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A LOOK INTO SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY
A LOOK INTO SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY
TYLER CARON 4A
OCEAN LAKES HIGH SCHOOL
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A LOOK INTO SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY
RELATIVITY TO MY LIFE
I broke my foot early in the sixth grade playing a game called Extreme Musical Chairs
(sounds lame but extreme really is a good word to describe it). During the three month span of
my foot being in a knee high cast, I would go over to my friend Thomas’ house. His mom would
take us to school but before that, I’d see him check his fantasy football teams. I soon began to
pay attention to his fantasy team, which led me to pick a favorite football team. Sadly, it was the
Washington Redskins, and I began to follow them closely. Soon I began my own fantasy
football team, which caused me to feel the need to follow the NFL to check injured players, who
was bad/good and how the game was actually played. This began my lifelong attention towards
sports.
Ever since the 6th grade, I’ve been following all sports daily, maybe even by the minute
if a trade deadline or free agency in a sport is about to commence. I love sports and it gives me
time away from the stress of school. Now I’d like to bring my love of sports into my school
work. Recently, I’ve found interest in the field of psychology. I’ve been able to relate to the
need of Sports Psychologists in sports such as baseball and basketball. In baseball, I play pitcher.
I noticed how I’d get to an 0-2 count then throw 4 straight balls to walk the batter. I wasn’t
exactly playing bad, but I just couldn’t get my mind to repeat the same motion that was working
out for the last two pitches. Or, in practice or when just warming up my arm, I’d be able to
throw a perfect curveball. When the catcher would call that pitch from behind the plate, I’d find
some way to mess it up. I want to research why my mind couldn’t tell my arm to respond the
same way as when I was throwing strikes, and how the mind can decide a post season with
examples such as Peyton Manning or Clayton Kershaw.
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A LOOK INTO SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY
RESEARCH STORY
I’m going to be completely honest and say I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be doing a
big research project. I tried to make my topic as close to my lifestyle as possible, but I’d rather
just experience the field of psychology and how different client’s sessions are like. It made me
more excited for my senior capstone project to get the hands on experience I want, but as Albert
Einstein said, “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
In order to start my research, I had to turn in my research proposal. My first draft was turned
down due to my questions being what was said to be too broad. As I looked at it again, I agreed
and was instructed to do a week of research into the field of Sports Psychology. I was slowly
getting behind in my work, doing my best procrastination work. I began to look at success and
pressure that athletes experience during activity and focused that towards the brain. That
proposal was approved thankfully, as I had to catch up. I then began to get confused on how to
write my Letter of Introduction to a possible mentor. I was too scared on how to write it because
I didn’t want to sound too professional, but also didn’t want to sound too much like a casual
student. As I worked on my rough draft for my letter, I paid a visit over to my grandparents. I
began to talk to my grandmother on the stresses and frustrating aspects of school. I told her that
I was actually excited that my ISearch paper could possibly lead me to my senior capstone
project. She was interested in the topic and I told her Sports Psychology. She then notified me
of how her psychologist specializes in Sports Psychology. It turned out to be Dr. Douglas
Finney, whom I had beforehand planned on sending my letter of proposal. That was a real sigh
of relief because I’d rather meet face-to-face than send a letter to leave an impression. As I
started my research, I began to notice how Sports Psychology isn’t the most popular psychology
there is. It was really hard to find sources that would help me with the questions I had since not
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many people had looked into it, making me want to research my questions on a professional
scale and even experiment. Experimentation couldn’t be done at the moment due to time and
lack of professional methods. So what I found was either close to or near the answers I needed
for my questions.
RESEARCH RESULTS #1
My first question is about how you use your mind during sports and if one part in the
brain in particular is more important than the others. The mind is made of many different
components. Such parts that are relative in our daily actions are cerebrum, which is the largest
part of the brain. Functions are intellect, physical actions, behavior, attention and many more.
The cerebellum controls balance and coordination. The Limbic System helps control emotion.
All of these functions are all equally important in sports. Emotions need to be controlled so you
don't just completely lose it on the field. Intellect, physical actions, balance, coordination are all
skills that athletes are known for. Intellect especially due to the hours of studying in the film
room and pages and pages of memorization of playbooks. After researching the parts of the
mind I do believe that all parts of the mind are equally important, and in sports, nothing about the
mind is to be undermined.
As I did research on whether or not sports affect the mind, I found that not only do the
sports affect the mind, but also, just talking about sports improves basic functions. In 2008, an
article was written about this particular topic. Tests were conducted on people who play hockey,
know hockey, and don't really know the game all too well. It was shown that when talking about
the skills a hockey player needs to have, brain activity would happen where usually it's active
during the actual action. This is shown with monkeys as well. If you were to show a monkey a
picture of something like a banana or a ball, the monkey's brain activity would stir up like if it
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were actually eating a banana or playing with a ball. This is partly due to something
psychologists note to as being called availability heuristic. Availability Heuristic is when the
brain uses previous experiences and examples to analyze and solve a problem.
RESEARCH RESULTS #2
The Wonderlic Test is a test that was used to test mental capabilities. The NFL had used
it on rookies before they would enter the league. The test was said to be able to project physical
success based on the mental use during a game. Recently, it is found that the Wonderlic score
isn't always accurate. The Wonderlic is a 50 point test, and an average score is in the 20's. My
questions was “Do tests such as the Wonderlic Test or similar predict athletic success accurately?
If used on everyday jobs, would it reflect ability comparable to a sport?” Frank Gore had a
whopping score of 6. Frank Gore is a 5 time Pro Bowl Running Back for the San Francisco
49ers. He's highly successful and has been playing in the league since 2005. Morris Claiborne is
a Cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys. Although he has not made the Pro Bowl, he has seen
flashes of improvement. He's been in the league since 2012 and he was drafted in the first round,
6th overall. The 2014-2015 season wasn't a really productive season for him, but he's been
successful. While looking at Quarterbacks, I noticed that the Wonderlic score isn't always
accurate. Blaine Gabbert, first round 10th overall pick in 2011, scored a 42 on his test. His
record in the NFL as a starter is 5-19, which is less than par.
In the workforce, Wonderlic
scores help much more. The importance of the test is to test intelligence, not ability. The
accuracy of the test reflecting on how well you'd do actually in a particular work situation is an
82-94%.
RESEARCH RESULTS #3
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This is one of the questions that really bums me that there aren't too many sources too
use. I couldn't find and correlation between sport and mental illness. Due to prior knowledge, I
know that concussions are becoming a serious problem in the NFL. In 2013, there were a total
of 228 concussions in the NFL. In August of 2013, $765 million dollars was the final amount of
settlement given to the players and families of players. Concussions have been linked to
problems such as suicidal thoughts and memory loss. Recently Ohio State Offensive Lineman
Kosta Karageorge was found dead in a dumpster with a pistol by his side and a gunshot wound to
the head. He had sent suicidal messages to his recent ex-girlfriend, and texted his mother that
the concussions were finally getting to him. Junior Seau, a 12 time Pro Bowl selected linebacker
for the San Diego Chargers and New England Patriots committed suicide on May 12th, 2012.
Autopsy reports showed damage to the brain. The more I look at these concussion cases, they
show up more in the sport of football. Helmet design and other rules to the game have been
altered to reduce risk of concussion such as hits to head and helmet to helmet contact.
RESEARCH RESULTS #4
Lastly, we look at how post-season performance differs from regular season performance.
The Broncos vs. Colts game represents exactly how I feel about how the post-season affects
performance. It could have been a little what the sports world likes to call "choking", maybe
because Peyton Manning reportedly had a torn quad muscle, maybe a bit of both. This season,
Manning averaged 295 yards per game, 3 touchdowns per game, and had a completion
percentage of 66.2. Mannning versus the Colts had 211 passing yards and 1 touch down with a
completion percentage of 56.5. That's a 33% less yards than his average. Manning up-to-date
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has an 11-13 record in the post season opposed to his 190-90 Regular Season Record. In 2009,
Vrooman states that performance in the post season depends on how large the stage is set. I
believed that after the regular season, post season performance depended on the health of the
player. Seasons can get long and tiring. The body needs rest after a certain period of time.
Something I'd like to observe in the future is any possible change in mechanics opposed to
regular season actions to post season actions.
EVALUATION OF RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Well I’m up at 10:40 finishing this paper so I would have to say this research was very
lengthy. My main thing that set me back was the firewall at school. Many sports sites are
blocked, prohibiting me to be able to do thorough research with the sites I need. That led me to
doing the research at home, which I barely had time for much anyways.
Overall the research itself was fun. I faced challenges due to my questions being out of
the box. I realized that not many people look into multiple sports, but specialize and focus into
one sport. I’d like to broaden up my research to all sports, and not favor football or baseball,
which are my two sports of expertise.
I hope Sports Psychology leads up to my senior project because I feel like the more
research I conduct, the more engaged I am with how psychology doesn’t just affect every day
human lives, but also affects the activities and hobbies we enjoy the most.
In my blog,
littlebigred.weebly.com, I stated that I was aiming for my senior project to be incorporated with
my enjoyment of sports. I believe I’ve found what I’m looking forward to. I will be meeting
with Dr. Douglas Finney to get her views on sports psychology and maybe work for shadowing.
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WORKS CITED
Quarterback Win/Loss Records. (n.d.). Retrieved January 23, 2015, from
http://www.footballdb.com/stats/qb-records.html
Green, J. (2015, January 18). Green: Peyton Manning great but overrated QB.
Retrieved January 23, 2015, from
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/jerry-green/2015/01/17/greenpeyton-manning-great-overrated-qb/21928121/
Vrooman, John (2009). Theory of the big dance: The playoff payoff in pro sports
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/econ/faculty/Vrooman/vrooman-big-dance3.pdf
Pickering, E. (2014, May 31). The 10 Worst Wonderlic Scores in NFL History. Retrieved
January 23, 2015, http://www.therichest.com/sports/football-sports/10-worst-wonderlicscores-in-nfl-history/10/
Belson, K. (2014, January 30). Concussions Show Decline Of 13 Percent, N.F.L. Says. Retrieved
January 23, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/sports/football/nfl-reportsconcussions-dropped-13-percent-in-2013.html?_r=0
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