally valid. All of them have a bearing on the topics, the theoretical foundations, the

methodological approaches, and the scientific and ethical standards of sport psychology.

The interrelations between these areas are briefly described as follows:

 Sport psychology - Sport practice: Sport psychology is faced with issues that arise from

exercise and sport practice. It tries to better understand these demands and attempts to give

assistance in satisfying them.

 Sport psychology - Psychology: Sport psychology is an applied subdiscipline of

psychology. It partly draws upon knowledge adopted from different branches of psychology and

contributes to the further understanding of psychology in general.

 Sport psychology - Other sport sciences: Sport psychology is one discipline of the sport

sciences.The more sport psychology generates specific knowledge by empirical work in the field

of sport and physical activity, the more the findings and methods of other sport sciences have to

be accounted for. Some questions may only be answered using interdisciplinary approaches.

What may sport psychology contribute to sport?

Sport psychology as a scientific discipline and professional area furthers the understanding of

sport. It analyzes, assesses and directs activity in all aspects of sport by means of psychological

processes. Thus sport psychology has a responsibility for well-being, the attainment and

maintenance of health, and the improvement of performance. Sport psychology may support the

individual or the group with the aim that the actions of the subject master the requirements of the

task, fit with situational demands and constraints, and are appropriate to the subject’s abilities
and needs. Sport psychology gives the body of knowledge that contributes both to the personal

growth and development of the subject and to the formation of the conditions under which

exercise and sport are performed.

What do people in sport psychology do?

We use the term ‘sport psychologist’ in a broad sense including all qualified persons working in

the field, independent of their academic education. Different countries may have restrictions on

the use of the term ‘psychologist’.

Sport psychologists have three interrelated tasks:

 Research: Research is needed to understand the psychological regulation of activity in the

setting of sport. The following types of research are conducted: Theoretical or empirical, basic

and applied, laboratory and field studies. All contribute to the construction of a specific body of

knowledge.

 Education: Sport psychology is an important subject in the education of almost every

person involved in sport. Three different groups of people may be given knowledge and

competence in sport psychology: a). on an academic level, students in psychology, the sport

sciences and physical education; b). on a professional level, psychologists moving into the field

of sports, coaches, training supervisors, officials and administrators; and finally c). sport   

participants, e.g. top level athletes, health-related exercise participants, participants in adventure

sports, or rehabilitation patients.

 Application: Knowledge and competence in sport psychology may be applied to two

main functions, namely (1) diagnosis and assessment (e.g. talent detection, testing of cognitive or
sensori-motor skills, or evaluation of the needs of participants), and (2) intervention (e.g.

guidance in cooperation with – other responsible persons in the field, counselling, or consulting

in special problem situations)

Specialized Knowledge

 Theory and research in social, historical, cultural and developmental foundations of sport

psychology

 Issues and techniques of sport specific psychological assessment and mental skills

training for performance enhancement and participation satisfaction

 Clinical and counseling issues with athletes

 Organizational and systemic aspects of sport consulting

 Developmental and social issues related to sport participation

 Biobehavioral bases of sport and exercise (e.g., exercise physiology, motor learning,

sports medicine)

 Specific knowledge of training science and technical requirements of sport and

competition, IOC, NCAA rules, etc.

Skills and Procedures Utilized

This proficiency helps protect the public by insuring that those who seek services receive them

from qualified individuals. The proficiency provides a recognized set of standards to guide

appropriate training of psychologists who wish to practice sport psychology. Many strategies and

procedures are used by sport psychology proficiency to address problems faced by athletes and
sports participants. Some of the principal areas include:

Cognitive and behavioral skills training for performance enhancement. goal setting; imagery and

performance planning; concentration and attention control strategies; development of self-

confidence, self-esteem and competence in sports; cognitive-behavioral self-regulation

techniques; emotion management, sportsmanship and leadership skills. Counseling and clinical

interventions. onsultation and training. team building; sports organization consultation; systems

interventions with parents and families involved in youth sports participation; education of

coaches regarding motivation, interpersonal and leadership skills and talent development;

education of coaches and administrators regarding early identification and prevention of

psychological difficulties.

Earning

In private practice, the salary range can vary, with most clients paying for services themselves. In

some cases, a team or organization will employ a psychologist to work one-on-one with athletes

or business leaders to improve their performance. The location and demand for a sport and

performance psychologist play key roles in their salary. Those working in larger metropolitan

areas who offer a proven track record of results will earn more. Pay ranges vary considerably

within sports psychology based on training, education, and area of specialization.

According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the U.S. Department of Labor,

average salaries for clinical and counseling psychologists range between $41,850 and $71,880.

The median salary for university faculty positions was $55,000 in a 2001 salary survey by the

American Psychological Association (APA) (Singleton et al., 2003). Some top sports

psychologists earn six-figure salaries working as consultants for professional athletes, but most
earn a more modest yearly income.

Goals of Sports Psychology and Role of Psychologist

Understand Yourself As An Athlete: You need to have mental strategies for learning, practice and

performance factors. Sport psychology gives you the methods and approaches to become aware

of what you need.

Work Better With Your Parents: Your parents should be part of your success team, at least at

some level. It would be nice to have a solid relationship with them, and excellent communication

skills so they can assist you in your career.

Work Better With Your Coaches: Your coach is perhaps the most important person on your team.

You need a great working relationship with this person. Sport psychologists can help you create

this relationship, and nurture it.

Navigate Your Sport Career. There are many blind alleys, pitfalls and false paths in a sport

career. Sport psychology helps you create a vision for success, and goals and objectives, so you

can execute that master plan.

Prepare Your Mind. It is critical that you know how to prepare mentally and emotionally for

lessons, practices and performances. It helps you devise a customized mental readiness process

that helps you transition from your normal work.

Concentrate So You Can Enter The Zone:    Attentional control is psychologist-speak for

concentration or focus. Sport psychology helps you create strong control over where and how

you place your attention so you can concentrate on the proper attentional cues.

Bounce Back From Set-Backs. It is critical that you become resilient to the inevitable problems
and set-backs that competitive sport brings. You need solid mental toughness that helps you

refocus, reset and re-energize for what is to come.

Increase Motivation And Drive: Sport psychology helps you craft engaging goals that create

positive energy within you, so you have huge amounts of drive and determination to achieve

your potential.

Handle Stress and Pressure: One of the major ways sport psychology helps you is through stress

reduction in learning and performance. Sport psychology helps you manage stress and turn it into

success.

Handle The Paradox Of Success. An issue that every athlete faces at some time is the paradox of

success. As you become more successful, there are more pressures and more distractions pulling

at you. Sport psychology helps you address these, stay focused, and helps you continue to sustain

your best performances.

Present status

It would be misleading to conflate the status of AASP and the status of the profession of sport

psychology. However, considering that AASP has the largest membership of any professional

organization devoted entirely to sport psychology, it is worthwhile to mention the contentious

nature of the organization's future.

 Orderly development and advancement of the practice of sport psychology

 Embrace and enhance interdisciplinary nature of sport psychology

 Advance development of graduate education and training in sport psychology

 Advance job opportunities for practice in collegiate, Olympic, and pro sports

 Be member-driven and service its membership

Common areas of study

Personality

One common area of study within sport psychology is the relationship between personality and

performance. This research focuses on specific personality characteristics and how they are

related to performance or other psychological variables.

Mental toughness is a psychological edge that helps one perform at a high level consistently.

Mentally tough athletes exhibit four characteristics: a strong self-belief (confidence) in their

ability to perform well, an internal motivation to be successful, the ability to focus one’s thoughts

and feelings without distraction, and composure under pressure. Self-efficacy is a belief that one

can successfully perform a specific task. Motivation can be defined broadly as the will to

perform a given task. People who play or perform for internal reasons, such as enjoyment and

satisfaction, are said to be intrinsically motivated, while people who play for external reasons,

such as money or attention from others, are extrinsically motivated.

Youth sport

Youth sport refers to organized sports programs for children less than 18 years old. Researchers

in this area focus on the benefits or drawbacks of youth sport participation and how parents

impact their children’s experiences of sporting activities. In this day and age, more and more

youth are being influenced by what they see on TV from their sport idols.

Life skills refer to the mental, emotional, behavioral, and social skills and resources developed
through sport participation. Research in this area focuses on how life skills are developed and

transferred from sports to other areas in life (e.g., from tennis to school) and on program

development and implementation.   

Coaching

While sport psychologists primarily work with athletes and focus their research on improving

athletic performance, coaches are another population where intervention can take place.

Researchers in this area focus on the kinds of things coaches can say or do to improve their

coaching technique and their athletes' performance.

Motivational climate refers to the situational and environmental factors that influence

individuals' goals. The two major types of motivational climates coaches can create are task-

oriented and ego-oriented. While winning is the overall goal of sports competitions regardless of

the motivational climate, a task-orientation emphasizes building skill, improvement, giving

complete effort, and mastering the task at hand , while an ego-orientation emphasizes

demonstrating superior ability, competition, and does not promote effort or individual

improvement.

Team processes

Sport psychologists may do consulting work or conduct research with entire teams. This research

focuses on team tendencies, issues, and beliefs at the group level, not at the individual level.

Team cohesion can be defined as a group's tendency to stick together while pursuing its

objectives. Team cohesion has two components: social cohesion (how well teammates like one

another) and task cohesion (how well teammates work together to achieve their goal).
Commonly used techniques

Below are five of the more common techniques or skills sport psychologists teach to athletes for

improving their performance.

Arousal regulation

Arousal regulation refers to entering into and maintaining an optimal level of cognitive and

physiological activation in order to maximize performance. This may include relaxation if one

becomes too anxious through methods such as progressive muscle relaxation, breathing

exercises, and meditation, or the use of energizing techniques (e.g., listening to music, energizing

cues) if one is not alert enough. he use of meditation and specifically, mindfulness, is a growing

practice in the field of arousal recognition. The Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC)

Theory is the most common form of mindfulness in sport and was formed in 2001. The aim of

MAC is to maximize human potential for a rich, full and meaningful life.

Imagery

Imagery (or motor imagery) can be defined as using multiple senses to create or recreate

experiences in one's mind. The more vivid images re he more likely they are to be interpreted by

the brain as identical to the actual event, which increases the effectiveness of mental practice

with imagery. mod imagery, therefore, attempts to create as lifelike an image as possible through

the use of multiple senses (e.g., sight, smell, kinesthetic), proper timing, perspective, and

accurate portrayal of the task. This is a concept commonly used by coaches and athletes the day

before an event.

Preperformance routines
Preperformance routines refer to the actions and behaviors athletes use to prepare for a game or

performance. This includes pregame routines, warm up routines, and actions an athlete will

regularly do, mentally and physically, before they execute the performance. Frequently, these

will incorporate other commonly used techniques, such as imagery or self-talk.

Self-talk

Self-talk refers to the thoughts and words athletes and performers say to themselves, usually in

their minds. Self-talk phrases (or cues) are used to direct attention towards a particular thing in

order to improve focus or are used alongside other techniques to facilitate their effectiveness.

Research suggests either positive or negative self-talk may improve performance, suggesting the

effectiveness of self-talk phrases depends on how the phrase is interpreted by the individual. The

ability to bombard the unconscious mind with one single positive phrase, is one of the most

effective and easy to use psychological skills available to any athlete.

Exercise psychology

Exercise psychology can be defined as the study of psychological issues and theories related to

exercise. Exercise psychology is a sub-discipline within the field of psychology and is typically

grouped with sport psychology. For example, Division 47 of the APA is for exercise and sport

psychology, not just one or the other, while organizations like AASP encompass both exercise

and sport psychology.

As an interdisciplinary subject, exercise psychology draws on several different scientific fields,

ranging from psychology to physiology to neuroscience. Major topics of study are the

relationship between exercise and mental health (e.g., stress, affect, self-esteem), interventions

that promote physical activity, exploring exercise patterns in different populations (e.g., the
elderly, the obese), theories of behavior change, and problems associated with exercise (e.g.,

injury, eating disorders, exercise addiction).

Goal Setting

Sport psychology assumes that goal-setting is the key to motivation. In order to motivate

yourself, create clear, sharp long-term goals and break these down into smaller medium-term

goals. Break down these medium-term goals into short-term goals so that you have a clear

connection between what you do every day and your long-term goals.

Simulation

Simulation is the practice of training in an environment that is specifically designed to emulate

actual conditions during competition.

Focus

Focus refers to undivided attention on the execution of a particular skill to the extent that you

"shut out" the outside world. Train your focus by using imagery to picture performing the

simplest version of a skill that you want to focus on --hitting a tennis ball across the net in

response to an easy serve.

Flow

Flow is a state of effortless concentration that results from a period of intense focus. It is the goal

of all sport psychology because athletes report being in a state of flow during their best

performances. Flow begins at the point that focus stops becoming difficult and starts becoming

easy. Entering a state of flow requires justified self-confidence, challenging activity, unforced

concentration, relaxation, alertness and positive attitude. The enemies of flow are the desire to
win, the desire to impress others, excessive effort to achieve a state of flow, and lack of initiative.

Sport Psychology As a Career

Sport and exercise psychology is a growing career field, and practitioners observe athletes as

they develop on a physical and mental level. Sport psychologists may act as coaches or as

researchers, developing new methods to enhance performance using various psychological

techniques.

College Team Psychologist

A college team psychologist works with a college athletic team (or teams) to maintain or

improve the mental health of student-athletes, as well as enhance their athletic performance.

Addressing off-the-field issues, such as social or academic pressures, is a crucial part of the job.

Clinical Sports Psychologist

A clinical sports psychologist provides psychological therapy to patient-athletes. They may help

clients increase their motivation, find ways to take the next step in competition, or manage stress

from other commitments, such as family obligations.

Sports Psychology Related Careers

A love of sports or a fascination with psychology do not have to be combined into the same job.

There are numerous career paths that draw more heavily on one or the other and may be

preferable depending on individual interests. The following jobs, listing the median salary for

2014 and the 2012-2022 job growth, are worth a look:

Working hours

Working hours for practitioners vary depending on the client and the nature of the sport.

Although you would generally work office hours, evening or weekend work may also be

required to fit in with training and sports competitions.

Hours within education or healthcare settings are mainly 9am to 5pm.

Future of Sports Psychology

Interest in sport psychology has accelerated in the last 15-20 years, partly due to the increased

realization that the winning edge in many sports is not just physical superiority, but rather a

combination of psychological, physiological and technical factors. Health oriented issues such as

the importance of physical activity in relation to well being and quality of life and applied issues
such as the development of professional philosophy as a basis for successful sport psychology

delivery have also contributed to the rising interest in the field.The practical aspect of sport

psychology is also growing rapidly. Using amateur sport as one example, today, it is common to

find national teams accompanied by applied sport psychologists during major-games

tournaments.

It is suggested that the need for sport psychology theory and practice will increase for both

sports federations and society in general, as well as elementary and high schools and sports

teams. A systematic development of new technology and research methods is important.

Certification of qualified sport psychologists will be carried out and there will be a call for sport

psychology expertise in sport and exercise settings. The working market will be limited, which

will mean few jobs and limited economic resources. Despite this, students foresee a bright and

promising future with a number of different and alternative working possibilities. As one

respondent indicated “Every large sport federation (e.g. soccer) will have one or more sport

psychologists working for them”.

Summary

Sport Psychology focuses on the relationship and interactions between psychological functioning

and athletic performance. It aims to positively influence this relationship and create the best

possible opportunity for the athlete or athletes to experience optimal performance levels. The

psychological component of sport is often the last of the 4 corners considered (technical, tactical,

physical and psychological) despite the large influential role it plays on performance ability.
Elka Graham, Australian Swimming legend once said, “in training everyone focuses on 90

percent physical and 10 percent mental, but in the races its 90 mental because there’s very

little that separates us physically at the elite level”. This percentage ratio is not uncommonly

referred to amongst those in the sports industry, but important to note here is the value that Sport

Psychology also plays at junior, academy and amateur levels too.