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The Importance of Sports Psychology- Is it really effective?

Deeya Biswas

John Luther believed that "Sports psychology is an area which attempts to apply psychological facts and principles to learning performance and associated human behaviour in whole field of sports." 

As an interdisciplinary science, Sports psychology incorporates knowledge and research from the fields of  Psychology and Kinesiology. It entails the study of how psychological elements influence performance and how involvement in sports and exercise influence physical and psychological factors. In supplement to this the training and instruction of psychological skills for performance improvement, applied sport psychology included operating with not only the athletes but also coaches and parents regarding numerous branches including rehabilitation, injuries , team building, communication skills and career adjustments. Sport psychology is tool used for team sports as well as individual fitness undertakings because of which it is also referred to as "sport and exercise psychology”. Sports psychology is the study of how the mind and psychology influences athletic performance,  sports, physical activity and exercise. To improve performance and increase motivation numerous sports psychologists work with professional athletes and coaches. Professionals also employ sports and exercise to improve people’s overall well-being and lives. 

Sports psychology is a reasonably young field of study within psychology. In the year 1920, Carl Diem established and founded the earliest and the worlds first sports psychology laboratory at the Deutsche Sport hoch schule in Berlin, Germany. Furthermore in the year 1925, another two labs were founded – the first at at the Institute of Physical Culture in Leningrad by A.Z. Puni and the other at the University of Illinois by Coleman Griffith.

The muscles in the human body do not operate without being told to do so by the brain. Physical skilfulness cannot be executed to its highest ability without the proper mental capacity and skills. Sport performance should be looked at from a holistic viewpoint to amalgamate the idea of  “thinking with our muscles” to manufacture optimal levels of performance. There are numerous examples to demonstrate how the body and the mind interact such as the idea of fear or fear itself is commonly accompanied by physiological elements like increased heart rate, altered breathing, palpitation, perspiration, nausea and muscular weakness. The human body is extremely complex entailing of a large variety of different, yet highly amalgamated biological processed and systems which encourages productive interaction between our external and internal environments.

According to research it is much easier to assess mechanical or cardiovascular distinctions between athletes than it is to gauge the numerous “mindsets” entailed in athletics and the psychological facets around performance. Enhancing performance cannot be fulfilled by separating the body from the mind but by making cognitive strategies and skills available to the athletes helping them to manage their performance and skills in an efficient and effective manner.
Research shows that during or between a competition there aren’t any exact changes in biomechanical ability , physical potential, or skill level. An athlete does not unexpectedly gain or lose ability, stamina, skill, speed or talent in a day, week, month or sometimes even years but what does change is psychological mindset and control.

Sport psychologists identify the substantial effects on an athlete's mindset, and help them emphasise on training the mind to defeat hinderances on the field while uplifting confidence levels for optimal performance. Improving motivation is essentially about making adjustments to an individuals attitude by keeping a positive and affirmative ‘can do' mindset. 
It cannot be argued that the state and condition of an individuals mind plays an imperative and important role in the performance of athletes. Yet, not much has been done to recognise the mental and emotional elements that avert satisfactory performance neither to recognise those elements which manufacture substandard performances. The role that sport psychology plays in the lives of athletes is to educate them with skills to know how to identify the factors which lead to good and poor performance which reaches and provides a foundation for comprehending why an athlete would perform inconsistently or well.

"When I step onto the court, I don't have to think about anything. If I have a problem off the court, I find that after I play, my mind is clearer and I can come up with a better solution. It's like therapy. It relaxes me and allows me to solve problems."
-Michael Jordan
References:

Bhardwaj, B. K. (2017). Importance of Sports Medicine to Cure Sports Injures. International Journal of Physical Education & Sports Sciences, 11(2), 61–65. doi: 10.29070/11/57577

Dickinson, R. K., Coulter, T. J., & Mallett, C. J. (2019). Humanistic Theory in Sport, Performance, and Sports Coaching Psychology. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.143

Why are Psychological Skills Important for Athletes? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.athletics-training.com/articles/sports-psychology.html.

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