One of the most discussed topics in sport at present is the doping scandal and corruption that has taken place widespread across athletics, resulting in many athletes losing confidence in the sport and the people that govern it. As more and more information comes out of the woodwork about the possibility of athletes taking performance […]
Coaching is far more than just teaching sports skills to individuals and teams. It is also about inspiring, giving confidence and motivating others by building quality relationships. You need to poses the emotional expertise in order to build those relationships with an individual or within a sports team. In sports psychology this emotional expertise is […]
Self-regulation – a cognitive skill to monitor progress? According to Richards (2011), “self-regulation refers to the process in which individuals monitor, manage, and control their behaviours, thoughts, emotions, and interactions with the environment, including task performance but also including social interactions”. Due to its large scope, self-regulation allows individuals an opportunity to understand how responses […]
Psychology is undoubtably a fascinating area that has many characteristics which can enpower people in both thought and emotion. Examples of extreme psychology can emanate from happiness, excitement and joy to fear, sadness and depression. Therefore, positive and negative aspects of psychology are world’s apart in extremity. Aruably, these extreme emotions occur less often than […]
During the month of February I had a great opportunity to sit down with the hockey coaches from Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, SK. Among a variety of topics including coach, athlete and organization development in high performance we had an open and candid discussion on creating self-awareness not only in our […]
Internal dialogue or self-talk, as it is most commonly referred to in sport psychology, is an occurrence nearly every athlete experiences. Although positive self-talk is possible, typically, our thoughts and self-statements are negative and consciously appear at the most inconvenient of times. However, it is when we fuse with these thoughts that they become influential […]
‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit’ – Aristotle Novices and experts alike are all, or at least should be, aware of the vital physiological benefits of a warm up. They are crucial to performance by preparing the body for action, whilst minimizing the risk of injury. […]
High performance athletes spend a crucial amount of time into skill development, physical conditioning, and nutrition. However at the high performance stage there is a thin line between winning and losing and the ever sought after consistency of performance. The mentally tough aspect could be the advantage point that allows you as an individual or […]
For me awareness is one of the essential ingredients of developing belief. Awareness has been highlighted by many as a key indicator of success in a range of performance environments. It is arguably the most important ingredient for belief as every other skill, quality and task you have and undertake can be traced back to […]
Retirement – the reality! For many years, sport psychologists have referred to retirement from sport as a ‘transition’. However, Nesti and Littlewood (2010) argue that the term ‘transition’ suggests that such an event is smooth and easy to negotiate. Although there will be cases where this is in fact true, in reality, the experience of […]