PYC 4812 ASSIGNMENT 1

Definition of Applied sports psychology Applied sports psychology is a field of study, that focusses in on psychological barriers and factors that influence and athletes’ performance, sporting participation and physical activity. According to Williams and Krane (2015), applied sports psychology makes use of various psychological training programs to learn performance enhancing strategies to combat competitive stress, manage anxiety, improve confidence, and team cohesion. How sports psychology can be applied: • Rehabilitation - Helping athlete’s rehabilitate injuries, instil confidence in one’s abilities and belonging in the team. • Team cohesion – identify and solving conflicts between team members, fostering healthy communication and team spirit. • Goal setting – formulating strategies and theories to achieve desired outcomes, such as fitness levels, weight loss and personal growth. • Increase mental resilience – equip athletes with mental techniques and strategies to cope with poor athletic performance, concentration, and performance anxiety. • Address athletes’ mental health - address issues affecting an athlete’s personal life, such as day-to-day stressors. Goal setting in sports psychology • Van Raalte, J. L., & Vincent, A. (2017). Self-talk in sport and performance. In Oxford research encyclopedia of psychology. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how instructional and motivational self-talk has been shown to enhance athletic performance. The hypothesis questions how negative self-talk impacts performance in comparison to both instructional and motivational self-talk. The results have shown self-talk has been shown to have a beneficial effect on the learning of sporting skills, The participation and performance of sport accuracy tasks, as well as sports pertaining to endurance and strength.