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.