Showing posts from August, 2017

The Importance of Attitudes

Is there a difference between the way champions think and the way average athletes think? Yes. Does that difference in thinking explain their success? Partially. There’s a lot that goes into athletic success. Mindset, or the attitudes you hold, plays a key role. But why does attitude matter? Mindset is defined as the established set of attitudes held by someone. I define attitude as the way you think about something. Attitudes are basically your beliefs. Beliefs are important because they lead to actions and behavior, which lead to outcomes. In other words, Your athletic outcomes are influenced by your actions which are influenced by your beliefs. They are the root, the cause, of the branches and symptoms. Here is a simple example to show the importance attitudes/beliefs. Belief                                      Action/Behavior                          Outcome “I can’t do it” --->gives no effort because doesn’t think it’ll be worth it---> Fa

What Sport Psychology is and What it is Not

Sport psychology is the study of the mind and behavior of athletes. The knowledge gained from sport psychologists can be applied to help improve athletic performance and mental health. Sport psychologists do this by teaching effective and healthy attitudes about sports and performance along with improving the mental skills of athletes. Sport psychology is not well understood by the average American. There are many myths about sport psychology. Here I will explain what sport psychology really is and what it is not. Sport psychology is not a magical cure for athletes. Some people think that athletes who receive help from a sport psychologist are suddenly going to start dominating their competition. However, it does not provide some mystical mode of thinking that immediately improves performance. First of all, sport psychology is just one component of sports. Sports can be broken down into four components: technique, fitness, strategy, and the mental game (sport psychology). It is deb