Have you ever witnessed a game winning touchdown, a walk-off home run, or a come from behind victory? If so, then you have also witnessed the opposite; the momentary lapse of concentration by the defense, a pitcher’s fatal mistake, or the complete defocusing of a clearly favorable victor. What many people witness at sporting events around the globe is the culmination of physical prowess and psychological warfare. Professional athletes face many obstacles on both the physiological and psychological spectrums. On one hand, they must keep themselves in the greatest physical condition possible, as to give them the greatest chance at a superb performance. On the other hand, these athletes face mental challenges, far more than even they can sometimes fathom. When an athlete is in need of help solving these psychological woes, or simply improving his mental outlook on the game at hand, they seek out the help of a sport’s psychologist. An article published in the scholarly journal “Behavior Modification” shows the importance and significance of sports psychology and how it should be applied to everyday athletic competition. This article, “How Does Sports Psychology Actually Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework to Facilitate Athletes’ and Coaches’ Understanding,” focuses on the psychological aspects of athletic competition. Chiefly, the arguments made relate to the causes of faltering performances among athletes and how these athletes practice certain psychological strategies to prevent sub-par performance.
The author introduces his readers to new terms within the field (created by himself), absolute performance and relative performance. Absolute performance, he describes, is the greatest potential result an athlete could put forth on any given day. That is, whatever an athlete’s greatest possible outcome could be, taking into account his physiological composition and his “genetic lottery,” (Gee, 5) that would be his absolute performance. Essentially, absolute performance is how an athlete would perform “in a perfect world” or “on paper” (Gee, 7). Relative performance, on the other hand, is an athlete’s day-to-day performance, taking into consideration environmental factors and any other factors that could impede an athlete’s performance. Relative performance, therefore, is the actual result produced by the athlete on a given day.
The difference between absolute and relative performance exists in the form of performance inhibitors. These impediments are what cause an athlete’s relative performance to fall below their absolute potential (Gee, 8). Performance inhibitors can come in many forms, and can present themselves both external and internal to the athlete. An example of an external inhibitor would be, a strong headwind blowing against the runner’s path. This inhibitor, although equally detrimental to the athlete’s performance, cannot be controlled by the athlete. However, certain inhibitors that affect an athlete even more than an external hindrance are those that are controllable by the athlete, or internal inhibitors. An example of these would be the feeling of “butterflies” before a big race. This feeling, although seemingly unavoidable, can in fact, be controlled.
Through the use of psychological strategies, an athlete can significantly lessen, if not eliminate precompetitive anxiety. These anxieties can be broken down into two different sub groups. There is cognitive anxiety, which includes negative thoughts and self-doubt that influence an athlete’s in game decision making and may distract them from their performance. This type of anxiety must be controlled before a competition has begun. There is a common practice known as rational emotive therapy (RET) that enables athletes to positively motivate themselves and prepare themselves for the coming anxieties experienced in competition. RET provides a method of aid for the struggling athlete. There is another form of anxiety that athletes experience even more directly; somatic anxiety. Somatic anxiety is the type of psychological effect that manifests itself into the physiological performance of an athlete. For example, when an athlete feels the onset of anxiety, many times he or she will begin to experience increased muscle tension, making it more difficult to perform at an optimal level. There are a few strategies that athletes can put into practice that can alleviate these feelings of tension. Among these, are meditation, three-part breathing, and imagery. If an athlete can envision himself making the winning shot, and he believes that he has a good chance of succeeding, there will be a much higher chance of him making the shot than if he does not believe at all.
Sports psychology is a growing field that includes many interesting connections between the mind and the body. Athletes should embrace this science, just as they have many other sports sciences. By allowing an athlete to pinpoint his psychological concerns before and during gameplay, the many practices of sports psychology will ultimately benefit athletes and the world of sports today. If athletes can perform at even higher levels, will that not prove for even more enjoyable sporting?
Citations
1. “How Does Sports Psychology Actually Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework to Facilitate Athletes’ and Coaches’ Understanding” Gee, Chris; September 2010 vol. 34 no. 5 386-402 Behavior Modification
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