Effectiveness of Sports Psychology

Effectiveness of brags PsychologyWith reference to published literature critically discuss the factors influencing the effectiveness of a mutant psychologistIntroduction lark about psychological science has grown remarkably from its roots in the amorphous and low-downly understood contents of suspensor motivation and performance counselling 40 years ago (Dosil, 2005 Cox, 2005). young sport at each level of competition and in virtually every sporting activity has benefited from the application of psychological principles and mental training in the pursuit of maximum athletic performance, stress management, improved training attitude and every other aspect of sport where the mind, emotions and physical performance intersect.Sport psychological science is unique amongst the applied psychological science disciplines for a number of reasons. The phrase suggests that in that respect ar accepted common practices employed by sports psychologists and its is ac intimacyd as with e ither science, the baseline approaches to the teaching method, training and certification of the sport psychologist argon well understood across the world of sport and athletic competition. The feature of sports psychology practice that tends to tick off it from other form of applied psychology is the widely distributed closeness of the relationships true amongst an undivided athlete and their psychologist. The common lord boundaries of professional detachment argon different in sports environments where intense emotion and competitive desire are the fuel that both drives the athlete onwards and makes them vulnerable to psychological stresses. Many sport psychologists play a multi-dimensional role in the lives of their athlete clients trained professional psychologist, friend, sounding board, confidante and advisor are for each one possible and entirely ethical dowry to the relationships that may develop in practise (Watson, 2008, 1).This paper considers the question of e ffectiveness of the sports psychologist as considered within the following analytical and discussion frame proceed. A detailed and mightily academic analysis of why the science of sports psychology is effective in the context of competitive and recreational sport is beyond the scope of this paper. The discussion that is developed below is premised on the proposition that sports psychology is a proven and well accepted body of science that applied in accordance with its principles will in the main benefit an athlete. All athletes in all sports, team and individual from cross country running to equestrienne events, in all age groups and genders are amenable to its benefits (Kornspan McCracken, 2003 36 Donohue, 2001 19). The important question in the present context is what factors, professional and personal render a sports psychologist successful in a finicky application. Included in this discrete issue are a wide variety of potential ethical loves.The question requires that a pr eliminary calculateing definition of sport psychologist be articulated the definition as stated below also processs in defining the general field of views of professional engagement within sport. The discussion will thus engage two broad and interrelated questions what steps sports psychologists take in any stipulation assignment to achieve maximum effect with their athlete where are the typical problem areas that require attention in the sports psychologist / athlete relationship? The emphasis of the discussion will be directed to Educational Sports Psychologists as this area of sport psychology provides the most immediate connections between athletic performance and the application of psychological principles.These questions also require consideration of the type of person who is much likely to succeed as a sports psychologist as with any professional activity where the subject is a human being, the delicate interface between the knowl saltation based psychological educati on that helps to comprise ones intellect and the often empathetic talent of dealing with people is important (Armstrong, 2001 Griffin, 200810). The paper draws upon the significant representative ingest of the authorities as appended to this paper in this regard.The paper concludes with some thoughts concerning the anticipated continued expansion of the sport psychologist role at all levels of sport. If these professionals have non already achieved such status in most sports, it is submitted that the progression observed in the relationship between athletes and sports psychologist will trace the progression from pop psychology to important training and jitneying asset to an indispensible component of the training regimes and competitive performance of all serious athletes.Sport Psychology definition and scope of the disciplineThe literal definition of sports psychology is a deceptively straightforward one. According to Cox (1998) and confirmed as accepted throughout the literatur e, sport psychology is a science in which the principles of psychology are applied in a sport or exercise setting (p.4). The definition does not depend on the presence of a professional relationship with elite or aspiring high performance athletes the principles of sport psychology apply with necessary circumstantial qualifying to every level of athlete. In this paper, the term sport psychologist shall extend to any professional engaged in the psychology of sport or exercise (Douthitt Harvey, 1995 Griffin, 2008)).As a general proposition there are three different types of sport psychologists recognised in the field a great deal of the work carried out by a sport psychologist may include work in more than one grade in the case of a accompaniment athlete or assignment. For the purposes of the discussions set out below, the boundaries between each sub discipline shall be regarded as relatively fixed. In the present discussion, it is assumed that each category member is a fully trai ned and accredited psychologist as defined by the relevant statue I their jurisdiction (British psychological Society, 2009 American Psychological Society, 2009).The first category is the Clinical/Counselling Sport Psychologist (Cox, 2005).This person is trained in clinical or counselling psychology and is a licensed psychologist. These psychologists are trained to advert athletes to deal effectively with emotional and personality disorder issues that affect particular athletes. The range of prospective sport affected roles that this professional might assist is very broad an example would include treating a female gymnast who suffers from bulimia or other eating disorder given the competitive pressures to perform at a specific weight. Treating a downhill skier of motorsports racer who has hardies recovering from a particular crash or injury might be another.The second category is the grouping that includes the Educational Sport Psychologist (Cox, 2005 Kramer Moran, 2008). These psychologists come to sport with an extensive academic and practical background in university departments of physical education and sport specific training. The documentary of an intervention or ongoing assistance provided by these individuals is to assist the athlete to develop a wide range of potential psychological skills for performance enhancement. special techniques such as sundry(a) mental imagery sequences, self talk, the building of per performance or per competition routines are all included in the work carried out by the psychologists in this category (Morris Summers, 2004 Boyce King, 1993). These psychologists also provide services to athletes in a team environment.This particular definition also provides an important might concerning the general role of psychology in sport. Sport psychologists are not monopolists in this area. Many athletes have the benefit of psychological maintain as provided by a trainer, a position coach or a team manager (Kornspan Duve, 20 06 Wilson Stephens, 2005). This element of sport psychology is very important but is excluded from consideration here.The final category is the Research Sport Psychologist. This group is comprised of scientists and scholars of sport psychologist. Theirs is an important support role to the entire discipline (Cox, 2005). Sport provides science with ongoing opportunities to put one over access to athletes and teams in every sport from its preseason, in season and post season /off season periodization. The psychologists engage in ongoing research and experiments in the field.Applied sport psychologyApplied sport and exercise psychology involves the extension of psychology theory and research into a specific field. While the particular athlete or team will inevitably attract the most attention in these applications, given that the pursuit of athletic excellence is a autochthonic objective, the psychologist has a significant role to play in the education of any coaches, teammates, par ents, fitness professionals, and athletic trainers about the psychological aspects of the specific sport or exercise activity. Applied sport and exercise psychologists seek to facilitate maximal involvement, performance, and enjoyment in any sport environment.The practice of applied sport and exercise psychology usually involves a combination of individual and group consulting or counseling depending on the style of the professional conducting the intervention and the needs of the client. The realty of amateur sport is that many athletes do not have the access or means to have a personal psychological consultant (Maclean Hamm, 2008 352). Notwithstanding access questions, the principles that support a proper practician / athlete relationship are the like.Key IssuesSports psychologists face similar professional demands in areas such as continuing education and training. It is submitted that given the ceaseless commitment to athletic improvement, the development of new training techn iques, nutritional and supplement approaches, physical monitoring, equipment trends and related factors places a substantial pressure on a sports psychologist to remain current in all aspects of their practice (Nesti, 2004).At its best articulation, sport psychology has a transformational power that elevates performance (Armstrong, 2001, 4). Experiential nurture cycles are often at the heart of successful sport psychology practice, because sport performance typically provides immediate feedback as to the efficacy of the cycles developed for the athlete. Sport psychology encourages an intensely personalized approach to all facets of it application a significant relationship exists between the personality of the practitioner and the effectiveness of the applications the simple notification that not every psychologist can succeed in this area due to the limitations of their own personality is reinforced here.For even the most engaged and cutting edge practitioners, there are practica l considerations to the discipline that are submitted as both constants and as overarching issues that never decline in their importance. These are discussed here under the general rubric of ethics as the examples below illustrate, the boundaries between professional competence, the duty of care to the athlete, continuing education concerning best practices, and the maintenance of appropriate ethical standards in all matters involving an athlete or team are not always clear cut.It is important to appreciate that notwithstanding the unique demands of an individual sport or the immediacy that may be a part of the practitioner / athlete relationship, a psychologist remains bound by the statutory provisions and the ethical regulations of their jurisdiction. The various Codes of Conduct do not create separate regimes for the sports psychologist the attention to the athlete relationship mustiness be observed with the same care as patient relationships in clinical or therapeutic settings. It may be observed that in an elite sports team setting, where there is a large staff of professional sport persons that span a number of disciplines, only the team physician and the sport psychologist are liable to a standard of ethical conduct that extends beyond their contractual obligation to the team or the common law duties of care that might apply to a coach athlete or trainer athlete scenario (Nesti, 2004 Watson, 2008 Morris Summers, 2004). honourable codes may be clearer cut when the practitioners relationship is with a adult professional golfer or well paid footballer the youth and boilersuit potential for vulnerable persons to be working with a sports psychologist render the standard ethical duties very important in practice.One might conclude that given the acceptance of sport psychology as an important element of modern sport training and competition, that the more closely one could integrate physical and psychological, athletic training the more efficient the trai ning over all and the more successful the athletic enterprise. Leaving aside the impossibility of installing combined coach / practitioners at every level of sport, a seeming next best option would be to ensure a close and centralised relationship between the athletic and psychological training programmes.There are clear advantages to such a coordinated approach. The training time required for each aspect would be optimized the psychological training could be seamlessly integrated into every segment of the physical training routines. The trust implicit in the athlete / coach relationship could assist the athlete in overcoming any apprehension about what to them may be novel or disconcerting mental training approaches (Wright Erdal, 2008 187).The disadvantages are equally dim and it is submitted that the maintenance of practitioner and coaching boundaries is important in several potential areas of difficulty. Where the coach and the psychologist are working very closely together in a team sport environment, there is the concern that the athlete may be apprehensive about confiding in the psychologist or making a cease commitment to a psychological training programme for fear of any mental / emotional weakness being revealed to the coach and thus compromising play time or status on the team (Watson Clement, 2008, 3). The relationship between psychologist and athlete, like coach and athlete is inherently a power relationship the acquaintance that the practitioner applies to the psychological aspects of training create a dependency that must not be permitted to influence any other relationships that the athlete has. As Nesti notes (2004), the tax facing the practitioner is to simultaneously maintain openness to the athletes and coaches without abandoning or diluting their most personal and deeply held values. This makes considerable demands upon the psychologist working in a sports environment where the possessive values are those centred on self-preservati on and material gain.(102)The ethics rubric takes on a further and more complex dimension when a team or sports organisation retains a sport psychologist to provide training. The ethical duties and their corresponding lines can become blurred. The following hypothetical will illustrate the issue. A sport psychologist is maintained by a football team to help develop what the coach describes as mental toughness (Wann Polk, 2007). The coach wants his players to be more aggressive, more aggressive and more physical in their approach to the game Im tired of our guys getting pushed around. It may be readily appreciated that there is a thin more or less indiscernible boundary between the coachs toughness and a training programme that may as easily promote rough, violent or anti-social attitudes amongst the players. The coach is obstinate to take newfound toughness instilled in the mental training regime to a new competitive level. The psychologist is now placed in a difficult positio n to train as the clubs retainer requires, or to potentially assist in the promotion of emotional attitudes that are not necessarily in the individual athletes interest (Goldstein Iso-Ahola, 2006).The sports psychologist has an important preventative / restorative role in all aspects of athletic training. Burnout is a psychological problem at every level of competitive sport, youth leagues to the professional ranks. (Kalliath Beck, 2001 Matheson, Mathes Murray, 1997) The same fundamental trust relationship between practitioner and athlete that build mental power in sport must also be applied where appropriate to protect if an athlete is not emotionally suited to a particular type of training a practitioner has a positive ethical obligation to discontinue it, no matter who is paying for the services.Future Directions in Sport PsychologyIt is impossible to provide a definitive conclusion as to the future direction of sport psychology within the framework of this paper. However, t wo tentative propositions may be advanced. The first is a predicted even greater reliance by elite athletes on sport psychologists to provide them with support in training and competition. Every athlete in every sport seeks the proverbial edge, so often measured in millimeters or milliseconds. In an era of immense potential financial returns for sport success, a sports psychologist is a cost-effective training aid.The second prediction is connected to the development of the discipline itself. Competitive athletes are result driven for society as a whole, there are fewer ways to empirically measure societal athletic or sport exercise success. The cost of health care as attributed to poor life style choices and sedentary attitudes may militate in favour of a public push to incorporate sports psychologists into the public health mainstream, on the same cost effectiveness rational as observed in elite sports.Works CitedAmerican Psychological Association Ethical Principles of Psychologis ts and Code of Conduct (2009) online Retrieved November 18, 2009 atArmstrong, Scott. Are You a Transformational Coach? JOPERDThe ledger of Physical Education, Recreation Dance 72.3 (2001) 44British Psychological Society Ethical Guidelines (2009) online Retrieved November 21, 2009 atBoyce, B. Ann, and Valerie King Goal-Setting Strategies for Coaches JOPERDThe journal of Physical Education, Recreation Dance 64.1 (1993) 65+. Questia. Web. 24 Nov. 2009.Cox, Richard H. Sport Psychology Concepts and Applications (5th ed.) Toronto McGraw Hill (2005)Donohue, Brad, et al. The Development and Initial Evaluation of Two Promising Mental preparative Methods in a Sample of Female Cross Country Runners. Journal of Sport Behavior 24.1 (2001) 19Dosil, Joaquin, ed. The Sport Psychologists Handbook A Guide for Sport-Specific mathematical process Enhancement Chichester, West Sussex John Wiley Sons, (2005)Douthitt, Vicki L., and Mark L. Harvey Exercise Counseling How Physical Educators Can Help J OPERDThe Journal of Physical Education, Recreation Dance 66.5 (1995) 31Goldstein, Jay D., and Seppo E. Iso-Ahola Promoting Sportsmanship in Youth Sports Perspectives from Sport Psychology Sport Psychology Provides Crucial Insights for Improving Behavior in Sport. JOPERDThe Journal of Physical Education, Recreation Dance 77.7 (2006) 18Griffin, Joy. Sport Psychology Myths in Sport Education and Physical Education Sport Psychology Isnt Just for the Elites It Can Benefit Everyone in Youth Sports and Physical Education. JOPERDThe Journal of Physical Education, Recreation Dance 79.8 (2008) 11Kalliath, Thomas J., and Alexandra Beck Is the Path to Burnout and Turnover Paved by a Lack of Supervisory Support? A geomorphologic Equations Test New Zealand Journal of Psychology 30.2 (2001) 72Kornspan, Alan S., and Mary J. McCracken The Use of Psychology in Professional Baseball The Pioneering Work of David F. Tracy. Nine 11.2 (2003) 36Kornspan, Alan S., and Michael A. Duve A Niche and a Need A Summary of the Need for Sport Psychology Consultants in Collegiate Sports. Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association 9.1 (2006) 19Kremer, J., Moran, A. P. Pure Sport Practical sport psychology. London Routledge (2008)Maclean, Joanne, and Shannon Hamm Values and Sport Participation Comparing Participant Groups, Age, and Gender. Journal of Sport Behavior 31.4 (2008) 352Matheson, Hilary, Sharon Mathes, and Mimi Murray The Effect of gentle and Losing on Female Interactive and Coactive Team Cohesion Journal of Sport Behavior 20.3 (1997) 284Morris, T., and Summers, J., eds. Sport psychology theory, application and issues (2nd Ed.). Chichester Wiley (2004)Nesti, Mark. Existential Psychology and Sport theory and Application. New York Routledge, 2004Wann, Daniel L., and Joshua Polk The Positive Relationship between Sport Team Identification and Belief in the Trustworthiness of Others North American Journal of Psychology 9.2 (2007) 251Wilson, Marcia A., and morning E. Stephens Gre at Expectations How Do Athletes of Different Expectancies Attribute Their Perception of Personal Athletic Performance? Journal of Sport Behavior 28.4 (2005) 392Watson, Jack C and Damien Clement Ethical and Practical Issues Related to Multiple Role Relationships in Sport Psychology (2008) online Retrieved November 22, 2009 atWright, Perry B., and Kristi J. Erdal Sport Superstition as a Function of Skill direct and Task Difficulty Journal of Sport Behavior 31.2 (2008) 187