Chapter 10

2. Chapter 10 Sports Psychology

3. Objectives • Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to: • Discuss the importance of sports psychology to athletic performance • Describe goal setting and its effect on motivation • Draw up a personal goal-setting program • Explain the difference between imagery and simulation

4. Objectives (cont’d.) • Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to (cont’d.): • Explain the benefits and dangers of stress • Discuss the dangers of burnout • Describe career opportunities in the field of sports psychology

5. Sports Psychology • Study of sport and exercise, and mental factors influencing performance • Mind, body, and athletic performance connection is powerful • Often said that performance in a sport is 95% mental

6. Sports Psychology (cont’d.) • Sport psychologists can help athletes develop: • Goals • Self-confidence • Motivation • Positive self-image • Strategies to cope with stress and disappointment

7. Motivation • Internal state or condition that activates or energizes behavior and give it direction • Extrinsic • Driven by some type of external reward • Intrinsic • Behavior for its own sake • Require no external support or reinforcement

8. Goal Setting • Encompasses long term vision and short term motivation • With goals in mind, the individual can: • Achieve more • Improve performance • Improve the quality of training • Increase motivation to achieve at a higher level • Increase pride and satisfaction in performance • Improve self-confidence

9. Goal Setting (cont’d.) • Research has shown that people who use goal setting effectively: • Suffer less from stress and anxiety • Concentrate better • Show more self-confidence • Perform better • Are happier with their performances

10. Goal Setting (cont’d.) • Guidelines: • Express goals positively – “I will be able to do A by B date” • Set priorities – keeps from being overwhelmed • Document goals – gives goals more power • Use operational goals – “mini-goals” to accomplish big goal ie shaving time off mile run • Set performance goals, not outcome goals – helps athlete maintain control – deadlines help maintain focus and motivation • Set specific goals - measurable • Set goals at the right level – not unrealistic • Set short-term and long-term goals

11. Goal Setting • Write 2 long term goals for yourself • Can be academic, athletic, whatever you want • For each long term goal, write 3 short term goals to help you achieve that • Why is this something that is important to you?

12. Imagery and Simulation • Imagery: • Training process done purely within the mind • Helps create, modify, or strengthen neurological pathways important to muscle coordination • Imagination is the driving force • Allows athletes to practice and prepare for events; pre-experience goals • Can help “slow down” complex skills

13. Imagery and Simulation (cont’d.) • Simulation: • Seeks to improve quality of training by teaching the brain to cope with circumstances that will not be encountered until competition • Carried out by making physical training circumstances as close as possible to real competition • More effective since exists in reality • Requires more time & effort

14. Strategies to Cope with Stress and Disappointment • Stress can be healthy • Helps to increase awareness, maintain a clearer focus, increase motivation, and filter out distractions • Too much stress can hinder performance

15. Strategies to Cope with Stress and Disappointment (cont’d.) • Transitional stress typically occurs when: • Beginning a new sport • Going from high school to college • Changing leagues • Changing levels of competition • Going from junior high to high school • Going from college to professional • Retiring from athletics

16. Strategies to Cope with Stress and Disappointment (cont’d.) • Injury • Can be devastating to the motivated athlete • Prevents from reaching goals • Support and understanding part of sport important • Burnout • Physically and mentally challenging • Manifests as dropping out of a sport and quitting an activity that was once enjoyable

17. Strategies to Cope with Stress and Disappointment (cont’d.) • Burnout • Start competitive sports too young • Specialization in 1 sport too early • Too much success to early • Parents and coaches pressure • Gender barrier

18. Strategies to Cope with Stress and Disappointment (cont’d.) • Ways to manage stress: • Goal setting – more prepared for unexpected situations • Meditation • Positive thinking • Time management • Talking with friends • Taking breaks

19. Self-Confidence • Reflects athlete’s assessment of his or her own self-worth • Athletics can be enormously positive and highly negative in damaging • Emphasis on involvement and enjoyment • Allows athletes to take risks because they have belief in their own abilities • Consistent failure and no interest in a sport can lead to a lack of self-esteem

20. Self-Confidence (cont’d.) • Confidence should be based on observed reality • Comes from realistic expectation of success from well practiced skills, thorough knowledge of sport, respect for own competence, preparation, good conditioning • Overconfidence (not trying hard enough) and under-confidence (fear of failure, self doubt, negative, lack of concentration) are both damaging

21. Careers in Sports Psychology • Educational sports psychology • Emphasizes working with athletes in an educational environment • Clinical sports psychology • Treats athletes in a clinical setting • Academic sports psychology • Focuses on research and teaching • Directory of Graduate Programs in Applied Sport Psychology from AAASP

22. Conclusion • Sports psychology is the study of the mental factors influencing performance in sport and exercise • Goal setting can help the athlete attain greater success by focusing his or her energy in a positive, measurable way

23. Homework – 35pts • TYPED!!! 1 page (-5pts for each) • When is a time that you have felt stress? • What was the cause? • Did it interfere with your performance in any way? • What strategies did you personally use to cope with it? • What was the outcome?