Sport and Exercise Psychology
Ms Adele Muscat B.Psy., M.Sc SES (Manch.)
Sport and Exercise Scientist/ Sport and Exercise Psychology Consultant
Introduction to Sport and Exercise Psychology
What is sport and exercise psychology?
What does a sport psychologist do?
Psychological Orientations
Psychological Skills Training
Why do athletes spend so little time developing mental skills?
PST Myths
Introduction to Sport and Exercise Psychology
Mental letdowns
Topics coaches/athletes find useful
Phases of a psychological skills training program
Practice
Assessment
Philosophy
What is Sport and Exercise Psychology?
It is the scientific study of people and their behaviour in sport and exercise
It has 2 objectives:
1) to see how psychological factors affect an individual’s physical performance
2) to understand how participation in sport affects a person’s psychological development, health and well-being
Sport psychology is about enhancing performance
Sport psychology does not only apply to elite athletes to help them achieve peak performance but it is also concerned with children, disabled, seniors and average participants eg. developing strategies to encourage sedentary people to exercise etc.
What does a sport psychologist do?
Conduct research, teach and consult with athletes or teams to develop psychological skills to enhance performance
Can also work in the fitness industry designing exercise programs that maximize participation and promote psychological and physical well-being
Roles of a sport psychologist include:
1) Implementing an education program to teach athletes about mkental skills
2) Provide consultative services for those who work with athletes eg coaches, trainers
3) Provide crisis intervention services eg. when someone has a bad injury
Roles of a sport psychologist
4) Perform assessment of the athlete eg by questionnaires, interviews, observation, performance profiles
5) Undertake an analysis of the requirements of the sport eg. read up and observe the sport to see the needs of the sport
6) Negotiate objectives with the performer eg. help athlete make realistic goals
7) Develop performance improvement programs eg. using psychological interventions
8) Provide training in psychological skills
9) Evaluate program effectiveness to see if it has worked out
Psychological Orientations
Behavioural- Primary determinants of an athlete's behaviour is coming from the environment. Focus is on how environmental factors such as reinforcement and punishment influence behaviour.
Psychophysiological- examine physiological processes of the brain and their influences on physical activity. Assess heart rate, brain wave activity, drawing relationship between psychophysiological measures and sport and exercise behaviour ex. Using biofeedback techniques to train shooters to fire between heart beats, to improve accuracy.
Cognitive-behavioural- behaviour is determined by the environment as well as cognitions (thoughts). How a person interprets the environment. Thought is seen to determine behaviour eg. developing self-report measures to assess self-confidence etc. then see how these assessments are linked to changes in an athlete's behaviour
Psychological Skills Training (PST)
All sport participants have mental letdowns and mistakes such as loosing concentration, felt depressed because of an injury, lacked motivation etc.
Most performers also know what it feels like to be 'in the zone' where everything is perfect
Success/failure results from a combination of physical eg. strength and speed and mental abilities eg. concentration and confidence. However few athletes allot time to mental practice. Sport is at least 50% mental with certain sports like tennis being 80-90% mental.
Serious athletes allot 10 or more hours a week to physical practice and little if any time to mental practice. In most competitions, players win or lose depending on how they perform that particular day. Physical ability being fairly equal, the winner is the one who has better mental skills.
You can observe fluctuations in your own day-to-day performance. On some days you do everything right, on other days you do everything wrong. You know you haven't lost your physical skills, its your mental skills that fluctuate.
Why do athletes spend so little time developing mental skills?
1) Lack of knowledge- many people don't understand how to teach or practice PST skills eg. coach may shout 'will you concentrate?'. The assumption is that the player knows how to concentrate. A coach would not expect a 50m backstroke swimmer to perform well in the 200m breaststroke if she hasn't been swimming that distance and stroke in practice. Similarily psychological skills like relaxation and concentration need to be practiced to become effective tools for competition. Unfortunately many coaches have not had access to techniques for teaching and learning psychological skills.
These days it is not enough to tell someone 'be confident', 'concentrate'. Such advice needs action-oriented approaches.
2) Misconception that people are born with mental skills- We are all born with certain physical and psychological predispositions but skills can be learned and developed depending on the experiences we encounter in our lives.
Great athletes spend endless hours practicing their physical skills. Mental skills also need practice and integration with physical skills.
3) Lack of time- People say they have barely enough time to practice physical skills, much less mental skills. These same people also say that they lost a particular competition because 'I couldn't concentrate' or 'I lost confidence' etc. You would think that if coaches thought their athletes lost because of poor concentration, they would make time to practice concentration skills. Instead they add time to physical practice.
PST Myths
PST is only for problem athletes- people think that sport psychologists work with athletes who are messed up or have psychological problems. Only about 10% of athletes exhibit behaviours and mental disorders such as depression or eating disorders
PST is only for top athletes- it is suitable for everyone
PST provides ‘quick fix’ solutions- athletes and coaches at times expect learning how to concentrate etc. to be accomplished in a lesson or two. Psychological Skills Training takes time and practice to develop and PST won't turn an average player into a superstar. However it will help athletes reach their potential and maximize their abilities
PST is not useful- reports from athletes and coaches indicate that psychological skills do infact enhance performance although people might think its wishy-woshy
Studies have shown that successful athletes had better concentration, higher levels of self-confidence, lower levels of anxiety, were more positive and determined than less successful athletes- more task-oriented thoughts, used more positive imagery to visualize success, were more committed.
Mental Letdowns
Coping with anxiety, training stress
Developing mental plans
Maintaining motivation
Staying focused
Low self-confidence
Dealing with injuries, the media, friends
Communication problems
Topics Coaches/Athletes Find Useful
Arousal regulation
Confidence building
Increasing motivation and commitment
Attention/concentration skills
Imagery
Coaches and athletes rate relaxation training, concentration, imagery, attention training, stress management and self-talk strategies as important topics.
Top athletes set daily training goals, used simulations in practice to replicate competitive environments and used imagery to help focus attention and visualize successful outcomes.
The specific topics you choose for a PST program depends on athlete, their orientations and experience and other personal factors
Phases of a PST program
Education phase- many sport participants are unfamiliar with how mental skills can enhance performance, so the first phase is educational. Once a week before or after practice is the best formal meeting time for educating.
Acquisition phase- focuses on strategies and techniques to learn the different psychological skills. Formal sessions with the group and then with individuals to tailor strategies to an athlete's unique needs
Practice: 3 objectives:
1) To automate skills through overlearning
2) To teach people to systematically integrate psychological skills into performance situations
3) To simulate skills you will want to apply in actual competition
Practice
It can take several months to fully understand and integrate new mental skills into competitions/performances so its best to initiate a PST program preseason eg, a high jumper wouldn't change jumping technique before a big meet
time needed to practice mental skills will vary according to what is being practiced and how well it is learned. If a new skill is being learned, special 10-15 minutes training sessions 3 to 5 days a week may be necessary- the first 10-15 minutes of practice is often a good time. As athletes become more proficient, they may be able to integrate mental training more with physical training and may need fewer special training sessions. Once a skill has been effectively integrated into physical practices, it should be tried during simulated competition before being used before actual competition
PST continues as long as athletes participate in their sport. First exposure to the program should last 3-6 months.
Assessment
Semi-structured oral interview, observation during training and competition, psychological inventories. Interviews are a good time to determine where the athlete needs help and to start building the trust critical to any therapeutic relationship
Feedback is then given to the athlete to highlight his/her specific psychological strengths and weaknesses. Assessment should conclude with a section identifying the type of psychological skills appropriate for each athlete.
Then comes the decision as to which psychological skills to emphasize during the program. Prioritize objectives.
Philosophy
Evaluate program as this provides feedback, allows participants to suggest changes and objectively judge if the program has achieved its goals. Evaluation should include written rating scales. Ask: what techniques appeared to work best, was enough time allotted to practice psychological skills, how useful were the team sessions, how useful were individual sessions, was the consultant available, knowledgeable, informative and easy to talk with, should anything be added or deleted from the progam?
Ethical considerations- mainly confidentiality and competence (referral); responsibility- 'do no harm to the client'
Philosophy:
Educational- developing and improving awareness, promoting acceptance of personal responsibility for performance, assisting athletes in their assessment of what they can and cannot control, refining mental skills they are already using and teaching them additional performance enhancement techniques. Many athletes involved in sport resist change so to convince them on the benefits of psychological skills give examples of top athletes.
Experiential- involves learning from every athlete I work with and applying my own personal and professional experiences in my delivery
Humanistic- creating atmosphere of unconditional acceptance, caring and support for each athlete, an atmosphere conducive to trust and respect
Holistic- to be able to apply techniques to other areas of life