History of Sports Psychology

Sports psychology is a relatively young discipline within psychology. In 1920, Carl Diem founded the
world’s first sports psychology laboratory at the Deutsche Sporthochschule in Berlin, Germany. In 1925,
two more sports psychology labs were established – one by A.Z. Puni at the Institute of Physical Culture
in Leningrad and the other by Coleman Griffith at the University of Illinois.
Griffith began offering the first course in sports psychology in 1923, and later published the first book on
the subject titled The Psychology of Coaching (1926). Unfortunately, Griffith’s lab was closed in 1932 due
to lack of funds.
After the lab was shut down, there was very little research on sports psychology until the subject
experienced a revival of interest during the 1960s.
Ferruccio Antonelli established the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) in 1965 and by the
1970s sports psychology had been introduced to university course offerings throughout North America.
The first academic journal, the International Journal of Sport Psychology, was introduced in 1970, which
was then followed by the establishment of the Journal of Sport Psychology in 1979.
By the 1980s, sports psychology became the subject of a more rigorous scientific focus as researchers
began to explore how psychology could be used to improve athletic performance, as well as how exercise
could be utilized to improve mental well-being and lower stress levels.

Sports Psychology Today

Contemporary sports psychology is a diverse field. While finding ways to help athletes is certainly an
important part of sports psychology, the application of exercise and physical activity for improving the
lives of non-athletes is also a major focus.

What Is Sports Psychology?

Sports psychology is the study of how psychology influences sports, athletic performance, exercise, and
physical activity. Some sports psychologists work with professional athletes and coaches to improve
performance and increase motivation. Other professionals utilize exercise and sports to enhance people’s
lives and well-being throughout the entire lifespan.
While popular perceptions often presume that sports psychology is only concerned with professional
athletics, this specialty area includes a broad range of scientific, clinical and applied topics involving sports
and exercise.

There are two key areas of interest in sports psychology:

1. Understanding how psychology can be applied to improve motivation and performance.
2. Understanding how sports and athletics can improve mental health and overall well-being.

Major Topics within Sports Psychology

There are a number of different topics that are of special interest to sports psychologists.
Some professionals focus on a specific area, while others study a wide range of techniques.
 Imagery: Involves visualizing performing a task, such as participating in an athletic event or
successfully performing a particular skill.
  Motivation: A major subject within sports psychology, the study of motivation looks at both
extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. Extrinsic motivators are external rewards, such as trophies,
money, medals or social recognition. Intrinsic motivators arise from within, such as a personal
desire to win or the sense of pride that comes from performing a skill.
 Attentional Focus: Involves the ability to tune out distractions, such as a crowd of screaming fans,
and focus attention on the task at hand.
Let's take a look at the field of sport psychology and discover how it can help you as an athlete, parent
of an athlete, or as a coach. Here are ten areas that sport psychology studies, and how it applies this
knowledge to sport learning and performance.
1. Sport Psychology Helps You Understand Yourself As An Athlete. You need to have mental
strategies for learning, practice and performance factors. Sport psychology gives you the methods
and approaches to become aware of what you need so you and your coach can craft custom
interventions.
2. Sport Psychology Helps You Work Better With Your Parents. Your parents should be part of your
success team, at least at some level. It does not necessarily mean they should coach you, but it
would be nice to have a solid relationship with them, and excellent communication skills so they
can assist you in your career.
3. Sport Psychology Helps You Work Better With Your Coaches. Your coach is perhaps the most
important person on your team. You need a great working relationship with this person. Sport
psychology can help you create this relationship, and nurture it.
4. Sport Psychology Helps You Navigate Your Sport Career. There are many blind alleys, pitfalls and
false paths in a sport career. Sport psychology helps you create a vision for success, and goals and
objectives, so you can execute that master plan.
5. Sport Psychology Helps You Prepare Your Mind. It is critical that you know how to prepare
mentally and emotionally for lessons, practices and performances. Sport psychology helps you
devise a customized mental readiness process that helps you transition from your normal work,
school or social worlds into the special world of competition.
6. Sport Psychology Helps You Concentrate So You Can Enter The Zone. Attentional control is
psychologist-speak for concentration or focus. Sport psychology helps you create strong control
over where and how you place your attention so you can concentrate on the proper attentional
cues, and you are able to block out unwanted, distracting cues.
7. Sport Psychology Helps You Bounce Back From Set-Backs. It is critical that you become resilient
to the inevitable problems and set-backs that competitive sport brings. You need solid mental
toughness that helps you refocus, reset and re-energize for what is to come.
8. Sport Psychology Helps You Increase Motivation And Drive. Successful athletes who have long
careers fuel them with exciting goals, a vision for the legacy they want to leave, and dreams of
how they want to play. Sport psychology helps you craft engaging goals that create positive energy
within you, so you have huge amounts of drive and determination to achieve your potential.
9. Sport Psychology Helps You Handle Stress and Pressure. One of the major ways sport psychology
helps you is through stress reduction in learning and performance. While some stress is inevitable
 and natural, levels of stress that are excessive damage performance. Sport psychology helps you
manage stress and turn it into success.
10. Sport Psychology Helps You Handle The Paradox Of Success. An issue that every athlete faces at
some time is the paradox of success. As you become more successful, there are more pressures
and more distractions pulling at you. Sport psychology helps you address these, stay focused, and
helps you continue to sustain your best performances.

Professional Organizations
The Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP, formally AAASP) is the primary professional
organization for sport psychology. It is an international organization with 1,200 members from North
America and twenty-eight countries in other continenents. AASP incorporates information and expertise
from exercise and sport sciences as well as from psychology. AASP is comprised of three interrelated focus
areas: Performance Enhancement/Intervention, Health and Exercise Psychology, and Social Psychology.
AASP is also the organization that offers certification to become a Certified Consultant.
APA Division 47 (Sport Psychology) is a subdivision of the American Psychological Society. Division 47
represents the field of exercise and sport psychology, defined as an interdisciplinary specialization that
cuts across psychology and the sport sciences.

According to the APA, here’s what sport psychologists can help athletes with:

1. Enhance performance. Various mental strategies, such as visualization, self-talk and relaxation
techniques, can help athletes overcome obstacles and achieve their full potential.
2. Cope with the pressures of competition. Sport psychologists can help athletes at all levels deal
with pressure from parents, coaches or even their own expectations.
3. Recover from injuries. After an injury, athletes may need help tolerating pain, adhering to their
physical therapy regimens or adjusting to being sidelined.
4. Keep up an exercise program. Even those who want to exercise regularly may find themselves
unable to fulfill their goal. Sport psychologists can help these individuals increase their motivation
and tackle any related concerns.
5. Enjoy sports. Sports organizations for young people may hire a sport psychologist to educate
coaches about how to help kids enjoy sports and how to promote healthy self-esteem in
participants.

Certification
One of the most controversial issues in the field of sport psychology is the question of who is qualified to
call themselves "sport psychologists." Much of the debate stems from differences in backgrounds of sport
sciences versus psychology and differences in terms, such as titles of "sport psychologist" versus "sport
psychology consultant." Many argue that only licensed psychologists can use the title of "psychologist" in
any way (the term "psychologist" is restricted by law in most states). It is commonly agreed that anyone
practicing sport psychology should have significant exercise and sport-specific training.

What Does a Sports Psychologist Do?

A sport psychologist might spend his time in two different aspects of this field - research or counseling.
Research in sport psychology involves studying and observing athletes in order to find out what motivates
them to keep pushing on, and what gives them the thirst for landing in the winner's circle. A sport
psychology researcher might also try to find ways for athletes to perform better and with fewer obstacles.
The knowledge gained through this research can then be applied during counseling sessions with athletes.
In order to help an athlete, a sport psychologist must be able to first identify the problem that the athlete
is facing. An athlete might benefit from a counseling sport psychologist in a number of situations. Some
athletes, for instance, may be having trouble concentrating due to a number of personal issues, such as
family problems or relationship problems. Contrary to what some may think, athletes also suffer from
such things as confidence issues, low self-esteem, and body image. Performance anxiety and burnout are
other common problems faced by many athletes, no matter how talented they are.
Depending on the situation, a sport psychologist might work with athletes one-on-one or in groups.
Teams, for instance, will often benefit from group therapy, since the members of the team must work
together in order to win.
A sport psychologist might use a number of different methods to help athletes who need to overcome
certain problems. For instance, they will often lend a non-judgmental ear to frustrated and overwhelmed
athletes; sometimes, just the act of talking about certain negative situations can be all that's necessary to
overcome them. Most times, however, a sport psychologist will offer advice and guidance on how to
overcome these problems. He may recommend a little rest and relaxation for the burnt out athlete, or he
might teach an overly anxious athlete several different relaxation exercises to perform before each game
or match. He might teach an athlete visualization techniques or how to tune out distractions.
Some sport psychologists might also work closely with once enthusiastic athletes that have suffered
injuries as well. Depending on the severity of the injury, a sport psychologist may attempt to help a
recovering athlete segue back into his career with as little stress as possible. Some athletes don't have
this choice, however, and they may need the help of a sport psychologist to help them deal with the fact
that they may not be able to play their sport with as much talent and drive as they had at one time.

Why Do We Need Sports Psychology?

Sport psychology can be used to help understand what motivates athletes and what makes them perform
better. Professionals in this field are very knowledgeable and compassionate regarding the challenges and
pressures that most athletes face today. Athletes that take advantage of counseling from a sport
psychologist will often be better contenders and have more fulfilling careers

Where Do Sports Psychologists Work?

Sport psychologists typically work in facilities that cater to and accommodate athletes of all different
shapes, sizes, and ages.
High schools and colleges might hire a sport psychologist to talk with and counsel their student athletes,
for instance. Some sport psychologists may even work exclusively with professional sports teams and
other professional athletes. Sport psychologists can also usually find employment at hospitals, physical
rehabilitation centers, and gyms.
Sports psychologists can also choose to open their own practices, much like most other psychologists. The
Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) provides an excellent resource section on professional
development.
Qualified sport psychology professionals in three categories:
1. Clinical/Counseling Sport Psychologist - One thing that differentiates clinical/counseling sport
psychologists from educational and research sport psychologists is their background in general
psychology and competence in working with psychological issues. They are able to work with both
performance and psychological issues. These sport psychologists, if appropriately licensed, may
also work with athletes with clinical concerns, such as substance abuse, eating disorders,
depression, anxiety, etc.
2. Educational Sport Psychologist - often come from a sports sciences or physical education
background and focus on teaching the correct principals of sport and exercise psychology to
athletes and coaches for performance enhancement.
3. Research Sport Psychologist - study topics in sport and exercise psychology, often teaching and
conducting research in the field. Typically, they are in academic positions at colleges and
universities.

Sports psychologists may also choose to specialize in a particular area. Some examples of major
specialties within this field include:
 Applied sports psychology focuses on teaching skills to enhance athletic performance such as
goal setting and imagery.
 Clinical sports psychology involves combining mental training strategies from sports psychology
with psychotherapy to help clients who suffer from mental health problems including eating
disorders and depression.
 Academic sports psychologists teach at colleges and universities and also conduct research.

What Are the Pros and Cons of a Career in Sports Psychology?

Like all careers, sports psychology has its advantages and disadvantages. Before you decide if this career
is right for you, spend some time learning more about sports psychology. Explore your options by taking
an introductory course on the subject and weigh your choices carefully before you decide.

Benefits of a Career in Sports Psychology

 Sports psychologists often work as part of a collaborative team.
 There are diverse career paths and specialization opportunities (i.e. teaching, youth sports, and
professional athletics training).
 It can be a fun, challenging and exciting job.

Downsides of a Career in Sports Psychology

 The emphasis on teamwork may be difficult for independent-minded individuals.
 Requires extensive education, training and experience.
 Opportunities are generally more limited for bachelor's and master's degree-holders.