sports psychology Essay example -- essays research papers

     Sports is by far one of the fastest growing past times in the United States (Rainer1987). Even if people dont run into it to the professional level, sporting events are happeningin our backyards, and at all of our local schools around the country. With the growingpopularity and the increasing competitiveness of the sports, it will take much than just aphysical advantage to compete at the highest level. This is where the psychology of sportscomes into play.      Goal screen background is a hugely powerful technique that can way out strong returns in all areasof an athletes life. At its simplest level the process of telescope goals and targets allowspeople to choose where they want to go in life. By lettered what a person wants toachieve, they know what they have to concentrate on, and what is merely a distraction.Goal setting gives long-term vision, and short-term motivation. By setting goals theathlete can achieve more, improve per formance, improve the quality of the training,increase the motivation to achieve, increase pride and satisfaction in their performance,and improve their self-confidence (Bull, 1983).Research (Bull, 1983) has shown thatpeople who apply goal-setting effectively suffer less from stress and anxiety, concentratebetter, show more self-confidence, perform better, and are happier with their performance.The way in which an athlete sets his goals strongly affects their effectiveness. Beforesetting goals, the athlete should have set the background of goal setting by understandingtheir commitment to sports, understanding the level they want to reach within the sport,knowing the skills that will have to be acquired and the levels of performance that will beneeded, and know where this will fit into their overall life goals. The following broadguidelines apply to setting effective goals. Positive statements, be precise, set priorities,write goals down to avoid confusion and give them more force, and keep operationalgoals small (Rainer, 1987). "Your body is a beautifully evolved sporting machine,comprising, among other things, muscles that can be trained to a peak of fitness andnerves that control the muscles" (Morris 1992). The nerves are massively link in anathletes brain vast numbers of nerve cells are linked with a hugely greater number ofinterconnections. Many of th... ...in prohibitthinking (Bull 1983). The athlete needs mental energy to be able to concentrate theirattention and maintain good mental attitudes. If the athlete is concentrating effectively because the athlete can conserve physical energy by maintaining good technique when theirmuscles are tired. The athlete can waste mental energy on worry, stress, fretting overdistractions, and negative thinking. Over a long competition, these not only damageenjoyment, but also drain energy so that performance suffers. It is therefrom important toavoid these by good use of sports psychology, and by resting ef fectively between eventsand by ensuring that the athlete sleep properly.     Sports psychology is a relatively refreshful idea and just now it is becoming more of anormal thing rather than something only pro athletes do. The study of the mind and how itrelates to sports is a adept thing that even our own school uses to help improveperformance. Over the last two years our Varsity and JV boys basketball team has utilise asports psychologist from Boulder two or three times during the year. Sports psychology isno longer looked down upon, it is now a legitimate practice.