Sports Psychology

Edited by Dr. Stefano Casali

Here are some definitions of Sports Psychology and the figure of the Sports Psychologist:

Sports Psychology concerns those academic, research and professional activities that provide the basis for understanding and stimulating the behavior of people practicing sports or physical activity.

This dynamic field can stimulate the experience of men, women and young people who practice various forms of physical activity, it is aimed at both those who carry out their activity for personal pleasure and those engaged at the level of elite in business. specifications. Sports psychologists who carry out this activity on a professional level are committed to understanding the psychological processes that guide motor performance, the ways in which learning can be stimulated and performance increased, and how perceptions can be effectively influenced. psychological and results. Sports Psychology has its roots both in sports and movement sciences and in psychology. It is a specialization in applied psychology and sports sciences.

(Statement of the "International Society of Sport Psychology)

The psychology of sport, at present, can carry out its task in three directions:

Experimental address:

In this sector the psychology of sport has brought its contribution of studies and research: motor learning and motor skills; psychomotor skills; the study of the athlete's personality and his motivations; the interest in the team understood as a group with particular laws and dynamics; the description of the psychological characteristics of the athlete for each sporting discipline; studies on pre-agonisic and stress anxiety, and on frustration, demoralization and reactive depression and finally the frequent abandonment of sports and competitive activities by adolescents;

Application address:

The first phase is represented by the psychodiagnostic investigation, useful for evaluating aptitudes, abilities and for identifying any basic ailments in the athlete. Individual or group interviews. The study of the psycho-physiological profile achievable with the use of bio-feedback tools. The psycho-sociological investigation of the group allows to understand the existence of the hierarchies (leader-ship) existing within a group or a team and the relationship of the players with the coach (mister); use of psycho-physical relaxation and activation techniques; mental training and ideo-motor training, the latter through some mental guidelines, memorized in order to use to obtain a better and fluid execution of technical-athletic gestures, both in training and in competition.

Didactic address:

Information, training and knowledge of sports psychology; courses for technicians, coaches, referees, managers, etc. to spread the knowledge of the basic principles of general and social psychology, of the developmental age and of the didactic techniques of communication and for the management of the team.

Sport Psychology is a vast current of thought where different doctrines converge (psychology, medicine, psychiatry, sociology, pedagogy, philosophy, hygiene, physical education, rehabilitation, etc.) and is therefore a subject of miltidisciplinary competence open to the contribution that each can bring on the basis of your specific preparation. (Antonelli and Salvini, 1978)

 

Sports Psychology is: (a) the study of mental and psychological factors that influence and are influenced by participation and performance in sport, exercise and physical activity and (b) the application of the knowledge acquired through this study which every day is carried out.

 

Professional Sport Psychology is concerned with how participation in sport, exercise and physical activity can enhance personal development and well-being throughout the life span. (Association for the advancement of applied sport psychology (AAASP), 1985).

 

Sports Psychology has its roots both in sports and movement sciences and in psychology. It is "a specialization in applied psychology and sports sciences. (Statement of the "International Society of Sport Psychology)

 

Sport psychology is the discipline that studies the psychological, social, pedagogical and psycho-physiological aspects of sport: by definition and necessity it draws lymph and content from multiple disciplines ranging from medicine to motor science, but over the years it has found its own precise and defined path of research and intervention. Initially sports psychology tried to establish significant relationships between personality and sport, using mainly diagnostic tools from clinical psychology, but later it specialized in the field of mental preparation and on the skills that can be increased in sports, namely the "attention, concentration, motivation, stress and anxiety management and much more.

Other articles on "Sport Psychology"

1. Sports psychologist
2. Relations between sports psychologist and coach