Sports Psychology Essay

How Does Psychology Relate to Playing a Sport?

Sports psychology is the study of how psychology influences sports, athletic performance, exercise and physical activity. Some sports psychologists work with professional athletes and coaches to improve performance and increase motivation. Other professionals use exercise and sports to enhance people’s lives and well-being. While finding ways to help athletes is certainly an important part of sports psychology, the application of exercise and physical activity for improving the lives of non-athletes is also a major focus.

Some professionals focus on a specific area, while others study a wide range of techniques and ideas, such as imagery, motivation, and attentional focus. Imagery involves visualizing performing a task, such as participating in an athletic event or successfully performing a particular skill. The study of motivation looks at extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. Extrinsic motivators are external rewards, such as social recognition and trophies. Intrinsic motivators are a personal desire to win and a sense of pride that comes from performing a skill. Lastly, attentional focus involves the ability to tune out distractions and focus attention on the task at hand (Cherry, K., 2000).

Sports psychology draws on knowledge from the fields of Kinesiology and Psychology. It involves the study of how psychological factors affect performance and how participation in sport and exercise affect psychological and physical factors. In addition to instruction and training of psychological skills for performance improvement, sport psychology may include work with athletes and coaches regarding injury, rehabilitation, communication, and team building (Weinberg, R.S. & Gould, D.,2010)....

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...ompetition environment. There is increasing recognition by the sports community that supporting athlete mental health is a vital aspect of competitive performance, and is as integral to success as the athlete’s physical abilities. The profession of sports psychology provides a very meaningful contribution to help facilitate athlete wellbeing and maximize the psychological skills required to compete at the highest level of competition.

Sports psychology continues to evolve in order to ensure that comprehensive and evidence-based psychological services are available for athletes and teams. Giving athletes an understanding of their psychological functioning, and building the ability to implement a range of psychological strategies in competition enables athletes to both execute their skills and thrive under pressure as they strive to reach their performance potential.