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.