Sports Psychology Training
There many areas an aspiring sports psychologist can focus on. Most sports psychologists zero in on one specialty, whether it's working with children, coaches, professionals or choosing a specific branch of psychology like motivation or rehabilitation. The key is finding the area most interesting to you and pursuing it through post-secondary education.
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Post-Secondary Training
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Sports psychologists earn bachelor's degrees in psychology, human kinetics or exercise sciences. After graduation, students apply for master's programs in sports psychology to pursue specialties.
According to GetDegrees.com, some of the best sports psychology programs in the United States is Argosy University's master of arts in sport exercise psychology offered at its California, Atlanta and Arizona campuses. Boston University offers a sports psychology masters program through its education department. West Virginia University has a College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences and students can enter into bachelors, masters and doctoral programs.
Motivation
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Motivation is often said to be the most important aspect of sports psychology because it dictates an athlete's decision concerning whether or not to participate in a sport. The idea behind motivation is to change attitudes towards activity and training to entice a person to train and compete at her highest possible level, according to Peak Performance Online.
Motivation training includes dealing with professional athletes who suffer from burn-out or lack of interest from overplaying their sport. It also deals with older people who want to become involved with sport again but need additional motivation and support, as well as helping injured athletes find the motivation to return to sport.
Sports psychologist often use Self-Determination Theory to help patients reach goals and use a variety of intrinsic (internal) or extrinsic (external) motivators. -
Goal Setting, Imagery and Visualization
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Goal setting and visualization are two other important part of sports psychology training that psychologists can specialize in. Goal setting involves creating realistic goals and time-lines the athlete can achieve. It also deals with assessing and re-evaluating goals and providing positive feedback. Goal setting concerns setting multiple types of goals: game, series, tournament, season and career goals.
Visualization involves mentally preparing for a sport or activity and visualizing success. In terms of goal setting, a sports psychologist will help the athlete picture herself succeeding. The athlete will then recall the visualization in a performance situation to help achieve the desired result.
Injury and Rehabilitation
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Rehabilitation training for sports psychologists involves helping athletes become mentally prepared to return to play, according to the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Athletes who experience injuries often suffer from decreased confidence, feelings of stress and anxiety and fear of re-injury. Sports psychologists use a variety of imagery, goal-setting and sport-specific skills to help the athlete overcome the mental scars of an injury.
Media Management
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Sports psychologists may also choose to focus on helping professional athletes deal with the media. Media training for athletes and coaches involves helping patients speak articulately and mentally preparing them for media encounters, helping patients know what to say in good and bad news situations and managing the press and the athlete's public image.
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References
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- Photo Credit sports medicine image by Keith Frith from Fotolia.com
