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Sports Psychology For Swimmers - Mental Aspects of Swimming Faster

Over the years, I have counseled athletes from virtually every sport from around the world. In the past, I have coached many swimmers and right now I am working with several highly competitive and talented swimmers. Many of them are hoping for Division I scholarships. Some are hoping to make the Olympics.
The beauty of working with swimmers is that their times give me, the coaches and their parents a good sense as to the nature and severity of the problem. While some pools appear to be faster than others, a swimmer's time and fractions tell you a lot about the strengths and weaknesses in his or her performances.
Last week, I got a call from a swimmer who had lost eight seconds off his best time in his event. Obviously, this is a huge drop and it indicates a huge slump in the athlete's progress. The swimmer and his mother were quite concerned and puzzled as to what had caused this decline in performance.
Two months ago, I worked with a swimmer who was losing to another swimmer by a fraction of a second. She is quite intimidated by the other swimmer and seems to lose confidence and focus whenever she races against this adversary.
From a psychological standpoint, these are very different situations. And the kind of coaching that these athletes need is very different. The first swimmer is really "stuck," and probably needs a mental overhaul. The second swimmer needs more of a tune up.
When a swimmer responds to a psychological positively to a psychological intervention and we see a drop in time, we know we are on the right path. Conversely, if there is no change in time, we may need to go in a different direction.
When I counsel swimmers, we focus on their internal psychology as well as their racing strategy. We set goals and we teach them how to get into the zone during practice and during competition. Some swimmers are very weak in terms of racing strategy and what might be thought of as mental toughness.

What is Sport Psychology and How Can it Help Your Game?

Sport psychology is something that we often hear about, but may not know exactly what it is. It is the principles of psychology used in a sport setting.  Consultants look at how psychological aspects control an individual's physical performance, and how competition in sport affects their psychological development, health, and well-being (Weinberg & Gould, 2003).
Unfortunately, it is often viewed as something necessary for the weak-minded competitor who has "issues." The reality is that the mental game of sports affects every athlete, no matter what their strengths or weaknesses may be. This discipline can help any athlete strive to meet their potential.
Fencing is one example sport that can be used: Fencing is both a physical and mental game. Fencers prepare for the physical game by developing muscle memory through repetitive bladework and footwork drills. The mental game is obvious to fencers; however, little is done to train this large portion of fencing. The majority of fencers who utilize specific psychological training are Division I fencers (Athanas, 2007). Consequently, many competitors are not fully prepared to meet all of the demands of their sport.
There are many benefits from working with a consultant. Applied sport psychology professionals are interested in how participation in mental skills training can help an athlete's development throughout their competitive career. The athlete may have trouble reaching goals, have an injury, or confidence difficulties. Through sport psychology, an athlete can gain the "mental edge" to reach their goals, recover from injury, or gain confidence. Techniques that are commonly used in sport psychological practices include (but are not limited to) imagery and visualization, relaxation, goal setting, building confidence, learning to focus, and regulating energy levels.
Through learning and practicing these techniques, fencer has the ability to reach their potential.
You may be wondering how to get started. However, you don't want to fall prey to scams. There are many people who claim to be "experts" in psychology but lack the proper training and education.
It is recommended that you only work with legitimate professionals. Before investing any money, ask the consultant questions about what their client population is, what their educational background is, if they are specialized in working with athletes, and how long they have been involved in sport psychology. Only certified consultants are recognized by the Association of the Applied Sport Psychology. If you are seeking a certified sport psychology consultant or you would like to know more about this topic, refer to www.aaasponline.org for more information.
It is important to point out that athletes of all divisions and experience levels can benefit from sport psychology. By working with a sport psychology consultant, you will be able to fortify your weaknesses and improve your strengths through mental skills training. Every sport has both physical and mental components. Many athletes  already toughen their bodies through practice and physical fitness. Toughen your mental game through practicing applied sport psychology [http://www.fencing.net/category/mental-training-for-fencing/].
References: Athanas, E. H. (2007). Fear of failure, experience and division as predictors to state anxiety in USFA epee fencers. Georgia Southern University. Statesboro, Georgia. Unpublished Masters thesis.
Weinberg, R. S. & Goldberg, D. (2003). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Books.

Sports Psychology - What Good Is a Sports Shrink?

Although mental training is still a developing discipline of performance enhancement elite athletes have been using mental training techniques for years. For example For example Jack Nicklaus used mental imagery before every single shot he played and Roy Halladay admits to listening to a mental rehearsal programs before each game he pitches.
There are many possible reasons why people still do not buy into the benefits of sport psychology. The main reasons being a fear of the unknown, a lack of time, and confusion on what works best.
Sports psychologists' help athletes identify and overcome the mental barriers that limit their performance, therefore allow them to fulfill their true athletic potential. More and more athletes are dedicating parts of their training to the mental side of their performance to gain a mental edge over their competitors.
Sports psychology professionals aim to improve athlete's mental skills, such as self-confidence, motivation, the ability to relax under pressure, and the ability to concentrate in competition. Sports Psychology is another weapon in the athlete's arsenal to gaining a competitive edge. Sports psychologists are not really shrinks per se, but instead educate athletes about the importance of mental game skills and how their mindset affects sports performance.
Working with a sports psychologist can help you improve your performance by focusing on techniques that help you excel in competitive situations. Good mental game experts teach simple mental training strategies and techniques to help athletes overcome the challenges that limit their ability. It's not therapy, but education. And a good mental game coach helps athletes apply what they learn to practice and competition.
Through repetition and applying these strategies in practice and competition, athletes are able to develop a strong mental game to reach peak performance my consistently. But the key is to take what you learn in the educational sessions and apply to practice and competition.
However, some athletes resist sports psychology training. With a stronger mindset, athletes improve their consistency, boost their confidence, improve their focus and learn how to practice smarter.
And athletes are not broken or dysfunctional if they engage in mental game training. The mental game can be improved with practice just like physical skill. Many pros rely on sports psychology to improve their confidence and performance.
Next time you're in a slump and want to improve your performance, consider mental game training or sports psychology. To achieve excellence, athletes need to grow their talents through focused and effective practice and get the mental edge with sport psychology.

Sport Psychology

In these very modern times, are sports clubs are not only made up of athletes and coaches. Team members also includes members of various professions, whose main purpose is to ensure maximum performance of athletes. Some of these include team leaders, doctors, Physiotherapists and sport psychologists dealing only in the field of sport psychology. Put together, should all be ensured a balance and stability of mind, body and soul.
Sport Psychology is about how athletes deal with various stress factors sports. It is also about athletes endurance. From observing athlete, psychologist, along with coach, can customize the training sections for each athlete based on the evaluation given by the psychologist. They want to know how far to push the athlete without getting them to their breaking point.
Psychologists working with the entire team, to ensure athletes give their best judgement. Team members taught often depend on each other's strengths and you find that this is a source of encouragement when they compete.
Sport psychologist studies the behavior of athletes before, during and after sports events. With this information at hand, can coach with advice from psychologist plan a training routine that will take advantage of all of the athletes abilities. The coaches know all stress and stamina levels of athletes during their watch, and this should serve as a guide on how to handle each individual athlete.
As a rule of thumb, the coaches and other staff, training should also have some understanding of the basic features in sport psychology. This will help them understand the psychologist better terms used, and they are in a better position to make some judgments and decisions.

Sports Psychology Masters Program and Job Options

Sports psychology is a growing field. A general definition of sports psychology would be learning to use the brain to accomplish maximum sporting performance. There are several common tools used in sports psychology, and as more is learned about the way that people respond to different tools, they will continue to change and develop accordingly. Much of the information learned about sports psychology is through academic learning, and several schools offer a sports psychology masters program.
Goal setting is one of the most important tools used in sports psychology. It is the process of setting an ideal for what you would like the future to be, and then determining ways to make that ideal a reality. By setting goals that are clearly defined you are able to tell more quickly how well you are doing in achieving those goals. Measuring your successes becomes easier when you set goals, and it provides motivation when those goals are either met or not.
A second tool used for sports psychology is imagery. Imagery is basically training with your mind. Using imagination is the basis for imagery, and can boost performance in sports by allowing you to practice when injured, pre-experience the achievement of goals, and mentally prepare for an athletic event and anything that might go wrong, without having to actually experience it physically.
Focus and flow, or how to achieve perfect concentration is the third tool used in sports psychology. In order to achieve what they call "flow" there are several factors which need to be in place. Some of those factors are the ability to perceive that your skills are good enough for the task you are looking to do, your competition is not too easy and therefore you do not become bored with it, you are in a relaxed environment, however, you are very alert, and you are not easily distracted. Being able to handle stress, avoid distraction and being fully focused on the task at hand are all very important. Focus and flow are at the very heart of sports psychology.
There are many different types of jobs which are available in sports psychology. Speaking to someone in your area, or researching online the different paths you might take can be very helpful in determining whether sports psychology is a career you might wish to pursue.
Certainly a sports psychology masters degree program, or a PhD program benefit in being able to find a job in this field, and working with any professional sports teams is certainly a competitive field. The rewards of working with a team, and becoming a part of that team are certainly many, and this is part of what drives people to become involved in a job in sports psychology.

What is Sports Psychology - An Interesting Career to Bring Out the Best in Athletes

There are many different aspects of sports psychology, however it mainly relates to the mental and emotional factors which affect an athlete's performance. This type of psychology also applies to those who exercise or engage in any type of physical activity. There are a number of professional athletes who tend to study sports psychology in order to improve their overall game. Upon examining sports psychology, you will find many different sub-topics of discussion. The main idea behind it is that there are certain mental factors which can have a direct impact on the performance of someone who is engaging in a sport or physical activity of some sort.

It is used mostly for motivational purposes. Sports psychology is used to train athletes, getting them to focus and concentrate on what they are doing. This can replace different kinds of drugs which help to improve attention span during physical activity for some people. Many coaches and therapists believe that sports psychology is a healthy alternative to the different medications being used by athletes for performing better in their own respective sports. Of course, for someone with attention deficit disorder or a different disability, medication may be necessary.

Research is always being done as to how sports psychology can be improved upon. By examining some of the mental or emotional aspects that affect how players perform, many believe that their game can be improved. Focus and concentration are things which to a large extent can be improved by mental conditioning. While it is true that certain chemicals control the brain and therefore how a person focuses, there are multiple ways to reach someone other than drugs.

Sports psychology is a type of work many people go into who are interested in both sports and psychology. There are many different colleges and universities across the countries that have programs for it. It is considered to be one sub-section of "Sports Medicine", a very popular field of study for many college students. This kind of psychology can be used to deal with injuries when players are taken off the team temporarily. Players deal with injuries in different ways and helping a player through this as well as to cope and stay focused once the injury has healed is very important for recovery.

There are quite a few athletes who are ordered to undergo a sort sports therapy to stay focused and enhance performance. With the number of athletes who are on steroids and artificial performance-enhancers, this approach to helping athletes is a healthy and sometimes very effective one. There are different perspective, but most people who study it agree that it can be highly beneficial for those who are willing to put in the hard work and examine themselves inside and out. Numerous professional athletes have worked with trainers who are specialized in the mind and this branch of mental training. They are able to bring out the best in people who must perform under extremely stressful circumstances in front of thousands of people, such as professional football or basketball players.

Motivating Others is a Fulfilling Career

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The Importance of Sports Psychology in Basketball

However, there is a bit more to it than just making goals and striving to achieve them. The "striving" aspect needs a bit of sports psychology to fully achieve the goals that the athlete sets out. Sports psychology involves a mix of visualization, awareness, control, concentration, understanding, relaxation, and confidence.

There are many approaches to improve sports psychology in basketball players. One must first understand what sports psychology is and how it can benefit the athlete. For example, basketball players need to tune into the exact sound that gets them going, one possible sound could be the crowd cheering and rooting for their team. Once athletes are out on the court and they hear the crowd roaring, their motivation to achieve peak performance greatly increases. The emotional experience gained from removing the blocks enables the player to focus on and in their performance zone is really something that drives athletes to accomplish their goals much easier.

The first sports psychology center opened up in the 1920's. Since then, the study of the psychology of sport has been of great interest to many psychologists. In the 1970's, sports psychology was part of university curriculums nationwide and more focus and research has been placed in this field in recent decades. Mental training and other exercises are also created to improve emotional strength among players.

I recently worked with a College Basketball team. They were struggling with free-throw accuracy. I took seven of the team members and had them make 50 free throws to get a base line. I customized a mental training hypnosis for them and then had them shoot another 50 free throws. We tabulated the difference between the before and after hypnosis. Their overall percentage of free throws made increased by 7% from 73% to 80%. The best improvement was 24%. Four players improved 10% to 24%. The other three were about the same. This all took place after a 2½ hr. practice.

In their next game, their field goal percentage improved by 15%. In the following game, our test players again made 87.5% of their free throws.

As a by-product their field goal percentage jump up 10- 18% over the next few games.

The psychological importance of an athlete needs more attention than many think. Sports psychology sometimes can make or break an athlete's day, week, or month while competing for his team or for himself. At the same time, sports psychology can help an athlete get out of a slump or maintain his or her high peak performance. Either way, when an athlete is not only physically, but mentally and emotionally strong, they can achieve all of the realistic goals that they set for themselves.

Todd Stofka is the Director of Philly Hypnosis Sports Psychology. We work with Professional, Olympic, College and High School athletes, and teams. Contact us at http://www.thebestweightlosssolution.com/sports-psychology/ or Call now 1-877-410-0175

How To Select A Sports Psychology Coach

What do you want out of a sport psychology coach?

You want to build more confidence, make a positive impact in your sport, have more fun and satisfaction and unleash your full potential.

Sport psychology is one of those cutting-edge disciplines poised on the edge of art and science. The mind game is one of the most important, yet often most elusive and ineffable elements in all of sport. Having a strong mental game is the Make-It-Or-Break-It skill that separates the winners from the You-Came-So-Close crowd.

Athletes, coaches and parents choose an expert sport psychology coach, or mental game coach, to help navigate the learning curve, pressures and pitfalls of a sport. This mental game advisor provides guidance in building a mentally tough, peak performance mind tool-kit that top-performing champions possess. In learning these mental lessons, the mental training coach acts as a teacher, motivator and mentor. The sport psychology training relationship is a collaborative, confidential, professional one that supports the client in reaching more of their sports performance potential.

HERE'S WHAT ANY SPORT PSYCHOLOGY COACH SHOULD OFFER TO BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE

1. Assessment of your current sport psychology skills.

2. Review of and suggestions for upcoming competitions.

3. A deep and extensive level of analysis and feedback about your sports performances.

4. Proprietary, detailed checklists that help you become aware of yourself as an athlete.

5. Worksheets and exercises that bring the concepts to life.

6. Coaching for your upcoming competition.

7. Help you overcome performance issues such as fear and low confidence.

8. Show-You-How-To-Practice sessions.

9. Advice on managing yourself under pressure.

10. Dress rehearsals of competitions.

11. Review of your past competitions.

12. Create custom pre-game mental routines.

13. Post-game reviews and follow-up.

14. Email support anytime you want it.

HOW SPORT PSYCHOLOGY COACHING CAN HELP YOU BE A BETTER, MORE SUCCESSFUL ATHLETE

1. Improve your self-confidence in your sport.

2. Teach you new and better mental approaches.

3. Coach you to improve your sports performances under pressure.

4. Provide you with new awarenesses about yourself as an athlete.

5. Counsel you in the "big-picture view" of your sports career.

6. Help you transfer the many mental lessons from sport to the rest of your life.

And, perhaps most important of all to athletes, the sport psychology coach should teach the science and art of MENTAL TOUGHNESS.

This article covers only one small part of the mental game. A complete mental training program includes motivation and goal-setting, pre-event mental preparation, post-event review and analysis, mental strengthening, self-regulation training, breath control training, motor skill training, mental rehearsal, concentration training, pressure-proofing, communication training, confidence-building, breaking through mental barriers, slump prevention, mental toughness training, flow training, relaxation training, momentum training, psych-out proofing and media training.

For a comprehensive overview of your mental abilities you need an assessment instrument that identifies your complete mental strengths and weaknesses. For a free, easy-to-take 65-item sport psychology assessment tool you can score right on the spot, visit http://www.mentalgamecoach.com/Assessments/MentalGameOfSports.html This assessment gives you a quick snapshot of your strengths and weaknesses in your mental game. You can use this as a guide in creating your own mental training program, or as the basis for a program you undertake with Bill Cole, MS, MA to improve your mental game. This assessment would be an excellent first step to help you get the big picture about your mental game.

Copyright © Bill Cole, MS, MA 2006 All rights reserved.

Bill Cole, MS, MA is one of the world's leading mental game coaches who consults with athletes of all levels including children, amateurs and professionals. Mr. Cole is the founder and President of the International Mental Game Coaching Association, the global leader in certification of mental game coaches. Read over 400 free articles on sports psychology at http://www.mentalgamecoaching.com/index.html or call 408-294-2776 for more information.

Why France Football Team Lost In The World Cup 2010 - Lessons Learnt From Sport Psychology Points

Before the South Africa World Cup, nobody could ever imagine that the runner up of World Cup2006 would fall down that badly with two defeats, one draw, foul-mouthed squabbles in the dressing room and a team strike. So what happened with the French players psychologically?

The start of all things came with the bad words by Nicholas Anelka to his coach Domenech during half time game with Mexico. Put aside his inappropriate saying, the worse thing was that somebody leaked that information to the media. In sport psychology terms, a norm in a team was broken. Norms are the standards for behavior that is expected of team members. Norms are not formally adopted by the team but result from a gradual change in behavior until a consensus is reached. Norms are different from rules in the fact that rules are formal for everyone and there are normally some punishments for breaking the rule. Because norms are unobtrusive, they are sometimes taken for granted and only become important when violated. In the case of France team, for some reasons, the norm of keeping team issues inside the locker room was violated. And the result was really destructive.

Worst of all, the team represented by Patrick Evra boycotted training and some players showed the intention of avoiding playing the last game. In this case the whole team was united under the same cause: to protest against the decision to send Anelka back from the French Football Federation. In sport psychology terms, the team displayed very high cohesion. Team cohesion is defined as: "the resistance of the group to disruptive forces". When a team is highly cohesive like French team, it would be able to tolerate a great deal of negativity arising from the occurrence of unfavorable events, such as losing games, or receiving criticism in the media... Team cohesion is also divided into 2 type: task cohesion (regarding team goals and performance) and social cohesion (regarding relationship outside the task). In France team, the players showed very high social cohesion that led to the boycott and protest to support their teammate.

So what could have been fixed in that case? Obviously, there are many issues that had to be solved (from behavior of players to coach, setting up norms for communication with each other and to the media...). However, there is one main issue I believe should have been tackled. By interacting with players in an informal approach, a sport psychologist could help players restore and re-affirm their team goal. Obviously, they came to World Cup to represent their country and to make French people proud. As a national team, they carried the image of the whole nation and should behave accordingly, especially in front of foreign media. By reacting aggressively to coaches, they were successful in showing their team cohesion, yet failed to show their responsibilities for their nation and their fans. By re-aligning the team value and team goal to the players, a sport psychologist could help players redefine their priority and their purpose. This could potentially have led to different behaviors and performance by French players.

Although France team issues were rather extreme, it gives a very clear picture of many sport psychology issues that should have been addressed before and during the tournament. By being aware of norms and cohesion level in your team, you can prevent and address problems as well as improve team performance.

Dzung Dao Tien is a Master student in Sport Science & Sport Psychology from Lund University, Sweden. He is also a practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Program which helps training athletes to achieve peak performance.

If your team have some similar issues and would like to hear some advices from a sport psychology consultant, you can drop him an email at: sportpsychologyconsultants@gmail.com or find him at his website http://www.personligtranaremalmo.com

How to Use the Latest in Sports Psychology to Improve Your Soccer Game

A varsity soccer player heads the ball into the goal to put his team ahead by one. With more than 20 minutes to play, players on the team that is behind start to hang their heads. Their body language, slumped shoulders, a slow walk, and frustrated, angry expressions convey their temporary lack of resiliency. The speed with which they can bounce back from this setback holds the key to their success. Do they give in to their disappointment, let it turn to resignation, and ever-so-slightly decrease their efforts? Or do they use their anger to stoke the fires of competition and redouble their efforts to score and tie the game?

Psychology is beginning to unravel some of the mysteries around sports performance in general and around soccer in particular. This article discusses three recent findings in sports psychology and how they can be best applied to soccer.

Focus On Playing to Potential, Not Winning

For instance, players who make predictions about who will win the upcoming game enjoy the game less than those who do not. By predicting the outcome of the game, it creates the possibility of being incorrect and thus leads to the anticipation of regret. This anticipation of being wrong puts more pressure on the player to perform. As we know, too much pressure can push a player out of the zone (where performance is maximized) and into a subpar performance.

A better approach is that of nonattachment where players do not get overly attached to the idea of winning or losing. Soccer players can control one thing - their own play. By focusing the team on playing to their best individual and team potential, and decreasing focus on winning, the team plays more relaxed, more effective soccer.

Understand Your Players for Better Penalty Kicks

Another finding shows that some individuals look for potential gains in general and on the soccer field. Other people spend their efforts attempting to thwart negative outcomes. So one group looks to maximize gains, while the other group looks to minimize losses. Soccer coaches can identify this tendency in individual players and use it to fulfill their players' potential. For example, when preparing players for penalty shootouts, coaches can talk to players who look to maximize gains (usually the forwards and some midfielders) and tell them to focus on scoring. On the other hand, coaches can prep those who seek to minimize losses (usually the fullbacks) by telling them to focus on not missing the shot. These are individualized messages that can run through the shooter's head while preparing to take the PK which will increase the probability of success during the shootout.

Use Mirror Neurons to Your Advantage

Finally, soccer players become better simply by watching world class players. There is a 'mirror system' in the human brain which responds to actions we watch, such as Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a goal with a heel kick or performing a scissor move. This system in the brain has been shown in brain scan studies to activate when the individual is viewing a sport or activity in which they participate. However, the mirror system does not activate for a dancer watching a soccer player. The mirror system only activates for individuals who have been trained in the particular sport being viewed. We have known for over 50 years that visualization is helpful in improving sports performance (beginning with slalom skiing back in the 1950's). Science is just discovering that the brain also learns by observing experts. Although no muscle movement takes place in the observer, the brain acts as if the body is replicating the movements being made while watching Ronaldo. The same pattern of neurons fire when watching Ronaldo perform a bicycle kick as when the player him- or herself does a bicycle kick. The possibility exists that players can hone their skills during injuries by watching professional soccer games, highlights on YouTube of favorite players and attending live games.

There are a number of things that psychology can add to sport in general and soccer in particular. Try incorporating some of these suggestions in your play or coaching and see what results come. Above all, have fun. Soccer is first and foremost a game!

Dr. John Schinnerer is in private practice helping people learn anger management, stress management and the latest ways to deal with destructive negative emotions. He also helps clients discover optimal human functioning via positive psychology. His practice is located in the Danville-San Ramon Medical Center at 913 San Ramon Valley Blvd., #280, Danville, California 94526. He graduated summa cum laude from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in psychology. He is collaborating with the University of New Zealand on the International Wellbeing Study to look at what we do right and what make for a meaningful, thriving life. He consults with cutting-edge companies with novel technologies such as Resonance Technologies which has a unique method to quantify emotional reactions to products, change initiatives and leadership teams. Dr. Schinnerer has been an executive and psychologist for over 10 years. Dr. John Schinnerer is President and Founder of Guide To Self, a company that coaches clients to their potential using the latest in positive psychology, mindfulness and attentional control. Dr. John Schinnerer hosted over 200 episodes of Guide To Self Radio, a prime time radio show, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Schinnerer's areas of expertise range from positive psychology, to emotional awareness, to moral development, to sports psychology. Dr. Schinnerer wrote the award-winning, "Guide To Self: The Beginner's Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought," which is available at Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com and AuthorHouse.com.

Sport Psychology-For performance during peak usage

Determination, self motivation and effort is essential for an athlete get their performance during peak usage in their sport, but research has proven these behavior strategies are not enough. Three main sport psychology attributes change affiliations, cable conversion conditions and alignment perception.

The first image that comes to the minds of many people, when they think of a professional athlete is their image, mainly their physical build up and their abilities to produce winning results. This is, of course, the dream of many professional athletes, but there are more than just being able to be the fastest runner in a competition or shoot the most hoops in basketball. Sport Psychology plays an important role in the life of any serious professional athlete, especially if they seek performance during peak usage.

Many athletes are driven by their strong conviction that the stick was developed from their core values. This is a great thing to have, that this can give self motivation for the athlete, sports psychology suggests, however, that the most important part of having faith is to distinguish between reality and fantasy. It is one thing to have a faith, but if the athlete does not have the strength to achieve the goals they set, it can become overwhelming, stressful and very disappointing. Review a conviction and with realistic goals is the best way to keep the mind motivated and accomplish a goal.

Sport Psychology educator also athletes to cable conversion conditions and understanding any obstacles in the way of achieving optimal performance is crucial to the success of the athlete. An important step in the improvement of sport psychology conditions is to recognize the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving a goal and unblock any deterrent thoughts that may prevent the athlete in bringing their A-game.

Understanding of one's perceptions, like when the player takes the error also seriously, is also an important aspect of sport psychology to recognize. To understand how one acts when not doing their team proud and not to take the blame for serious can better prevent future shocks and disappointments.

It is actually a great IDEA for athletes to speak with a professional sports psychologist help to improve their convictions, conditions and perceptions. Anyone interested in obtaining peak performance athlete should not be afraid to explore alternative beliefs and perceptions to maintain conditions and make a star athlete out of themselves, both physically and mentally.

On Regular Hypnosis and Peak Performance Sports psychologist
Todd Stofka is Director Regular Hypnosis. Method Stofka has helped thousands of people to kick their old habits to the new life as they wish. Call for your consultation 877-557-7409 or schedule online at http://www.thebestweightlosssolution.com/sports-psychology/

What Sports Psychology Entails

For women who are not fans of football and who can't understand why grown up men will sit and watch 22 grown up men running after a ball in the name of football, sports psychology will probably prove beneficial to them. I'm sure that most of you watch sports programs on television. Some even have fun players and teams they support. To make sure these people perform to their ultimate level there are other people who work behind the curtains. There are trainers, supporters and doctors who ensure that the athlete is mentally, emotionally and physically stable.

Sports psychology deals with the way in which athletes as their fans handle stresses of sports. The psychologists and coaches co-work to ensure the athlete perform to competitive status. As the coach trains the athlete, he checks the behavior patterns and how the athlete reacts before the event. This information guides the psychologists to develop a training routine that will utilize the athlete's performance abilities.

In these case it is important for a coach to have basics in sports education and should be able to know the emotion responses of the athlete when there is competition. There are cases where some athletes strain and can't perform to their ability due to lack of emotional stability. The athletes who have a coach who understand sports psychology are able to perform in various competitions that lasts for long period of time.

Sports are part of life and coaches should gather information on psychology to ensure that the athletes do their best. As an athlete, you should hook up with a trainer who will help you all round to achieve your goal. With time and training you will be able to improve and cope with strains in competitions.

Peter Gitundu Creates Interesting And Thought Provoking Content on psychology For More Information, Read More Of His Articles Here STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGY If You Enjoyed This Article, Make Sure You SUBSCRIBE TO MY RSS FEED!

Focus the Key of Sports Psychology and Coaching

Athletes go through a whole deal of pressure when they compete and train for the Olympics or the NBA Championship Games. The mental and physical strain one goes through is huge and it is an advantage to be involved in sports psychology and coaching as here athletes are taught to strive for the best. Sports psychology and coaching does not only cover athletes competing in the Olympics or the major leagues, but as long as the athlete's goal is for greatness than this is the right path for him.

The secret to success in sports psychology and coaching is as a coach you are able to instil in your client that he should have focus. Yes, an athlete should have talent and skill but without focus than he may not be able to reach his goals. Focus is a quality that should be acquired by every athlete if he wants to be a winner. Focus allows every athlete to concentrate on the goal he has to reach and pushes him to reach his full potential. In a sports psychology and coaching business, coaches educate their clients with different methods of how they can keep their focus to produce winners.

As a coach in a sports psychology and coaching business, you must realize that your focus should be on focus itself. You should be able to help your client cultivate and develop his focus for him to be the athlete that he wants to be. To fully understand how focused one should be, here is an example of what I mean. Let us say that you are up for bat, and you hear 10,000 fans screaming your name. You will need to shut this out and focus. Focus on the pitcher and the ball. With total focus, chances are you will hit that ball and hopefully score a homerun.

5 Tips to develop your Focus

F - Free your mind. An athlete must develop the skill to free his mind of any distractions. He must be able to concentrate on the game and not be distracted by other thoughts that have nothing to do with his goal to win. Sports psychologists and sports coaches have developed mind relaxation techniques to develop one's focus.

O - Organize your thoughts quickly during the game. As an athlete your ability to analyze the game step by step allows you to plan your action as the game progresses.

C - Concentration. The ability to focus also comes hand in hand with concentrating on your tasks at hand.

U - Understand. Your understanding of who you are and what you can do is important in your quest to greatness.

S - Strength. The strength that I am talking about is not physical strength but mental strength. An athlete must be able to put his problems or other distracting thoughts behind him when it is needed.

Being in the sports psychology and coaching business you will be able to use these tips to help you and your coaches in creating methods to develop the focus of your clients.

Jeffrey T. Sooey is the CEO of JTS Advisors and the founder of the Coaches Training Blog community, a free, self-led video training for coaches growing their businesses to $10,000 per month and beyond. Watch videos about how to become a life coach the easiest way possible. Go here: http://www.coachestrainingblog.com/becomeacoach.

Sports Psychology-never give up

Provides the ability to start by having a short discussion of what psychology is about sport. For an athlete is clinical sport Psychology so much about positive thinking as a sound technique. Clinical sport psychology will assist the athlete to eliminate or capture a number of psychological symptoms and challenges, they usually would fight with and help them get psychological, behavioural and cognitive qualities that will develop or improve the athletes ' physical capabilities and generate psychological qualities, which will encourage the athlete in their goals for improved sports performance.

In addition to sports people, athletes are human. They have problems of anxiety, self-esteem and sometimes poor feelings just like everyone else and their symptoms are the same or similar as travel difficulties, as the public. Athletes main interest is gathered, sporting success. Problems with anger, public speaking, interviews, self-esteem, alcohol, drug-related problems, peer pressure all suppressed their lives beside their sporting career. The athlete may also suffer from a fear of success, lack of motivation, lapses in concentration and other problematic conditions which could impair their performance.

Sport Psychology can enable positive change for the athlete who needs fast results and more reach easy potential with a balanced way of thinking. By adopting a positive attitude to the athlete improve motivation and have greater discipline in training habits.

It must be stressed, sport psychology may not undertake any without the talent to become a first class athlete, but it helps considerably sportsman with talent to develop their skills and potential.

I will begin with a question that can change your way of thinking your position for success. Here is what you Believe. that those who seem to be more talented or successful than you are actually more capable or superior than you or is more expert than you?

Statistics tell not always the whole story!

Often they will know something more than you, they can be a bit fitter or technically better than you. They can be good talk, and seems to be more than they really are. Don't be intimidated. More often than not a small difference, perhaps a second faster than you is all it takes for them to thrive and go on to be a champion.

The difference between good and great is very small. When you are on your personal quest excellence, you should never give. Using the setting, goals, consistent in their approach, never take your eye off the prize, taking notice of all the small details of the nature of your game, and then modelling centres of excellence in the world winners, lead to higher levels of success for yourself. Be curious what it is that so-and-so take part makes separating them, which creates a better result?

You may remember dozens of situations when you have experienced a set-back when all it took was a small percentage of your opponent for success to occur. Starting today, be aware of every little item, you can in your sport, which will create hunger and desire in you and guide you towards your major success. Difficult? Perhaps. Impossible? No.

Read more on my website http://www.mindtrainingarena.com

Paul m. Maher invites you to learn more about sport psychology and to maximise your potential sports, visit http://www.mindtrainingarena.com. You will have access to invaluable eBooks, focused on cricket, tennis, bodybuilding and soccer psychology.

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The advantage of using Sports Psychology to improve your game

Using sport psychology is actually essential for athletes and coaches to prepare competition for a performance during peak usage.

You can be a determined athlete or a qualified coach and yet fail to perform well or support team needs to get into the zone and play in the zone. Modern research shows that athletes with the necessary mental toughness is more likely to be successful, because the increased stress of the game is a key factor in poor reaction both mentally and physically, that may affect the athlete's performance skills negatively.

Currently, competitive anxiety tendency athletes often lack vitality, confidence, self control, commitment and concentration. Such situations have led sports trainers to find strategic ways and manners to deal with the issue.

Today, the buses in particular, more and more interested in the field of sports psychology. How to reduce the competitive anxiety has been a paramount focus. It is therefore strategically techniques has launched to allow athletes to use them in a competitive situation to manage, support and optimize their performance.

When know in by coach, allow these techniques athletes to relax and focus your attention positively on the preparatory phase of the next competition.

Sport Psychology is an ideal weapon for the athlete's armory in to gain the winning edge. Using sport psychology helps by improving the focus and process disturbances by developing coping skills to deal with setbacks and failures, and growing an athletes trust. Sport Psychology also instills a healthy belief system and identifying irrational thoughts, improves and balances athletes drive for peak performance, increases the game-specific strategies and game techniques and helps teams develop communication skills and cohesion easily.

It is therefore crucial to work hand in hand with a certified mental specialist or sport psychologist to a satisfactory result.

If you are an athlete who need to develop your mental toughness or coach who wants to create centres of excellence and a winning performance, or need help to remove the blocks and the fears have stopped your team from peak performance, hire a mind practitioner.

On Regular Hypnosis and smoking solution
Todd Stofka is Director Regular Hypnosis. Regular Hypnosis uses best of Neural linguistic psychology and performance Hypnosis to help you change your personal sports fate. Call for your consultation 877-557-7409 or schedule online at Regular Hypnosis

Sports Psychology Myths Busted

The 1920's saw the emergence of psychology as a significant winning strategy in sports. According to history, Germany is said to have developed the first sports psychology laboratory in Berlin. Russia is said to have dived into it a few years later. Overall, these two nations have actually produced some excellent athletes back then and even in recent times.

But it is the North Americans that took it to the next level. Coleman Griffith, the first American sports psychologist, played a prominent role in setting up the first lab in the United States. No one can anymore refute the fact that sports psychology works wonders. If you still do, his landmark book, 'The Psychology of coaching' should help you realize that it is not a myth. Psychology in sports actually works.

As with anything that is hugely successful, myths and misinformation are never far off, Unsurprisingly, some quacks in these field and many people have developed some myths surrounding psychology in the area of sports.

But here are some common (and ridiculous) myths that I would like to expose:

1) Sports psychology works best with only with top-level athletes; this is not entirely true. The highly skilled athletes can gain more from it because they have fully developed the physical skills and abilities. However, sports psychology can work for any athlete at any level. In any case, novices have to learn the basic techniques - and actually learn how to play.

2) Sports psychology can replace basic training; this couldn't be any further from the truth. You would be out of your mind if you thought you could get outstanding results by just feeling positive, or a mere 'can do' attitude. A few lucky breaks are all one can muster, and then the losing streak checks in. One must still practice and develop the techniques and skills of the sport.

3) The mental set up is the difference between athletes of the same skill level: not nearly as much. At the top level of any sport, the mental game might seem to be the determinant, but not entirely. It is usually a balanced combination of the technical abilities, the skills, and the mental set up that creates outstanding sportsmen.

4) It is only for the enlightened sportsmen: tell it to the birds! Sports psychology will work for any individual engaging in any of the various sports.

While these are just a few myths and misinformation going round, there may be others that need to be dispelled.

John Nasaye is a researcher and creative Web content writer

nasaye@gmail.com

Sports Psychology For Youth Sports - Part 3

Sports psychology techniques are important tools in helping athletes achieve peak performance in sports these days.

Their importance has also filtered down to youth sports where visualization, routine setting and other sports psychology techniques are used to help young children in their development. In part 3 of this series, we will look at the use of mental imagery to help young athletes achieve peak performance in sports.

When using sports psychology, one can be commonly confused with the difference between visualization and mental imagery. What is the difference? How can they be properly understood and applied? In part 2 of this series of articles on using sports psychology to help develop peak performance in sports for young athletes, we define visualization as holding a mental image or a process, often a positive one, in our mind long enough for our subconscious mind to register, and subsequently use this to generate positive action for peak performance. This form of visualization technique is often applied at an individual level, where the practitioner concerned who devote time and energy to meditate, relax and mental picture positive outcomes and processes.

Mental imagery often deals with a sequence of events, actions or processes leading to the actual desired outcome. This form of mental imagery is also often applied collectively in team games for a better understanding of how the game plan need to be executed by the players. In this sense, mental imagery can extend to not just the skill or outcome being practiced and desired, but also the desired techniques and tactics involved in a game.

For example, a good example of visualization would be picturing in the mind a perfect baseball pitch by a pitcher. In his mind, he could imagine himself standing on the mound. Ball in gloves and staring intently at his catch at home plate. He than goes through in slow motion in his mind, the wound up of the delivery, ending in ball release point and the final follow through position of the pitching motion. This form of visualization is often done just before the skill is executed, whereby with practice, the practitioner could often mental visualize his skill in a few seconds. As for mental imagery for the same pitcher, he could imagine in his mind the sequence of actions to be taken following the activation of certain actions by other people around him.

After the pitch, the batter might swing and connect with the pitch. Ball is hit towards the first base man. The immediate reaction of the pitcher in his mind will be to run towards first base to provide cover for the firstbaseman. Next on his mind would be to be ready and in position to receive a pass from the firstbaseman. These sequence of tactical action, when imagined in the mind of the player constitute mental imagery or mental rehearsal. It it more related to other people on the field, and it is generally done during pre-game preparation by players. The coach is usually the facilitator of this form of sport psychology practice, as it is important for his players to rehearse in their mind tactical actions that he wants his players to take under different circumstances. In other words, mental imagery or mental rehearsals are situational and very dependent on people actions, done during pre-game. Whereas, visualization is more individually practiced for a very personal skill, and this can be done a few seconds prior to the action itself. One must not be confused by visualization and mental imagery and mental rehearsal.

This form of sports psychology is very unfamiliar ground for young athletes. Most of the time young athletes only focus on playing the game without realizing that this form of mental imagery and mental rehearsal practices can be used to enhance their performance in sports. Coaches need to introduce these form of mental imagery and mental rehearsal practices to their young charges so that they can practice and make this a habit for their quest for peak performance in sports. But at the start, young athletes might find mental imagery and mental rehearsal practices difficult and irrelevant. However, the coach must persist and instill this form of sport psychology practices into their programme. With time, mental imagery and mental rehearsal practices will become a part of the young athletes' lives and they will carry on with them for the rest of their lives. It is recommended that these form of mental imagery and mental rehearsal practices are included at least once a week in the training programme. That way, children will not get sick and bored with it, and yet they are forced to practice something crucial to peak performance in sports.

Mental imagery and mental rehearsal, visualization, target setting and routine setting are really simple sports psychology techniques that any coach can apply in their training programme for peak performance in sports. Without getting into too much scientific and complicated details of actual sports psychology theories and so forth, these form of mental skill training can still be relevant and effective for youth sports.

Jimmy Tong has been a Physical Educator for 13 Years in Singapore, with degree in sports science and physical education from Loughborough University in UK. He has extensive coaching experience in soccer, floorball and rugby teams in Singapore Schools.He is currently a sports development officer in Singapore schools as well as an active contributor of sports training articles to improve sports performance in athletes. He hopes to enable people's success to come by inspiring them with true sports motivational and inspirational stories.

For more information on achieving Peak Performance in Sports, visit the following site at http://inspiringsportsmotivations.com

Jobs in Sport Psychology

Psychologists offer a valuable service to the world. This field is very fast, and there are many branches that deal with different situations. There are jobs in sport psychology, but they are very competitive because of the many graduates from universities and colleges. You will fit into sport psychology, sport-oriented in order to enjoy the company of your clients.

Jobs in sport psychology tends to be competitive compared with other areas of applied psychology. If you want to handle the low wages, you can search for opportunities in the private sector. The best way to be competitive for the few jobs are to attain credentials up to the doctorate level. Even if you do not wish to be a full time consultant, you can be involved in teaching undergraduates and research that will improve the field.

Although there are narrow career prospects in the Sport field, you job in sport Psychology offers a chance to explore many fields in addition to psychology. If you are a fan of a certain game you can learn how to play and perfect, for example, chess, golf or swimming, and you can use a part of your leisure time plays. Many sports psychologists aims to work for sports teams, but this area requires those who have obtained Ph.d. level.

In order to handle these psychology jobs should you have a likable personality to be able to get good with your customers. Always be willing to teach the athletes and coaches, so you can work as a team. Fieldwork as you progress in your research is important because it improves the way you communicate with your clients. If you are looking for work in this field, be patient and the hard work will pay when you see your clients reach their goals.

Esther Wangui Muhia creates interesting and thought provoking content on psychology. For more information, read some of her articles here study of PSYCHOLOGY If you enjoyed this article, make sure you subscribe to my RSS FEED!

Sports Psychology: For sportsmen to handle Stress competitive day-preparation

We are often driven by an athlete's peak performance, admire the way they manage sometimes dragging things and make us proud. More often than not, these athletes felt even as ' role models ', ' heroes ' and even ' gods ', but we tend to forget that the people like us. They have their ups and downs; they may get upset and blow off a game and not to impress us.

The difference between a top athlete and a ' pure ' athlete is determination, ambition and Spirit they put into the game on the competition day preparation. A good athlete can easily fail and blow the game, if he or she fails to take into account one of the mechanisms that keep him or her in the ' zone ' and plays in the zone.

According to a study cited by Sports injury Bulletin, try coaches often to inspire fear in their athletes at competitive day preparation. Such attitudes have a tendency to bring the performance of the athlete and produce stress. Psychological research reveals that 90% of sports injuries in games is stress-related.

Frustration, anxiety and distraction is the most important decisive factors that prevent an athlete from to produce the best performance.

In recent years, successful athletes proved that for performance under peak load, the athlete must develop tactical psychological operations techniques. These psychological tactics includes, relaxed, becomes self-possessed, staying focused and having a positive self-image. But this is not always so easy for athletes to develop these techniques as easily said.

They require support from a mental diet psychologist and need to constantly integrate and apply the rules of sports psychology, if they are eager to maintain peak performance while to get rid of psychological stress.

Sport Psychology proved in fact to be a critical tool in order to develop the necessary mental toughness athletes must perform well and be their best.

Sport Psychology helps in:

1. participation of athletes to handle stress and anxiety before competition day
2. improve in their learning method and great skill
3. develop a positive self-image and confidence
4. staying focused
5. raise awareness needs for performance during peak usage
6. dealing with the competitive concerns

Therefore, it is recommended that an athlete work with a sports psychologist , which will help you manage stress and instill in you positive thoughts that will help you improve your performance.

On Regular Hypnosis and Sports Psychology

Todd Stofka is Director Regular Hypnosis. Method Stofka has helped thousands of people gain self-esteem and improve their results through sport psychology. Call for your consultation 877-557-7409.

The Differences Between Sports Psychology and Sports Hypnosis?

The origin of sports psychology dates back many decades, and the field first started gaining popularity in the 1930's with the classic basketball experiment conducted by Dr. Blaslotto at the University of Chicago. Since that time, there has been an increasing emphasis placed on the role of the mind in sports due to the growing number of institutes such as Stanford University and Harvard University conducting research studies into peak sports performance. In the 1970's, Dr. Bob Rotella, a famous golf psychologist, hit the scene which helped popularize the use of psychology in golf, and helped to further validate the importance of the mind in sports. Besides sports psychology, the other field that was simultaneously gaining popularity and proving effective was the area of sports hypnosis. In this article, I will explain to you the differences between sports psychology and sports hypnosis as well as shed some light on the truth about hypnosis in sports.

In my opinion, I think sports psychology is a great thing. However, I feel that it is limited in an area that is so very important. I believe that sports psychology contributes two major elements to athletes. First, sports psychology has been excellent at gathering research, conducting experiments, and providing data about athletic performance. With more and more graduate level programs being offered in this field it is opening the doors to grant money to fund more research projects and ongoing experiments. This leads me to the second contribution of sports psychology which is the data they accumulate and produce. Sports psychologists have definitely provided very insightful information into the minds of athletes and what is needed to produce results.

The downside or the limitation of sports psychology that I see is not in the information, but in the vehicle of communication used to transfer that knowledge to athletes. I believe that sports psychology deals with the wrong part of our mind to affect change or improvements in a person's behavior. Sport psychologist's primarily deal with our conscious mind. If we were going to summarize the role of the conscious mind in a nutshell definition it would be: The primary job of the conscious mind is to judge, evaluate, and critique all the information we are exposed to. It then filters this information and only allows into the subconscious mind information congruent with the habits/beliefs established there. Since sports psychologists communicate to and work with an athlete's conscious mind, the information has to go through our filters and processes of analysis. The end result is the information is intellectually understood but rarely applied in one's performance. Athletes will know what to do with sports psychology, but following through with the insights and applying it is another story entirely.

The most powerful contribution to the sports world in regards to sports hypnosis is the vehicle of communication. Sports hypnosis provides a unique tool to athletes who want to speed up the learning process. The subconscious mind is a person's bio-computer that operates things like the automatic processes of the body, provides the storehouse for memories, triggers your habits, and maintains your self-image to name a few. Information is processed by the subconscious mind non-critically the same as a computer. It doesn't discern the difference between good or bad it simply moves towards a person's most dominate thoughts. Additionally, it doesn't know the difference between real events or vividly imagined ones, and will actually develop the neuro pathways during intense visualizations virtually the same way as if the action was actually being performed.

In my opinion, the natural communication process of hypnosis gives sports hypnotist's a tremendous advantage over sports psychologists. First, as you can see from the description above the subconscious mind accepts information non-critically as opposed to dealing with the critical conscious mind. This gives athletes the ability to change negative belief systems and habitual behaviors much faster and easier than if dealing only with the conscious mind, which judges all the content. Next, when the subconscious mind accepts an idea, it acts upon it without having to consciously think about the task. Do you have to think about your habits or do they just naturally happen? Sports hypnosis is a way to eliminate negative habits quickly by going to the source of them and makes it easier to implement new positive behaviors as a natural part of your performance. Finally, hypnosis makes it easier for athletes to create life-like visualizations and virtual performance experiences. When an athlete does mental rehearsal like this, the subconscious mind begins developing stronger neuro pathways to physically execute the task. The Brain Imaging Center in San Antonio, Texas said that visualization actually creates 80% of the neuro structures in the brain to perform a task.

Sports hypnotists also have the advantage because they can utilize the information gained from sports psychologists and can condition it in the subconscious mind of an athlete. This is so powerful and important because hypnosis is able to help athletes take the information they intellectual understand and transform it into actual behaviors, which then become like second nature for the athlete. Hypnosis goes beyond understanding and intellectualization, and accelerates the process of application, integration, and the formation of positive habits.

The main disadvantage in regards to hypnosis is that it is a process that is misunderstood by athletes. Many still hold the common misconceptions about hypnosis due to false portrayals from Hollywood. There is a lot of information available that reveals the truth about hypnosis, but let me give you a quick summary.

Hypnosis is a naturally occurring process of our minds that is deeply rooted in science and validated by scientific testing using fMRI's, EEG's, and more. When a person gets hypnotized they don't go unconscious or to some mystical place, it is merely an alteration in their brainwave frequency which naturally occurs 7-10 times everyday so subtly that you don't even realize it. If you have ever driven your car on auto-pilot and arrived at your destination not remembering how you got there then you know what I am talking about. There are 4 major brainwaves; beta, alpha, theta, and delta. Beta is a fully alert, waking state, and Delta is unconsciousness or sleep. Alpha and Theta waves are the in-between states of mind which are utilized in hypnosis. Everyday when you wake up and every night when you go to sleep you go through each of the brainwaves. Hypnosis is a process that makes use of the alpha and theta states of mind because they are our super-learning states in which we can process positive information non-critically and to the subconscious. Also, the alpha state is what all athletes are in when they are in the zone.

Believe it or not, athletes have been using forms of hypnosis for decades. It has just been packaged under a variety of different names. Athletes are more familiar with terms such as visualization, positive thinking, guided imagery, and mental rehearsal which are all elements of the hypnotic process. However, for whatever reasons they shy away whenever they hear the word hypnosis. When an athlete incorporates these elements while in the super-learning state, or hypnosis, they are able to accelerate the learning curve in their sport, increase their ability to execute tasks related to performance, and establish positive habits that lead to success.

The mind plays a pivotal role in peak performance in any sport. Whether you support sports psychology, sports hypnosis, or both just make sure you are incorporating some type of mental training into your practice regimen. When the mind and body come together that's when excellence happens in sports.

John Weir is a board certified hypnotist, NLP master practitioner, and peak performance coach. He is the creator of the Mental Caddie which is a 6 disk audio program designed to condition the subconscious mind for success on the golf course. For the last several years, John has been a faculty member of the National Guild of Hypnotists and has been teaching other professional hypnotists how to utilize hypnosis to improve golf performance. Transform your golf game today by discovering the power of your subconscious mind go to http://www.mentalcaddie.com for all the details. Connect with John on Facebook and learn more about the mental side of golf by clicking here http://on.fb.me/mentalcaddieFB

Use the Sports Psychology for developing mental toughness

The role of sports psychology shows how crucial it is for coaches and athletes to practice psychological skills for peak performance. Top athletes around the world from basketball, football, baseball, hockey, soccer, tennis and golf will use sports psychology to gain their mental edge.

Sports performance specialists play a key role in keeping up the emotional health of athletes. Often, athletes-especially the most successful ones-find it difficult to keep up their emotional health due to psychological stress. It's been observed that athlete's psychological stresses commonly include: imbalance, ranging from tiredness, injury due to gastrointestinal disorders, sleep disorders, and tenderness and muscle strain.

Right click, most athletes remain reluctant to confide themselves, 39 in a Sports performance specialist due to the alleged stigma. Nonetheless, many sports practitioners recognize the importance of consulting sports performance specialists, a psychologist, or a therapist for relief or to develop the requisite mental toughness.

Working with a sports psychologist is the only way to help athletes become aware of the possibility of a causal psychological requisite for a complaint and investigate into their emotional status as an integral part of their medical history.

A sports psychologist is, therefore, invaluable in conducting a non-judgmental questioning, so as to unveil the inter-personal issues that may exist. Such examples are with the athlete's trainer, team mate, family member, or stress with regard to (a) the forthcoming competition.

For concrete results, it is advised that psychological performance education should be integrated in an athlete's holistic competition preparation practice, performed correlatively with other exercise tools.

This will involve a teamwork effort among the training team, the athlete, and the sports psychologist.

Consult a sports psychologist, who is capable of teaching skills to help you to improve your learning process and motor skills, deal with competitive stress, and adjust the requisite level of awareness for peak performance.

Make sure that your sports performance specialist will design a training program that will help you to stay focused despite the many disturbances in a competitive setting.

About Regular Hypnosis & The Tuxedos Solution-Todd Stofka is the Director of Regular Hypnosis. The Stofka Method has helped hundreds of athletes create the behavioral changes and peak performance they want from professional and Olympic athletes, PGA golf professionals, Division I athletes, high school athletes, weekend warriors and child-athletes from many sports. Regular Hypnosis uses the best of Neural Linguistic Psychology and Performance Hypnosis to assist you "change your personal sports destiny. Call for your consultation 877-557-7409 or schedule online to Regular Hypnosis

Sports Psychology Myths - Are Athletes Weak If They Resort to Mental Training?

Are you or your players afraid other athletes will see you as weak if you have to do mental training or work with a sports psychologist? Still today, athletes buy into myths about sports psychology, which prevent them from embracing the benefits of sports psychology. I recently received an email from a young hockey player getting ready for try outs. This hockey player states:

"I have friends who perform better than me and they don't read any mental training books. Every time I open my mental training book I feel no motivation to read because better athletes don't do anything to mentally prepare themselves. I feel that I'm weak by being probably the only guy going to try-outs that reads mental training books. I have only heard of a very few great athletes that do mental preparation."

When I receive these emails from athletes, I'm surprised that people still view sports psychology as a weakness and thus think they are inferior because they need to do mental training. Unfortunately, a few athletes still buy into myths about sports psychology and thus shy away. This is an interesting--and misguided--conception about the value of sports psychology.

One of the hallmarks of great athletes is their interest in improving themselves. That doesn't just apply to their physical skills; it applies to their mental game, as well. There's nothing weak, wimpy or sissy-like about being willing and eager to improve oneself and one's performance.

I do think that some athletes are naturally more talented than others and confidence comes easily for them. Other athletes have to work harder in sports to keep up and they might not develop the confidence they need to be fully confident. In any case, athletes at all levels are using mental training and sports psychology to become better athletes--no matter if they are in a slump or trying to keep a winning streak alive.

I also know that athletes in some sports embrace sports psychology more than others. In golf, tennis, and baseball, for example, athletes accept mental training as another type of performance enhancement. In addition, many professional athletes attribute their success to mental toughness including golfer Tiger Woods, NASCAR driver Jeff Burton, and basketball player Michael Jordan....

"The most important attribute a soccer player must have is mental toughness. Before you can win, you must have the will to prepare to win."

~Mia Hamm

Lastly, if you or your athletes worry that others think you're weak (if you do mental training) spend too much time thinking about how others view you. You can't worry about what others think about your training or your game. If this is you, you're great candidates for mental training! With mental training, you can learn to "tune out" worries about what others think of you and focus on what's most important-playing the game and performing your best.

Athletes are more likely to embrace sports psychology when they understand it and its benefits. However, the best way for athletes to buy into mental training is when they actually experience its power firsthand. Sports psychology helps athletes perform more consistently, find the zone more often, keep a winning streak alive, and learn how to think well under pressure.

Contact me at Peak Performance Sports to learn more about how to become mentally tough. Ask for peaksports.com "one-page mental toughness exam" to see if you can benefit from mental training.

I love to work with athletes and teams in person. However, another excellent option is The Confident Athlete Series CD and workbook programs to improve confidence, composure, focus, pregame mental preparation, and perform fearlessly in competition! Read more about

The Confidence Athlete Series:
http://www.peaksports.com/confident_athlete_series.php

Want to learn simple, proven mental toughness skills that you can apply to competition? Grab my free online mental training newsletter, Sports Insights Magazine - for athletes, coaches, and sports parents.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Patrick Cohn is a master mental game coach who work with professional and amateur athletes, sports parents, and teams of all levels. Visit http://www.peaksports.com for more information.

Sports Psychology and the Jewish People

A number of years ago in the movie "Airport" a passenger asks for a little light reading at which point the stewardess hands him a one page leaflet of "Jewish-American Sports heroes". Everyone laughed. And, yet, that is reality.
I'm an anomaly. I'm Jewish. I like to think of myself as reasonably successful and well educated. I'm Jewish. But I also ran track and played football in high school. I'm Jewish? And I was All-Pacific Coast as a defensive tackle in college. I'm Jewish?? And I was a P.E. teacher and the head football and swimming coach at a local high school. Now you're probably thinking, "No wonder he went into psychology. He needed help with his Jewish identity. But the effects must still be there because in addition to regular clinical work, he does sports psychology."
Let's go back a few years and stereotype. There you are at the end of junior high or the beginning of high school. You're a chubby little kid who does reasonably or terrifically well in school and has gotten used to being pushed around a little bit. No big deal. Your emphasis was on education. You made everyone very proud at your Bar Mitzvah. But you were intimidated by all the jocks at school, so you either avoided them, or hung on as a wannabe, or dabbled in sports a bit. Maybe you were the tall, gangly kid who looked like, in today's terms, a "geek." Your parents rewarded you for academic or creative or business endeavors. Tom Kowalski's parents, Juan Gonzalez's parents, William Jackson's parents rewarded those boys, in one way or another, for being tough and macho and physical, for going out for sports and succeeding. But Irving Goldsteins's parents, when questioned by the coach as to why they would not allow Irving to go out for football, even though he was 6'1", 200 lbs. responded, " Becuz dets not sumting a nice Joosh boy does. Let de uders beat each uder up. Mine sohn vill be a dawkter and has no time for dat! Gut bye!!" So you grew up being at least a little intimidated by physical prowess because our culture and religion preaches that education is next to Godliness, and it leaves little time for any physical endeavors- "Nicht mit der handt!". And even if you were considered tough among the Jewish kids, you were still no match for the "real" tough guys. So you exerted your force through student council, or the debate club, and gravitated to others like yourself.
This grated on you for a very long time. And whether you consciously knew it or not, you had to make up for it in some way. In psychological terms you developed a reaction formation. You compensated for this feeling of inadequacy. A liability became an asset. So you became a) a hard-nosed negotiator, feared and revered in business circles or b) an entrepreneur so that you could use your bravado or c) a doctor or lawyer or some other self-employed professional so that you were automatically at the top and didn't have to fight for respect or d) a top notch salesman so that you could use your finely honed verbal skills or e) some other position that insulated you from what you were ultimately still afraid of. Some of you avoided sports completely, some dabbled; all the while blaming other if you did not make it. Some turned to material things to prove themselves, like the big thick gold chains with the enlarged chai to prove yourself and all other Jewish males. And many of you made it vicariously through your children, some, unfortunately, becoming the ultimate "little league parent."
Yet even with a de-emphasis on the physical aspects of Jewish life in this country, we love to hear about "Little Israel" kicking someone's hindquarters all over the Middle East. "There!! That'll teach you to mess with a Jew!!
As a people we've become afraid of physical pursuits. Why? Are the mind and body separate? Can't the two be compatible, and isn't that the healthiest situation? Allow me to discuss not merely the informative aspects of sports psychology, but the benefits to our children. Judaism teaches that we are to pass down our teachings to our children. Why not pass down something new that we have learned?
Sports psychology actually deals with two issues. One is that of a person with problems that have detracted from his or her performance, whether that be poor concentration or the inability to cope with stress. The other is that of the individual who utilizes yet another tool toward an increased performance. This individual does not have a problem. He or she only seeks to improve the psychological aspects since sport has been labeled "90 % mental and 10% physical."
Today we recognize that social life is always in the process of change and development. Relationships are ever-changing as people move in and out of the lives of others. Prior psychologies dealt more with the isolated person, and the recent focus has illuminated the idea that the self rests within the larger circle of society. What we see and do in the world, as well as within ourselves, is shaped by the interactions with the many people in our lives.
Entering into this emerging area comes the field of sports psychology. Athletics is an intensified microcosm of social psychology, yet with many of its own rules, regulations, and, of course, problems. While social psychology alone deals with the individual and her or his interactions with the group, the social psychology of athletics deals with a triad - the individual, the team, and the crowd. Whether sport should hold the position in our society that it does is probably debatable. That it, in fact, does hold a revered position is not a contestable point. No other aspect of society, other than business, has an entire section of every major newspaper dedicated to it. No other events stir the emotions like the traditional rivalries that occur on all levels of sport. Even for the crowds, the socialization process occurring during athletic events is quantitatively more, and is far more intense, than the average person is exposed to.
In dealing with athletics one needs to examine all the various aspects of the social psychology. The advocates of sport have for years suggested that the positive aspects of camaraderie, common goals, and team identity are carried over into everyday life. In their endeavors to promote their ideas, they, of course, have failed to mention that the negative aspects, such as substance abuse, a win-at-all-costs ethic, and the dehumanizing effects, are also often carried over. Perhaps the infatuation with sport stems from the early Greeks and before. But one thing is certain. The whole world, even the world of academia, appreciates a superior athletic performance. The lives of the top athletes are closely monitored, and they often become national heroes, exemplified by Babe Ruth, Joe Di Maggio, Pele, Nadia Comanici, Tiger Woods, and Michael Phelps, to name only a few. Muhammed Ali became somewhat of an unofficial ambassador for the United States as a result of his career.
The athlete actually goes through each process of social psychology twice, once on an individual basis and once on a team identity basis. Self-inquiry must take place in both individual and team psyches for the end result of a cohesive performance to be successful.
The normal pathologies that are present in society are also present on a team and very often magnified because of pressure. Such factors as prejudice in race, ethnicity, religion, sex roles, and age are all problems. Each piece needs to be worked on, polished, and then integrated into the whole. An outstanding team is actually greater than the sum of its parts. The team provides the environment for the individual to flourish and grow. That growing individual then has an obligation to add to that extra dimension of espirit de corps. One does not function successfully without the other. So athletics becomes the perfect practice ground for a broader social knowledge.
Every study done on the subject of survival in time of stress, particularly war indicates that, by and large, those individuals who have had exposure to athletics stand a much greater chance of making it. The survival rate among those having been involved in athletics during WWII and the Korean War was almost double. If you examine those who have had the drive to really make it in business, most have had a good background in athletics at some level.
So if this is the case - if athletics can contribute so much to the development of a person - why have the Jews been one of the last groups to utilize this vehicle? The health spas are full of people trying to create or recapture that good image of themselves because ultimately they will perform better in all other aspects of their lives. Studies now indicate that working out is a major means of coping with depression and stress. Athletes in Action is a Christian organization that takes successful athletes and provides positive role models for their children to relate to. Why should they be allowed to corner the market? Don't we owe it to those who will follow to provide as many tools as possible for success? Certainly, I'm not suggesting that athletics is a panacea for everything, but it is another valuable tool.
I conclude by telling you that not long ago I talked with someone in our midst now about this very situation. The response was that "The Big Machers" in the Federation would not support such an idea. And lest I be accused of being sexist, let me say that I strongly advocate the same stance for our women. As it becomes increasingly more difficult to succeed in this society, we owe it to ourselves to take advantage of all possible means with which to become successful. And, last but certainly not least, the time has come for a change if for no other reason than the Jewish youth of today can no longer relate to the short, stout, kid with glasses and a kippah that can deal only with academia and is afraid of his or her own shadow.

Lessons Learnt From Sport Psychology Points

Before the South Africa World Cup, nobody could ever imagine that the runner up of World Cup2006 would fall down that badly with two defeats, one draw, foul-mouthed squabbles in the dressing room and a team strike. So what happened with the French players psychologically?
The start of all things came with the bad words by Nicholas Anelka to his coach Domenech during half time game with Mexico. Put aside his inappropriate saying, the worse thing was that somebody leaked that information to the media. In sport psychology terms, a norm in a team was broken. Norms are the standards for behavior that is expected of team members. Norms are not formally adopted by the team but result from a gradual change in behavior until a consensus is reached. Norms are different from rules in the fact that rules are formal for everyone and there are normally some punishments for breaking the rule. Because norms are unobtrusive, they are sometimes taken for granted and only become important when violated. In the case of France team, for some reasons, the norm of keeping team issues inside the locker room was violated. And the result was really destructive.
Worst of all, the team represented by Patrick Evra boycotted training and some players showed the intention of avoiding playing the last game. In this case the whole team was united under the same cause: to protest against the decision to send Anelka back from the French Football Federation. In sport psychology terms, the team displayed very high cohesion. Team cohesion is defined as: "the resistance of the group to disruptive forces". When a team is highly cohesive like French team, it would be able to tolerate a great deal of negativity arising from the occurrence of unfavorable events, such as losing games, or receiving criticism in the media... Team cohesion is also divided into 2 type: task cohesion (regarding team goals and performance) and social cohesion (regarding relationship outside the task). In France team, the players showed very high social cohesion that led to the boycott and protest to support their teammate.
So what could have been fixed in that case? Obviously, there are many issues that had to be solved (from behavior of players to coach, setting up norms for communication with each other and to the media...). However, there is one main issue I believe should have been tackled. By interacting with players in an informal approach, a sport psychologist could help players restore and re-affirm their team goal. Obviously, they came to World Cup to represent their country and to make French people proud. As a national team, they carried the image of the whole nation and should behave accordingly, especially in front of foreign media. By reacting aggressively to coaches, they were successful in showing their team cohesion, yet failed to show their responsibilities for their nation and their fans. By re-aligning the team value and team goal to the players, a sport psychologist could help players redefine their priority and their purpose. This could potentially have led to different behaviors and performance by French players.
Although France team issues were rather extreme, it gives a very clear picture of many sport psychology issues that should have been addressed before and during the tournament. By being aware of norms and cohesion level in your team, you can prevent and address problems as well as improve team performance.