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The importance of psychology to sport
The importance of psychology to sport
The importance of psychology to sport
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As a competitive tennis player, I was used to training alone for competitions and playing every weekend. However, on the tennis team, there were thirty other girls who were beside me. Three weeks before the school year begins we train for 4 hours a day to get in shape for the season. The competitiveness and the spirit of the girls is what drives me to perfect every stroke. Even after I’m completely exhausted, I still want to go out there for a little more, just to push myself a little further and contribute to the team.
As most children did, I had the choice to play whatever sport I wanted. Considering my height, 5’10, most would assume that I played either basketball or volleyball. No one expected me to play tennis, and was surprised when I said that I did. During my elementary years, I played softball for seven years, and when I hit eighth grade, I decided to play tennis. My decision came about because of my sister. I had always followed closely in her footsteps because I looked up to her a lot, so when I saw she was playing; I wanted to try it out too. I had never really thought about what it would be like to play tennis. I didn’t hate it, or really know what it would be like to play it. And little did I know that playing would demand so much time, energy, and effort.
Perseverance, dedication, and discipline, these are the qualities that have been instilled in me throughout my training. My sport requires failing repeatedly until consistency is found in perfection. Therefore, perseverance proved crucial as I attempted skill progressions and difficult routines. Dedication was essential whenever I watched others miss practice for social events. I didn’t recognize the immediate benefits of my deep rooted commitment until months and years later; now I have applied this devotion to every aspect of my life.
I first joined my high school’s tennis team when I was a freshman. Although I had little knowledge of the sport due to the district’s lack of a tennis program at the junior high I attended, I still wanted to experience something new. However once tryouts came around, I was one of the unfortunate ones to be cut for no logical reason. The news devastated me and made me feel that I wasn’t good enough to do anything. On the other hand, my friends made the team and encouraged me to try again the following year because they knew I could improve and be great. I took their advice and practiced from days on end the rest of my freshman year to improve and tryout for the team my sophomore year. Through the hard work and determination, I found myself on the team my sophomore year and joining varsity my junior and senior years, which made me feel a lot better about myself.
Sports play a very important role in my life ever since I could walk. My interests in playing sports began at the age of three as my parents signed me up for soccer, flag football, basketball, and lacrosse. First grade started my competitive edge as I began to play for travel teams in various sport tournaments. This competitive edge transferred from the sports field to the classroom having teachers and coaches helping me be the best I can be. Sports have continually well-shaped and defined my character by teaching me how to accept a win from working hard, also how a loss is an opportunity to learn and fix mistakes.
The following instructions apply to right-handed players as well as left-handed players with the slight adjustment in the use of opposite hands and feet. Before you begin to serve the ball, you would have to stand behind the baseline, on the opposite side of the service box. If you are serving towards your opponent’s right service box, you should be standing on the right side of your court. ...
For the past five years I have been fortunate enough to have a job as a tennis instructor for the Scituate Youth Center. The Scituate Youth Center is a non-profit organization that offers various sports clinics and programs to anyone between the ages of four and seventeen. It has been around for over 40 years, and currently has over 2000 kids participating in its programs. Each program is run by primarily high school and college aged individuals under the guidance of the head athletic director. The members of the executive board for this organization are all unpaid volunteers that are responsible for the facilitation of the programs, and ultimately are the main reason why the organization has had such a large impact on the community.
So why on Earth would I subject myself to hours of training for a sport I don’t even do? For that we have to go back to March 24, 2015, the day of tennis tryouts. Being that sophomore year was my first year at Marquette High, making the varsity tennis team was a huge deal for me. As tryouts concluded, my chances for making varsity were exceptionally high, for I had beaten two returning varsity players as well as two others fighting for my varsity
What I did this summer was go to state for softball. How we get to state is my team and I played different All-Star teams from around us. We play wheatfield twice the first we bet them by a lot. The second game we played Wheatfield again and this told us who was going to state Wheatfield was beating us for awhile and then in the last inning we were tied nine to nine. We needed one more point to win. The game was tied our team was batting we had two outs and I was up to bat I hit the ball into the outfield and got someone home and we won the game ten to nine and that's how we got to state.
Tennis players dream of walking onto the court with a crowd supporting them, whether it be teammates or dedicated fans. Some tennis players will come face to face with professional athletes before turning twenty-two, while others will stick to playing college tennis. The reason why many college tennis players strive towards becoming professional athletes is because they are passionate enough about tennis to call it a career. Even incoming college players are debating whether to represent their university or join the professional tour after graduating high school. Universities do not provide players with financial support, which leads to the thought of tennis being nothing more than a hobby. Athletes will spend forty-three hours weekly practicing
The Long Term Athlete Development model was developed to help encourage participation and success within the sports for all. Unfortunately, this model presents girls and women athletes with challenges, rendering it more difficult for them to succeed within sports. Some of these challenges can be seen through psychosocial factors, the way in which the model was designed, and the types of programs offered. These challenges can be detrimental to the development of a female athlete, discouraging her participation within sports. Psychosocial factors influence all aspects of one’s life.
I have to know their destination (or purpose, objective, or dream) in order to help them chose the correct path and guide their steps. In addition, for me to help them achieve an optimal level of performance, it’s critical that I have an ongoing, long-term relationship with them as they progress toward peak performance, their aspirations, and their dreams. Our relationship will be a critical component of their foundation for success. My plan emphasizes the pursuit of mastery as an ongoing journey of continuous learning (Mullem & Dahlin, 2017; Leonard, 1992), while also seeking balance with an integrative and holistic or total person approach to sport and life using what works for the athlete as the priority (Vernacchia,
The culture of gymnastics pushes gymnasts to achieve perfection at any moment and at all costs. Even if that costs is spending less time with family and friends. Many gymnasts start to part with their families because they spend all their time training. “Some serious gymnasts opt to leave school to pursue gymnastics. This decision can have major effects on a child's education and future career prospects” (Ryan). [Joan Ryan is a professional sports writer.] Becoming an elite gymnast takes an incredible amount to physical and mental strength and time. Many gymnasts struggle with the concept of isolation with families and friends because those are the people who have pushed them and made them into who they are today. In such a team sport, even
Do you ever just want to achieve a goal that you have had set for the longest time? Well, for about four years I have had a goal to become the team captain of the girl tennis team. I would, without doubt, become one of the two captains on the team. I am one of the most liked team members on the team along with my best friend Tessa. If we take a flashback back to freshman year where Tess and I first started out you would think we were playing baseball with how bad we were. Even though we were awful, we set a goal that we would one day become the captains and build an incredible team. Now, however, we have gotten ten times better than freshmen year, and things didn’t really go that way. Our coach would always say to us “your goal this year is to beat your last year’s self”.
Once people start to learn how to play the game, they can become much more aware of their surroundings. Tennis not only requires one to watch the ball constantly, but also watch for other balls that may come onto the court. Playing tennis also requires the individual to practice. Similar with starting any new sport or club, many people are given the chance to meet new people who share something that they are both passionate about and can relate to. People are also given a chance to become more physically fit. Tennis requires many short sprints from one end of the court to the other, as well as constant conditioning to build up one’s strength, physically and mentally. Tennis can give many people the chance to become more physically active and expand their social life once they decide to incorporate it into their daily
Motivate the motivation, simple words that can mean some much to an athlete, but what is motivation really? In the games and sports, psychological and physiological factors play an important role in determining the performance level (Grange & Kerr, 2010; Schilling & Hyashi, 2001). Motivation also plays an important role in determining the performance level an athlete, but plays a role in the psychological and physiological factors as well. Motivation is more than a behavior or idea, it is an impact on how we interact with others, how we process defeat, feel, and how we play. Motivation will not only help an athlete get the starting position or gain an award but more importantly, help an athlete reach their potential. Motivation like most things