When it comes to sports teams, having mental strength is nearly as vital for players as physical fitness is. Pressure can get to even the best sports stars, which means that mental training is a vital skill to possess. For most athletes, physical training is an incredibly natural part of their weekly schedule. Psychological skills are one of the most common areas that are often overlooked when it comes to training schedules for sports teams.
‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’ is one of the ways to say it. Or, as one well-known sports psychologist put it, mental toughness is ‘the ability to perform consistently toward the upper range of your talent as well as skill regardless of competitive circumstances.’ With sports psychology being a growing field of study, more and more athletes are wanting to improve their mental prowess in addition to their physical exercise routines.
What Is Sports Psychology?
With the goal for sporting glory at an all-time high, in addition to increasing media scrutiny, help is thankfully at hand for sports teams who are feeling the pressure. Sports psychology is a developing science which gives competitors in sports teams mental and emotional support in order to deal with aspects of their physical performance.
This support includes including things such as:
- Self-belief,
- Concentration, as well as
- Coping with pressure.
The task of the sports psychologist is to boost an athlete’s confidence in addition to improving their mental endurance for long-term periods of intense concentration.
Interestingly enough, research into penalty shootouts by the Dutch psychologist Geir Jordet has shown that sporting pressure mounts the longer that a contest goes on. Jordet’s research recommends that players are only overcome their fears of failure by rehearsing their entire routine in advance in addition to composing their thoughts before each and every single kick.
Increasing In Popularity
Sports psychology is a growing trend which aims to get sports teams to fight through the pressure of the game that they are playing and not to bottle it all up by being impacted by the noise of the crowd or even the size of an imposing competitor. The ability to overcome the fear of failing can absolutely be taught through psychology. It just requires a lot of mental strength. Players need to learn to concentrate on their goal, taking each kick or shot at a time and also removing the crowd and tiredness from their thoughts.
Sports will always be popular. Although people are not allowed to support their favourite teams at the moment, the fact that they are still avidly watching at home is testament to the fact that they are still enduring supporters. This means that sports teams will still need to perform at their best and the way that they will be able to do this is through sports psychology.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy
If you want to know what it takes to become a sports psychologist then you should really check out our Sports Psychology Course. Follow this link for more information.
