The one constant across all disciplines of competitive sport is that of stress. Athletes are continuously placed under copious amounts of stress, yet are still expected to perform at a high level. We would not be hard pressed to come up with examples of athlete who have ‘frozen’ or ‘choked’ under pressure, and have not liven up to the high expectations. Nevertheless, at the same time there are athletes whose performance is not impaired, who succeed despite the pressure all around them. In order to help explain this difference, it has got to be understood that stress is not […]
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08
Jul
2013
Championship Team Building Part Three
Team cohesion, motivation and the types of motivation used to promote the “team” concept are paramount in being successful as individuals and as a team. Depending on the types of motivational strategies a coach utilizes, they can maximize team and individual athletic performance, and by doing so can promote team cohesion, overall team climate and even goal setting. Whether a coach chooses BATs, speeches or a certain type of coaching style all have a motivational factor for athletes and the teams they play with. It is up to the coach to know their coaching philosophies, their teams, and individual […]
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06
Jul
2013
ChampionshipTeam Building Part Two
There are many different types of motivation and reinforcements a coach can use; some may increase or decrease motivation and team cohesion, which has a huge effect on athletic performance. Behavior Alteration Techniques (BAT’s) are some motivational techniques that Martin, Matthew M., Rocca, Kelly A., Cayanus, Jacob L., & Weber, Keith (2009) elaborate on. Their research defines BATs as techniques and messages that teachers used to control their classroom students and classroom environment; they noted that there are 22 different BATs. Some of these techniques are classified as positive BATs and negative BATs. Positive BATs had a positive relationship […]
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15
Dec
2012
Attentional Focus and Self-Talk
Attentional Focus and Best Use of Self-Talk in Closed Skill Tasks International rugby stars and place kickers Dan Carter, Ronan O Gara and Jonny Wilkinson, among many others place the ball, set themselves, say something to themselves and mostly go about their business and put the ball between the posts. So what exactly are they saying and why? Research has shown that the use of psychological techniques can enhance sporting performance (Krane & Williams, 2006). Use of psychological techniques, cognitive strategies or mental training has been commonly used by high performance athletes for many years. Aided by the growth […]
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06
Oct
2012
Mental Toughness Makes Olympic Champions
Study shows the right mix of mental toughness makes Olympic champions… Why is it that some sport performers are able to withstand the pressures associated with the Olympics and attain peak performances whereas others succumb to the demands and under-perform? Sport and Performance Psychologists (Dr David Fletcher and Mustafa Sarkar) at Loughborough University aimed to address this question in a recent study by interviewing twelve Olympic champions from a range of sports regarding their experiences of withstanding pressure during their sporting careers. They found that the world’s best athletes shared a unique mental resilience characterized by five key psychological […]
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02
Oct
2012
Sport Resilience Study Questionnaire
Dear Sport Psychology Today Readers, My name is Mustafa Sarkar and I am a final year PhD student in Sport Psychology at Loughborough University. As part of my PhD, I have designed the Sport Resilience Study, research that explores how sport performers react to and deal with pressure. Any help you could provide will be much appreciated as I need to collect around 700 questionnaires. The study itself takes just fifteen minutes to complete. The only criteria for completion is that individuals need to be above the age of 18 and have participated in competitive sport in the past month […]
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31
Aug
2012
Championship Team Building Part One
Motivation can have many effects on an athlete as an individual and a team as a whole. Depending on the type of motivational strategies used, a coach’s motivational strategies can have positive or negative effects. Truman (2003) identified how motivational techniques such as inspirational direction and bragging promoted more motivation on a team and, as a result, created team cohesion. To expand on the notion of cohesion, Kenow and Williams (1999) bring to light the importance of players and coaches having similar goals, promoting team cohesion which ultimately leads to a team becoming successful. In order to achieve cohesion […]
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