Sport and Exercise Psychology
Ms Adele Muscat B.Psy., M.Sc SES (Manch.)

Sport and Exercise Scientist/ Sport and Exercise Psychology Consultant

Introduction to Sport and Exercise Psychology
What is sport and exercise psychology?
 What does a sport psychologist do?
 Psychological Orientations
 Psychological Skills Training
 Why do athletes spend so little time developing mental skills?
 PST Myths
Introduction to Sport and Exercise Psychology
 Mental letdowns
 Topics coaches/athletes find useful
 Phases of a psychological skills training program
 Practice
 Assessment
 Philosophy
What is Sport and Exercise Psychology?
 It is the scientific study of people and their behaviour in sport and
exercise
 It has 2 objectives:
 1) to see how psychological factors affect an individual’s physical
performance
 2) to understand how participation in sport affects a person’s
psychological development, health and well-being
Sport psychology is about enhancing performance
Sport psychology does not only apply to elite athletes to help them
achieve peak performance but it is also concerned with children,
disabled, seniors and average participants eg. developing strategies to
encourage sedentary people to exercise etc.
 What does a sport
psychologist do?
 Conduct research, teach and consult with athletes or teams to develop
psychological skills to enhance performance
Can also work in the fitness industry designing exercise programs
that maximize participation and promote psychological and physical
well-being
 Roles of a sport psychologist include:
 1) Implementing an education program to teach athletes about
mkental skills
 2) Provide consultative services for those who work with athletes eg
coaches, trainers
 3) Provide crisis intervention services eg. when someone has a bad
injury
Roles of a sport psychologist
 4) Perform assessment of the athlete eg by questionnaires, interviews,
observation, performance profiles
 5) Undertake an analysis of the requirements of the sport eg. read up
and observe the sport to see the needs of the sport
 6) Negotiate objectives with the performer eg. help athlete make
realistic goals
 7) Develop performance
improvement
programs
eg.
using
psychological interventions
 8) Provide training in psychological skills
 9) Evaluate program effectiveness to see if it has worked out
Psychological Orientations
 Behavioural- Primary determinants of an athlete's behaviour is
coming from the environment. Focus is on how environmental
factors such as reinforcement and punishment influence behaviour.
 Psychophysiological- examine physiological processes of the brain
and their influences on physical activity. Assess heart rate, brain
wave activity, drawing relationship between psychophysiological
measures and sport and exercise behaviour ex. Using biofeedback
techniques to train shooters to fire between heart beats, to improve
accuracy.
 Cognitive-behavioural- behaviour is determined by the environment
as well as cognitions (thoughts). How a person interprets the
environment. Thought is seen to determine behaviour eg.
developing self-report measures to assess self-confidence etc. then
see how these assessments are linked to changes in an athlete's
behaviour
Psychological Skills Training (PST)
All sport participants have mental letdowns and mistakes such as
loosing concentration, felt depressed because of an injury, lacked
motivation etc.
Most performers also know what it feels like to be 'in the zone' where
everything is perfect
 Success/failure results from a combination of physical eg. strength
and speed and mental abilities eg. concentration and confidence.
However few athletes allot time to mental practice. Sport is at least
50% mental with certain sports like tennis being 80-90% mental.
Serious athletes allot 10 or more hours a week to physical practice
and little if any time to mental practice. In most competitions, players
win or lose depending on how they perform that particular day.
Physical ability being fairly equal, the winner is the one who has
better mental skills.
You can observe fluctuations in your own day-to-day performance.
On some days you do everything right, on other days you do
everything wrong. You know you haven't lost your physical skills, its
your mental skills that fluctuate.
Why do athletes spend so little time developing mental skills?
 1) Lack of knowledge- many people don't understand how to teach
or practice PST skills eg. coach may shout 'will you concentrate?'.
The assumption is that the player knows how to concentrate. A
coach would not expect a 50m backstroke swimmer to perform
well in the 200m breaststroke if she hasn't been swimming that
distance and stroke in practice. Similarily psychological skills like
relaxation and concentration need to be practiced to become
effective tools for competition. Unfortunately many coaches have
not had access to techniques for teaching and learning
psychological skills.
These days it is not enough to tell someone 'be confident',
'concentrate'. Such advice needs action-oriented approaches.
 2) Misconception that people are born with mental skills- We are all
born with certain physical and psychological predispositions but
skills can be learned and developed depending on the experiences
we encounter in our lives.
Great athletes spend endless hours practicing their physical skills.
Mental skills also need practice and integration with physical skills.
 3) Lack of time- People say they have barely enough time to
practice physical skills, much less mental skills. These same people
also say that they lost a particular competition because 'I couldn't
concentrate' or 'I lost confidence' etc. You would think that if
coaches thought their athletes lost because of poor concentration,
they would make time to practice concentration skills. Instead they
add time to physical practice.
PST Myths
 PST is only for problem athletes- people think that sport
psychologists work with athletes who are messed up or have
psychological problems. Only about 10% of athletes exhibit
behaviours and mental disorders such as depression or eating
disorders
 PST is only for top athletes- it is suitable for everyone
 PST provides ‘quick fix’ solutions- athletes and coaches at times
expect learning how to concentrate etc. to be accomplished in a
lesson or two. Psychological Skills Training takes time and practice
to develop and PST won't turn an average player into a superstar.
However it will help athletes reach their potential and maximize
their abilities
 PST is not useful- reports from athletes and coaches indicate that
psychological skills do infact enhance performance although people
might think its wishy-woshy
 Studies have shown that successful athletes had better concentration,
higher levels of self-confidence, lower levels of anxiety, were more
positive and determined
than less successful athletes- more task-
oriented thoughts, used more positive imagery to visualize success,
were more committed.
Mental Letdowns
 Coping with anxiety, training stress
 Developing mental plans
 Maintaining motivation
 Staying focused
 Low self-confidence
 Dealing with injuries, the media, friends
 Communication problems
Topics Coaches/Athletes Find Useful
 Arousal regulation
 Confidence building
 Increasing motivation and commitment
 Attention/concentration skills
 Imagery
 Coaches and athletes rate relaxation training, concentration,
imagery, attention training, stress management and self-talk
strategies as important topics.
 Top athletes set daily training goals, used simulations in practice to
replicate competitive environments and used imagery to help focus
attention and visualize successful outcomes.
The specific topics you choose for a PST program depends on athlete,
their orientations and experience and other personal factors
Phases of a PST program
 Education phase- many sport participants are unfamiliar with how
mental skills can enhance performance, so the first phase is
educational. Once a week before or after practice is the best formal
meeting time for educating.
 Acquisition phase- focuses on strategies and techniques to learn the
different psychological skills. Formal sessions with the group and
then with individuals to tailor strategies to an athlete's unique
needs
 Practice: 3 objectives:
 1) To automate skills through overlearning
 2) To teach people to systematically integrate psychological skills into
performance situations
 3) To simulate skills you will want to apply in actual competition
Practice
 It can take several months to fully understand and integrate new mental
skills into competitions/performances so its best to initiate a PST
program preseason eg, a high jumper wouldn't change jumping
technique before a big meet
 time needed to practice mental skills will vary according to what is
being practiced and how well it is learned. If a new skill is being
learned, special 10-15 minutes training sessions 3 to 5 days a week
may be necessary- the first 10-15 minutes of practice is often a
good time. As athletes become more proficient, they may be able to
integrate mental training more with physical training and may
need fewer special training sessions. Once a skill has been
effectively integrated into physical practices, it should be tried
during simulated competition before being used before actual
competition
 PST continues as long as athletes participate in their sport. First
exposure to the program should last 3-6 months.
Assessment
 Semi-structured oral interview, observation during training and
competition, psychological inventories. Interviews are a good time to
determine where the athlete needs help and to start building the
trust critical to any therapeutic relationship
 Feedback is then given to the athlete to highlight his/her specific
psychological strengths and weaknesses. Assessment should conclude
with a section identifying the type of psychological skills
appropriate for each athlete.
 Then comes the decision as to which psychological skills to emphasize
during the program. Prioritize objectives.
Philosophy
 Evaluate program as this provides feedback, allows participants to
suggest changes and objectively judge if the program has achieved
its goals. Evaluation should include written rating scales. Ask:
what techniques appeared to work best, was enough time allotted
to practice psychological skills, how useful were the team sessions,
how useful were individual sessions, was the consultant available,
knowledgeable, informative and easy to talk with, should anything
be added or deleted from the progam?
 Ethical considerations- mainly confidentiality and competence
(referral); responsibility- 'do no harm to the client'
 Philosophy:
 Educational-
developing and improving awareness, promoting
acceptance of personal responsibility for performance, assisting
athletes in their assessment of what they can and cannot control,
refining mental skills they are already using and teaching them
additional performance enhancement techniques. Many athletes
involved in sport resist change so to convince them on the benefits
of psychological skills give examples of top athletes.
 Experiential- involves learning from every athlete I work with and
applying my own personal and professional experiences in my
delivery
 Humanistic- creating atmosphere of unconditional acceptance,
caring and support for each athlete, an atmosphere conducive to
trust and respect
Holistic- to be able to apply techniques to other areas of life