When we are predicting the performance of an athlete, we normally tend to look at their physiological composition or genetics. However, let us think about the 100-m finals at the Olympic Games. In the cases where there is very little difference between the absolute potential between competitors, the athlete’s ability to handle their stress and anxiety becomes an important factor to determine his performance in the game. Sports psychology can help the athletes handle their stress and improve their performance. In Chris J. Gee’s article, “How Does Sport Psychology Actually Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework to Facilitate Athlete’s and Coaches’ Understanding”, the author introduces the sport psychology to us by providing an simplified framework. Despite of its effectiveness, many athletes and coaches are reluctant to use the sport psychology because of their misunderstanding about the sport psychology; the role of sport psychology is to provide athletes with necessary tools to minimize the negative impact of psychological factors.
The author first discusses the reason why the athletes do not seek the treatment from sport psychology more often. The most important reason is that the coaches, athletes, and sporting administrators do not have enough understanding about the sport psychology. They view the sport psychology as something similar to those clinically based psychological session. This misconception makes them believe that only athletes with problems seek help from the sport psychologist. Many athletes avoid the service from sport psychology for this reason. This lack of understanding also leads to the lack of confidence in the effect of sport psychology. Therefore, the author argues that, “ the most effective strategies for moving sport psychology further into the athletic domain involve helping athletes and coaches better understand how these services can help all athletes improve their overall performance.”
To help us understand the effect of sport psychology, the author first introduces the concepts of absolute performance and relative performance. The absolute performance is “an individual’s theoretical optimal performance (i.e., 100% perfect performance) in a given athletic endeavor. It is directly related to an athlete’s physiological composition, which is heavily influenced by genetics. Proper training could also enhance an athlete’s absolute performance. However, if two person with different levels of physiological composition engage in the same training protocol, the one with better genetics would receive better result from the training.
On the other hand, an athlete’s day-to-day performance is referred as his or her relative performance, which can be represented in proportional terms, such as 75% of the athlete’s absolute potential. The absolute performance only exists in ideal world; in the real world, some performance inhibitors would hinder the athletes from performing in the perfect state.The author groups the performance inhibitors into the external ones and the internal ones. Game officials, opponents, and crown influences are examples of the external performance inhibitors. The internal inhibitors include both the physiological and psychological ones. It is the psychological inhibitors that the sport psychology is dealing with.
Our attitudes and emotions are directly related to our physiological level and and sport performance. Precompetitive anxiety is one of the most frequent psychological issues associated with athletes. It directly causes some physiological changes that may affect an athlete’s performance. The anxiety reduces an person’s ability to shift attention, impairs the decision-making abilities, and causes muscles to become more tense. All of these effect negatively influence an athlete’s performance. However, unlike the environmental impediments such as the wind, the psychological impediments can be minimized with the help of sport psychology.
The author then summarizes how sport psychology helps the athletes reduce their anxiety. The rational emotive therapy (RET) is used to deal with cognitive anxiety, the negative thoughts and subsequent self-doubt that athletes experience. The RET helps the athletes understand the competitive situation from a more rational point. For example, the athletes should realize that they will not lose everything they have just by losing one game. The sport psychologist use other ways to reduce somatic anxiety (cold hands, fast shallow breathing). For example, they would teach athletes identify when they are experiencing heightened arousal to help the athletes control those anxiety.
The athletes and coaches should have a better understanding about the sport psychology and use it more often. If they have more faith on the effect on the sport psychology, it will help the athletes have better performance on the game.
The author first discusses the reason why the athletes do not seek the treatment from sport psychology more often. The most important reason is that the coaches, athletes, and sporting administrators do not have enough understanding about the sport psychology. They view the sport psychology as something similar to those clinically based psychological session. This misconception makes them believe that only athletes with problems seek help from the sport psychologist. Many athletes avoid the service from sport psychology for this reason. This lack of understanding also leads to the lack of confidence in the effect of sport psychology. Therefore, the author argues that, “ the most effective strategies for moving sport psychology further into the athletic domain involve helping athletes and coaches better understand how these services can help all athletes improve their overall performance.”
To help us understand the effect of sport psychology, the author first introduces the concepts of absolute performance and relative performance. The absolute performance is “an individual’s theoretical optimal performance (i.e., 100% perfect performance) in a given athletic endeavor. It is directly related to an athlete’s physiological composition, which is heavily influenced by genetics. Proper training could also enhance an athlete’s absolute performance. However, if two person with different levels of physiological composition engage in the same training protocol, the one with better genetics would receive better result from the training.
On the other hand, an athlete’s day-to-day performance is referred as his or her relative performance, which can be represented in proportional terms, such as 75% of the athlete’s absolute potential. The absolute performance only exists in ideal world; in the real world, some performance inhibitors would hinder the athletes from performing in the perfect state.The author groups the performance inhibitors into the external ones and the internal ones. Game officials, opponents, and crown influences are examples of the external performance inhibitors. The internal inhibitors include both the physiological and psychological ones. It is the psychological inhibitors that the sport psychology is dealing with.
Our attitudes and emotions are directly related to our physiological level and and sport performance. Precompetitive anxiety is one of the most frequent psychological issues associated with athletes. It directly causes some physiological changes that may affect an athlete’s performance. The anxiety reduces an person’s ability to shift attention, impairs the decision-making abilities, and causes muscles to become more tense. All of these effect negatively influence an athlete’s performance. However, unlike the environmental impediments such as the wind, the psychological impediments can be minimized with the help of sport psychology.
The author then summarizes how sport psychology helps the athletes reduce their anxiety. The rational emotive therapy (RET) is used to deal with cognitive anxiety, the negative thoughts and subsequent self-doubt that athletes experience. The RET helps the athletes understand the competitive situation from a more rational point. For example, the athletes should realize that they will not lose everything they have just by losing one game. The sport psychologist use other ways to reduce somatic anxiety (cold hands, fast shallow breathing). For example, they would teach athletes identify when they are experiencing heightened arousal to help the athletes control those anxiety.
The athletes and coaches should have a better understanding about the sport psychology and use it more often. If they have more faith on the effect on the sport psychology, it will help the athletes have better performance on the game.
http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/34/5/386.full.pdf+html
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