Leah Griffin
English 102
Feeder 2.1
11/1/10

The Importance of Sports Psychology in Athletic Performance

Sport Psychology is a mental skills training program intended to improve athlete’s within-competition performance, but research has shown that many athletes and coaches are reluctant to seek sport psychological help due to the lack of immediate tangible results, such as larger muscles, that are generally acquired through sports physiology and biochemistry. This article is designed to help bridge the “understanding gap” of sports psychology that is currently being reported by several athletes and coaches.

In general, behavioral psychology states that all behaviors are acquired by interaction with the environment. The definition of behavioral psychology may depict that behaviors are acquired exclusively through physical practice, but it is better defined as the mind and body being essentially connected. Therefore, sports psychology and the mental aspects of learning new behaviors also play a substantial role in athletic skill development. Learning specific behaviors that improve one’s athletic ability does not result solely from physical aspects and behaviors, but must involve the psychological and mental behaviors as well.

For instance, when starting gymnastics, one cannot instantly expect to do a back flip just from physically trying it. Yes, the back flip can eventually be learned through physical practice, but the mental psychological aspects must first come into play because one’s muscle memory must understand the concepts of the back flip before one can physically try it. In the Behavior Modification article, my prior gymnastics example explaining the mental and psychological importance of learned behaviors is further supported and its importance is better explained. Significant advancements in the relationship between mental skills and athletic performance have been made, with a large amount of knowledge supporting its applied use in the area of performance enhancement. Different types of anxiety occur among all athletes and affect their athletic performances; this is where sports psychology comes into play and specializes in getting rid of the anxiety. Sports psychology remains a contemporary discipline and its emphasis placed on competitive sports (Behavior Modification).

Unfortunately, there seems to be a misconception of sports psychology that is made by athletes and coaches. This misconception has been worsened in the athletic field by coaches’ beliefs that sport psychology is only designed for “problem athletes” and therefore, is not part of a general performance enhancing strategy (Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology). Researchers suggest that the possible resolution to this fallacy must consist of sports psychologists placing greater emphasis on educating and informing coaches and athletes about the methods by which sports psychology can directly influence athletic performance (Athletic Insight).

As made clear in the article, sports psychology cannot alter a person’s natural athletic ability to make them a better athlete, but its main purpose is to help athletes perform at a level closest to their maximum potential and to increase relative performance. Hopefully, the information revealed in this article will help inform coaches and athletes and improve their confidence regarding the sports psychology behavior aspect in athletics.


Works Cited

Ferraro, T., & Rush, S. (2000). Why athletes resist sport psychology. Athletic Insight,
2, 9-14.
Gee, Chris J. “How Does Sport Psychology Actually Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework to Facilitate Athletes’ and Coaches’ Understanding. Behavior Modification. Sept. 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2010.
Linder, D. E., Brewer, B. W., Van Raalte, J. L., & DeLange, N. (1991). A negative halo
for athletes who consult sport psychologists: Replications and extension. Journal
of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 13, 133-148.

Andy Warhol- Fashionable Artistic Talents

Leah Griffin
11/17/10
Feeder 3.1

Andy Warhol: Fashionable Artistic Talents

“Art,” the famous artist Andy Warhol once observed, “is what you can get away with” (The New Criterion, 2009). This statement led me to further question Warhol’s credibility. After conducting further research as to whether this assertion could be proven true, I finally came to the realization that the successful, yet rather strange career of Warhol was in fact centered on this particular claim.

When first searching for an artist and without having any true educational background on the topic, I immediately chose Warhol as soon as I saw his first piece of artwork. I based my artist selection strictly on artwork style that appeared closest to my own liking; at first glance, Warhol’s art work and his contributions to art portrayed him as trendy and fashionable with an odd, artistic ability. Yet, once taking a closer look into the life of Andy Warhol, I quickly realized that my initial attraction to his artwork certainly did not mean that Warhol and I shared any internal qualities or similarities. With this assumption made, I continued my research to either validate or disprove Warhol’s rationalization of what really happens in the world of art. My thoughts regarding Warhol’s particular dissociation within his own art was magnified after learning that the renowned artist, filmmaker and writer actually had other people creating some of his work for him. It seemed as if Warhol initially engaged in an artistic process, but then removed himself from the art to see what would happen.

Dedicating his entire career to showing what happens in the world of art, Warhol managed to do so through many levels of art, including photography, graphic design, portraiture, multi- colored silk screen prints, screen tests, filmmaking and writing a novel. After learning about his many talents, I was stumped with yet another question – how does one man possess so many talents? After developing a better background on Warhol, my only logical answer to this question was that he accomplished all that he did because of his unique methodology for producing art. His evasive, quiet personality related back to the freeness of removing himself from the actual art itself. This answer helped develop my initial credibility regarding Warhol’s statement about the observance of art.

Although Warhol was often in the public eye and surrounded by celebrities, it was discovered that few people actually knew the real Andy Warhol or actually knew details about his personal life. In the 1980s, he made a series of Last Supper images that were devoted to the Catholic Church he attended; most people did not even know that Andy Warhol was religious, thus adding to his outwardly secretive and mysterious life. Even with his well-known status and great wealth, Warhol remained naïve and detached in a sense to those around him. Media devices, such as a camera and tape-recorder, allowed him to interact with people and the public more easily.

After learning about many of Andy Warhol’s strategies and personal characteristics, I realized that I had found the answer to whether his observance of art was truly accurate. Just by glancing at a few of Warhol’s funky paintings or color-reversed positive/negative Polaroids, a person with a minimal artistic background could even pick up on Warhol’s unique sense of style that outwardly appeals to people with different tastes. Through my hypothesis that questioned Warhol’s credibility and methods for producing his odd, yet eye-catching artwork, I was left with the simple answer that the observation previously declared by Andy Warhol was in fact exactly the way he viewed the intricate topic of “art.” With this being said, I think that the author of "The art world vs. the world of art" in The New Criterion would agree with my analysis that Andy Warhol’s existence within the art world and his unique works of art have paved the way for other artists to get away with so much more in terms of one being able to practice and embody their own ‘one of a kind’ style.

Works Cited

"The art world vs. the world of art." The New Criterion 28.4 (2009): 1-3. Art Full Text. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/hww/results/external_link_maincontentframe.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.43

Picasso's Many Styles

Picasso was born on October 25,1881 in Spain. Where ever he went he would find ideas about what pictures represented to him and turned them into works of art. He received most of his talents from his father who taught at an art school. Picasso painted with many different styles which helped him become one of the famous artists ever. “He drew with in-depth coloration, which caught everyone eyes leaving everyone in “aw.”

Picasso paintings came from the new style Cubism, which changed the art world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cubism is an artistic movement in France beginning in 1907 that featured surfaces of geometrical planes. Picasso would take an object and observe it from many different angle to design the same object in a new way. The colors gray and brown dominated this style representing the new construction of this object. Picasso cubism jump started the creation of Synthetic Cubism, which focused of the creating the object instead recreating the object with weird geometric shapes. Both forms of Cubism started fading away in the early 1920’s.

Picasso also wrote during the blue period which only lasted 3 years. The blue period represented sad times and loneliness. All of the paintings in the blue period have dark blue background with sad facial expressions on the people. Many of these paintings have people hugging each other, people about to shed tears, and depressing emotions. Experts believe Picasso started this blue period after his friend Carlos committed suicide.

While in Paris, which was the head of art during his time period he drew paintings with the African period or black period style. In 1907-1909 he would observe African sculptures and draw what each sculpture represented. Many of these paintings he replicated ended up looking pretty close to the real sculptures.

He created and drew in the Black Period, Blue Period, and cubism period. His paintings represent the many styles he could preform in. He could draw people suffering from depression, he could replicate paintings while only using geometric shapes, and he could reproduce African sculptures. Picasso painted in many diverse styles and changed art forever.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/878933?&Search=yes&term=blue&term=picasso&term=period&list=hide&searchUri=/action/doBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dpicasso%2Bblue%2Bperiod%26gw%3Djtx%26acc%3Don%26prq%3Dpablo%2Bpicasso%26hp%3D25%26wc%3Don&item=25&ttl=3421&returnArticleService=showFullText

Marrinan, Michael. "Picasso." Burlington Magazine n. pag. Web. 30 Nov 2010. .

Nothing is Something

   If something is nothingness then how can we see it and perceive it as something? This concept of nothingness can be perceived two different ways from a philosophical standpoint and the artist Mark Rothko has captured the ability of being able to represent this “nothingness” in his works of art. This initial approach to this concept of nothingness is that nothingness is a nonbeing and only becomes alive in a way due to human consciousness. The other approach is that nothingness is the prerequisite for all beings and that we have all experienced nothingness at one point or another in our lives.


   The critics of the art of Rothko argue that he creates works of art that verge on being nothing because of the simplicity of the entities that compose the works of art and their monotone and monochrome nature. Thus, the author of this critique argues that the work of Rothko reflects one of the above philosophical ideals, the ideal that nothingness is the prerequisite for everything and that every entity forms from nothingness.


   The exemplified painting is Rothko’s “Unknown Space”. In this painting a man enters a café looking for his partner and does not see him standing there in the business of the café. However, as the man continues to look onward, each aspect of the café begins to fade and disappear out into the background. This therefore shows that the nothingness, which is the background of the café and the absentee nature of his partner, is the root of negation. The absent nature of his partner is causing the rest of the painting and objects to fall into the background and become nothing. The classic style of Rothko, which features several rectangles emerging from a background of various tints of the same color, also illustrates this idea of the development of something from the nothingness. The rectangles, which are a visible something, all emerge from this vast space of color, or nothingness. This can be seen in the works entitled “White Center” and “Blue, Green, and Brown”. By using space, color, and coverage the author argues that Rothko was able to manipulate the paintings in such manners that they reflected nothingness.


   With respect to space, the author argues that Rothko implemented a floating aspect to his paintings which allowed for the nothingness to show through. It is said that by avoiding the four conventional aspects of what to do to manipulate a three dimensional space, Rothko was able to further bring to aspect of nothingness to the forefront of the mind of the reader. This “floating” quality is seen in his painting “White Center”. The four rectangles appear to hover over a solid color background. By them hovering, it makes the background appear as a void space, and therefore nothing, because the rectangles have emerged from it leaving the background space empty of “somethingness”.


   Color was also used by Rothko to show the feature of nothingness. In his paintings it was very unclear as to where one form began and where the other ended. Rothko blurred the colors to such a point and used colors of such a similar shade it was unclear as to whether an object was part of the background or part of the object being focused upon. This is best exemplified in the painting, “Blue, Green, and Brown”. The rectangles are colored to a point as the where it becomes unclear as to where the background stands and the rectangles emerge.


   The use of coverage was also manipulated by this author. In his works, Rothko would layer color upon color up until the point to where the only thing that made it clear that what one was looking at was a painting was the frame or the borders of the easel. He would make it so that one would not be able to see where one color started and the other ended. This all worked towards the goal of showing that every color and every shade that was seen came out of the background of nothingness which was just a barrage of colors. The paining entitled “Blue, Green, and Brown: also shows this for the entire painting is covered in a hue of blue making the emergence of the something quality more apparent that it came from nothing.


   Now, you may be getting bored and are probably saying to yourself, I am an athlete and why do I care about art, you need to step back and realize that this applies to you to. When you are in practice and are running or doing a drill, these seem like nothing, right? Or when your coach tells you to eat healthy, that seems empty, correct? These drills, conditioning exercises, and healthy eating habits are your space, color, and coverage. These qualities that all seem like nothing are actually something, for they are like the hazy, indiscriminate background that allows for the distinct abilities you apply in your sport to emerge from. By applying these qualities to your athletic discipline you are allowing your skill level to be taken to a higher complexity which makes you an overall better athlete.


   In summation, this article states that the works of art of Rothko all derive from the desire to show nothingness and how all objects stem from this nothingness. This belief of nothingness that is being portrayed by Rothko is based upon a philosophical belief and is seen in the paintings through the use of color, space, and coverage. Therefore is nothing really something or is nothing simply nothing?

• Kosoi, Natalie. "Nothingness Made Visible: The Case of Rothko's Paintings." Art Journal 64.2 (2005): 21-31. Wilson Web. H.W. Wilson Company, 2005. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/getResults.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.34>.

3.1 Georgia O'Keeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe

I have always known Georgia O’Keeffe by her paintings of flowers that “unintentionally” very much resemble female genitalia. I have seen these paintings in person, both at the Tate Modern, and in small galleries in Oxford England. At all of these places, the paintings were described as resembling female genitalia. As you can imagine I became very intrigued when I came across the article “O'Keeffe's Art: Sacred Symbols and Spiritual Quest” by Celia Weisman. Not only did I think O’keeffe’s flowers were meant to portray female genitalia, I also thought she only painted flowers! In this article Weisman rarely relates O’Keeffe’s painting’s to sexual images. Instead Weisman argues “O’Keeffe’s paintings may be sensed as documents of a distinctly American spiritual experience, as well as of a more universal religious sensibility.” . Weisman makes this claim, leaning on Mircea Eliade’s (known as the historian of religions) belief that the; threshold, cosmic mountain, world tree, and sacred center symbolize something sacred or religious. Throughout the article Weisman explains how each type of O’Keeffe’s paintings incorporate these symbols of spirituality.

Weisman explains that the concept of the “sacred center” comes from the idea that being in or at the center compares to the idea of being at home , where one belongs (referring to heaven). “Without the center there could be no order and hence no sacred space, for the center makes life comprehensible by linking cosmic regions in harmonious unity.” After gaining this knowledge it is clear that O’Keeffe does have a variety of circular paintings which evoke the idea of the center. “Black Hollyhock Blue Larkspur” and many of her other flower paintings, are paintings that draw attention the center or core of the flowers. Weisman describes the center of each flower as both the heart of the flower, and the heart of all creation. Clearly Weisman’s well supported idea is far from the idea that I and many other people believe, which relates O’Keeffe’s flower paintings to female genitalia.

Next the author discusses the paintings in O’Keeffe’s collection that have mountains in them. Not only do these mountains evoke the sacred center but they are also seen as Mircea Eliade’s “cosmic mountain”. This concept comes from the idea that the mountains in O’Keeffe’s paintings always seem to join, our world and heaven. To make this a little clearer, we can compare mountains to temples. Temples are seen as a Christian icon and were generally located in the center of a town. Churches now are similar to temples, and many Christians today believe that you get to heaven through church. So, Weisman is essentially using the idea of “cosmic mountain” to say that the mountain represents a stairway to heaven.

The final idea discussed in the article is the “threshold” concept. This she describes as a painting showing boundaries. These boundaries may represent; the difference between inside and outside, youth to maturity, non belief to belief, or even birth to death. Weisman uses one of O’Keefe’s paintings of the patio door to her house in New Mexico. O’Keefe painted this door multiple times fascinated by the fact that she never could get it just right. Weisman describes the door as looking very thick which makes the viewer think that behind that door or over the “threshold” is safety or security. However she also describes the view behind the door to be very dark and mysterious, making the viewer maybe nervous. This can be seen as something relating to ones opinion of heaven. They see that entering heaven would be safe and wonderful, but the journey to heaven can sometimes be dark or mysterious like the entrance to O’Keeffe’s house in the painting.

All in all I believe Celia Weisman, did a commendable job of arguing her point that Georgia O’keeffe’s paintings may symbolize religion or contain spiritual meaning. Her argument is very convincing due to the fact that she follows all of her claims with multiple examples, explaining how each one relates directly to the painting. However many could easily dispute Weisman’s claim. Some may say her claims are all opinion based. Others may say that it is solely up to the artist to say what her paintings mean. These disputes would not be hard to argue given that one of Weisman’s opening claims stated that O’Keeffe never practiced any organized religious faith. If O’Keeffe wasn’t religious why would she paint spiritual paintings with religious symbols?

Work Cited

Weisman, Celia. "• O'Keeffe's Art: Sacred Symbols and Spiritual Quest ." Woman's Art Journal 3.2 (1983): 10-14. Web. 19 Nov 2010. .

Campbell's is, mmm mmm, good!

Cold weather has arrived, and you know what that means: time to bust out your Ugg boots, your favorite sweatpants, and, my favorite, Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup! Did you know this soup actually served as an artist’s subject? Andy Warhol, a pop artist, took on subjects such as the famous soup, Marilyn Monroe, Coca Cola, and other pop culture icons. In an article entitled “Andy Warhol’s Red Beard”, Blake Stimson tells about his various subjects, analyzing the influencing factors of his artworks.
In his article, Stimson attempts to investigate and prove the influence of two different artists, Ben Shahn and Shirley Temple, on Andy Warhol’s artwork. As a preteen, Warhol idolized Temple, writing her fan mail, going to many showings of her films, and collecting her memorabilia. His obsession with her continued until a new interest developed, one of Truman Capote. So what about being a Shirley Temple fanatic has to do with his art work? Many biographers say that his obsessions helped develop his unique art style that involves collages, tracing, and other uses of mass-cultural sources. Also, Stimson compared Temple to Warhol in that they both brought a childlike innocence into their art. In addition to telling the specific story of his idolatry of Temple, Stimson told of his other drawings and arts. He discussed a variety of pictures, from a sketch of a boy picking his nose to Lenin’s head. Finally, he brought in a comparison of his artwork to Ben Shahn, saying that he was initially described as a cheaper version of the artist. Throughout the article, Stimson attempts to persuade the reader that Warhol not only created works of art, but he also tries to show that he provides an interesting look into various topics.
Many art historians would disagree with the notion that Warhol was an artistic genius, saying that his pictures lack substance and a motive. They also describe him as “a numb, affectless machine and a symptom of the flattening out of the economy of the sign” (Stimson 543). Stimson, however, insists that Warhol acted on his passions, whether it is a childhood star or a political scene. As mentioned earlier, he also relates Warhol’s art initially to Shirley Temple’s acting, saying they both share a childlike persona that is more easily reached and relatable.
In response to critics, Stimson provides numerous arguments for the notion that there is a lack of artistic value in his work. One of his arguments begins with his association with Beardsley. According to Stimson, Warhol attempted to tie into his pictures innocence as well as worldliness. This is shown even when he was a younger artist, drawing pictures of boys masturbating or using the restroom in brisk drawings. He provides sufficient evidence for his claim that Warhol had a unique artistic style as well as was influenced by less common subjects, taking on images from Marilyn Monroe to political issues like the death penalty. With his art, he was able to open his heart on the matters.
So, what does that have to do with athletes like you and me? Andy Warhol contributed some of the most well known art to today’s society. However, he not only provided pictures to be hung in a gallery. He taught an important lesson: Everything is capable of being art. When I’m in my hometown, I love taking pictures of the mountains. My older brother loves to draw cartoons. Even though the skills are as different as night and day, they both are forms of art. With so many ways of expression, it’s evident that it's so easy an athlete can do it!


Works Cited
Stimson, Blake. "Andy Warhol's Red Beard." Art Bulletin 83.3 (2001): 527-47. Web. 29 Nov 2010. .

Behavioral Assessment In Youth Sports

Youth sports help kids grow mentally and physically. As a child learning to deal with losing, working harder to win, and listening to coaches are very important skill sets that will start them down the right path. Naturally, kids are competitive and they will need to learn how to work as a team on and off the field. These team building skills will be used in real world situations that will help them down the road. The kids that are the most competitive on the field are usually the kids who work the hardest in the class. Before kids turn 10, there is a direct correlation between the best young athlete and the best reader in the class. By looking at the way kids work on the field, we will receive a preview of how the young athletes are in a class room setting.

The article starts with the study of how hard some coaches are on young kids and the effect it has on these young athletes. Some of these adults act like generals in the army and actually belittle these 10 year old children. Smith stated that kids with harder coaches react negatively to these coaches strict coaches, most end up quitting because they are afraid of what the coach might do after they fail. Next, the article goes into detail about how these coaches changes the behavior of the athletes. Last, Smith compares how students who work hard on the field and how they work off the field (in the class room) and how these are stepping stones to a successful career after school.

In all sports emotions are shown, everyone who has ever watched the Super Bowl has seen a grown man shed tears after being so close to winning the championship. Every one has heard the term there is no crying in baseball and this article will research how children's emotion is effect on the field and then related to how the act at home and in school. There are over 20 million kids between the age of 6-18 who play a sport at any level (little league, “Travel Ball”, showcase teams), so researchers look at the roles of aggression, motivation, risk taking, and cooperation effect how the way the kids act on the playing field, at home, and in the classroom.

In the research Gould and Weiss analyzed the way kids are on the field and compare it to off the field. “Behavioral Assessment Systems” has been created to measure the ways kids act on the field compared to “non competitive situation.” Gould and Weiss has also done research into the way act when trying young athletes improve in their sport, and how their performance behavior improves drastically and how it effects how much harder they are willing to work to keep getting better.

As an athlete on the baseball team I have had coaches that ran a boot camp and I hated the way practice was ran and I was not enjoying what I was doing. Usually I would take this mood that I had on the field and take if off field and into the classroom. The mood I had on the field effected way I did everything. So I chose this article to see if how kids did on the field with the coaches and teammates they had and compared it to my experiences.

"Sign In — Behav Modif." Behavior Modification. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. .

Leah's Unit 2 Podcast

Maggie's Unit 2 Project

Unit 2

Dr. Pepper Will Be the Death of Me...Part II

The Huddle: Edition 2

Diet Dr. Pepper Will Be the Death of Me...

Eliminating Procrastination

Maggie's 2.2 Podcast

Leah's Podcast

The Huddle: Edition 1

There's Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

The most recent episode of South Park, Insheeption, Stan and Mr. Mackey are found to be hoarders because they refuse to get rid of anything. In order to deal with their problem, they are sent into their own subconscious to uncover the past that explains their behavior. In the case of Mr. Mackey, he uncovered a troublesome event in his past that explained his disposal fear. A Behavioral Modification study, “The Impact of Acceptance-Based versus Avoidance-Based Protocols on Discomfort”, dealt with the impact of facing problems head-on instead of hiding them in the closet. All in all, it proves that if you accept the challenge, then you'll do better.
According to the study by Luciano, Molina, Gutierrez-Martinez, Barnes-Holmes, Valdivia-Salas, Cabello, Barnes-Holmes, Rodriguez-Valverde, and Wilson, the way humans react is a result of their personal experiences. For example, if a person experienced a bad event at a concert, then they will associate concerts with the bad memories and not enjoy the experience. Many experts agree avoiding the problem will have a negative impact. Evidence also shows accepting the past is beneficial. In laboratory studies, acceptance shows an increased pain tolerance.
In the experiment, the scientists were using headphones to play loud noises for participants while they attempted to perform computer tasks. Four main conditions were used. For the first one, the acceptance-based protocol was that performance could continue even with the noise being present and the avoidance-based protocol was that they stopped work until the noise was gone. The second reversed the order. The third and fourth presented the tasks without the protocols.
So, what happened in the experiment? The first acceptance-based protocol produced the least discomfort, especially when it was before the subjects had experience in trying to control discomfort. This reveals that they were able to overcome the problem most easily by facing the problem initially instead of trying to get rid of the noise. In other words, by accepting the problem and working in spite of it will be better than trying to eliminate the source.
How does this relate to athletes like you and me? As a cheerleader and a gymnast, I face “mental-blocks”, or a fear to perform a particular move because of a past failure or a fear of failure. This hinders me from performing my best. However, as proven by the experiment, facing my fears and dealing with the past trauma immediately will allow me to improve my skills. By overcoming your fears, you will not only improve your abilities while gaining confidence, which we all know is key to doing our best!

Works Cited
Luciano, , and Molina. "The Impact of Acceptance-Based Versus Avoidance-Based Protocol on Discomfort." Sage Publications 34.2 (2010): 94-119. Web. 2 Nov 2010. .

Sports Psychology

Along with being an athlete comes the knowledge that being mentally prepared for competition is just as important as being physically prepared for competition. While many athletes do not hesitate to improve physical skills using personal trainers, those same athletes do not deem it necessary to improve their mental skills. This brings us to Chris Gee’s article, “How Does Sport Psychology Actually Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework to Facilitate Athletes’ and Coaches’ Understanding,” With this article Gee educates coaches and athletes on what sports psychology is, the importance of sports psychology services, and why these services are not currently being taken advantage of. Throughout the article readers are supplied with information that illustrates how mental skills training, directly influences an athlete’s personal performance.

The article begins by providing the reader with background information concerning sports psychology; Gee describes sports psychology as the study of the relationship between mental skills and athletic performance. Sports psychology became popular after the cold war due to the political and social emphasis placed on competitive sports, but has really begun to expand in the past twenty years. With this growth scientists have discovered that athletes’ sport performances can be improved by, mental skills training.

Even though scientist have discovered that mental skills training can improve athletes performances, coaches and athletes are not using these sports psychology services. Gee explains how researchers mentioned in the article began researching why coaches and athletes did not take advantage of sports psychology services. The researchers’ results were intriguing; first and foremost the studies found that “coaches and athletes did not fully understand the process and techniques that comprise a sports psychology session. When athletes and coaches were questioned about their knowledge of sports psychology, researchers found that they perceived a sports psychologist to be more like a mental health practitioner, where sessions would include divulging your inner most secrets and emotions”. Researchers then found that “lack of understanding leads to lack of confidence in effects that sports psychology can have on athletic performance”. Based on these study results it is clear that in order to convince athletes and coaches to use sports psychology services, sports psychologists will need to work on educating the athletes and coaches.

After discussing why athletes and coaches need to be more informed about sports psychology,Gee explains that there are two different sides of an athlete’s performance in a sport, the physical side and the mental side, both being of equal importance. The physical side of sports performance includes two important constructs; absolute performance and relative performance. Gee describes absolute performance as reflecting what a person’s 100% performance potential would be in a perfect world. An athlete’s genetic traits and physiological composition contribute to their absolute performance. Therefore an athlete cannot control their own absolute performance.So If two athletes who train equally hard and compete at the same event, the one who has better the genetic traits associated with the sport, or better absolute performance, will undoubtedly have the upper hand. Gee describes relative performance as an athlete’s performance potential at any given time. While absolute performance is influenced by the athlete’s genetic makeup relative performance is influenced by variables like weather, referees, and opponents. These are conditions that cannot be controlled and are capable of affecting the athlete by keeping them from performing at their absolute performance. After describing the types of physical performance Gee introduces the mental side of sport performances. Contrary to what some chose to believe the mental side of sport performance is just as important as the physical side. Heightened pre-competitive anxiety is a major construct of mental sport performance. When an athlete’s mental state is not good, or extremely nervous it negatively affects an athlete’s performance; just as bad weather would negatively affect an athlete’s relative performance. The article explains that pre-competitive anxiety is the main mental issue that most athletes claim to face. Gene clarifies that elevated anxiety can negatively affect and athletes performance. For example, “elevated anxiety impairs; fine motor skills, impairs decision making abilities, causes muscles to tense, and reduces an athlete’s ability to shift attention.” All of these effects are capable of hindering an athlete’s performance.

After portraying the differences in the mental side and physical side of sport performance Gene uses the next paragraphs in the article to “further the readers understanding of how psychological factors such as anxiety can affect athletic performance and, more importantly, how sport psychology strategies can counteract these psychological hindrances.” The article states that cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety are two types of anxiety, that when heightened before or during a sport performance can negatively affect the athlete’s performance. Gee defines cognitive anxiety as; the negative thoughts and succeeding self-doubt athletes’ experience. These thoughts and feelings not only distract them from what they are supposed to be doing but can also influence behavioral decision-making during the game. Sports psychologists improve cognitive anxiety by using a strategy called “Rational Emotive Therapy”. RET teaches athletes strategies like “thought stopping” “centering” , and “self talk”. These strategies help them, evaluate and understand the competitive situation from a more rational and grounded point of view. Somatic anxiety is defined in the article as anxiety causing muscles to tense. When muscles are too tense the athlete’s physical performance is hindered. To fix somatic anxiety, sports psychologists, first teach athletes what somatic anxiety feels like so they can recognize it. Then the psychologist teaches them relaxations strategies to reduce the anxiety.

Gee brings the article to a close by stressing the fact that these psychological problems in sports are a serious issue need to be dealt with by a sports psychologist. If not dealt with these mental problems are capable of hindering an athlete’s performance. The article states that “sports psychology cannot make you a better athlete in the absolute sense but it can help you perform at a level closer to your absolute potential” Therefore if a athlete who has a higher absolute performance value than you, has mental issues that have not been dealt with, then you (who has seen a sports psychologist and have gone though mental skills training), could be equal competition to your component.

Gee, Chris J. “How Does Sport Psychology Actually Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework to Facilitate Athletes’ and Coaches’ Understanding. Behavior Modification. Sept. 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2010.