What is Sport Psychology?
Sport psychology aims to understand the link between a person’s thinking and their performance in sport. Whilst successful athletes control their thoughts and emotions in competition, athletes who lose concentration, experience physical tension and lack confidence, often fail to produce their best form when they need it most. A sport psychologist helps athletes to ignore any distractions that limit performance and discover the key thoughts that encourage their own success.
Sport psychology has been shown to contribute to success in elite sport and many elite sports men and sports women now rely on the advice of sport psychologists, in addition to traditional coaching, in their quest for excellence.
How does sport psychology work?
Being ‘in the zone’
Peak performance in sport is produced when an athlete experiences their ideal mental and physical state. This state is often described as ‘being in the zone’ and is associated with focused thinking, physical relaxation and feelings of self-confidence. Some athletes find it difficult to achieve their ideal state during competition and become distracted by a fear of failure, excessive anxiety and high levels of muscular tension. These symptoms often contribute to poor performance which damages self-confidence and reduces the expectancy of success in future events.
Achieveing the ideal state
Sports psychologists help athletes to create their ideal state so that they can perform more effectively in competition. Some sport psychologists might encourage an athlete to remove the mental barriers that prevent the ideal state from being reached through a process of person-centred counselling. Others may encourage the athlete to apply mental skills (such as imagery or self-talk) and develop a way of thinking that counteracts any distractions that might emerge during key moments in competition.
Building relationships
Whilst there are many different approaches in applied sport psychology, the quality of the relationship developed between the sport psychologist and the athlete is thought to be a key element of success. Research has shown that the best results and outcomes are often based on a collaborative relationship that is built on mutual respect, trust and commitment between the athlete and the sport psychologist.
What does sport psychology involve?
A programme of sport psychology normally involves a series of stages that include: i) Education and Awareness ii) Needs analysis iii) Designing a strategy iv) Delivery and instruction v) Monitoring progress and vi) Evaluation. Any work delivered by a BPS Chartered Psychologist will be carried out in accordance the BPS’ Code of Ethics.
i) Education and Awareness
This stage allows the sport psychologist and the prospective client to establish rapport and trust with each other. The sport psychologist would normally explore the athlete’s chosen sport, competitive history, support network and future aspirations then outline the key components of mental skills work that might be carried out. By the end of this stage, both the athlete and the psychologist would reflect on whether or not a programme of sport psychology should be pursued, and think about the work that could meet the athlete’s needs.
ii) Needs Analysis
This stage enables the sport psychologist to identify any issues that might limit the athlete’s ability to produce their best performances. This could be uncovered through individual interviews, mental skills questionnaires or by observing the athlete in training and in competition. By the end of this stage, the sport psychologist will better understand the barriers that prevent the athlete from achieving success and may start to consider a programme of mental skills support and that will allow the athlete to flourish.
iii) Designing a strategy
Qualified sport psychologists design a support strategy according to their own theoretical stance and the preferred learning style of the athlete. Some athletes prefer the sport psychologist to help them resolve personal issues that exist away from their sport, whilst others would rather develop mental skills for performance during dedicated practice and training sessions within their sport setting. The strategy will emerge from the awareness and needs analysis stages and will place the athlete at the centre of the intervention work.
iv) Delivery and Instruction
This stage allows the athlete to engage in the work that has emerged from the needs analysis and programme design stages. This could involve face to face consultations that allow personal issues to be resolved, or take a more practical approach where key mental skills are integrated within regular training sessions. As some athletes prefer to practice key mental skills in their own sport environment, it would be quite normal for sport psychology sessions to take place on a tennis court, on a golf course or at the athlete’s training base.
v) Monitoring progress
This stage is used to assess the changes in sport behaviour that are taking place over time and to provide regular support to the athlete as they try to establish more productive performance habits. Progress might be monitored by analysing the data from regular meetings, specific performance statistics, mental skills questionnaires or from live or recorded observations of performance in competition. This information is fed back to the athlete in subsequent sessions and guides the direction of future work.
vi) Evaluation
Evaluation allows the sport psychologist and athlete to assess the impact of the work that has taken place over the programme of mental skills instruction. Evaluation is made against the planned changes in thinking and performance that were established at the onset of the work and considers the athlete’s testimony and overall experience, data from psychometric assessments and the extent which key performance indicators were achieved. The results of the evaluation normally inform the content and delivery of future mental skills work.