Doug T's Essay

Many people believe that sports only require physical assets such as strength and quickness. That was my mission in going to Boston and studying sports and society, to figure out the importance of the mental side to sports and how sport psychology helps in the development of it. By doing so I had the opportunity to talk with Boston Universities Sport Psychologist Adam H. Naylor and how he approaches this.
In sport psychology one of the first roles is to develop effective responses to the challenges of sports. Pretty much one needs to be able to keep their cool in pressure situations, and this will help an athlete prepare their selves. In sports, an athlete can have all the talent in the world, but won’t be able to pursue the next level without confidence. By nurturing the confidence necessary for success, this can help an athlete tremendously in excelling in a sport. Every coach at one point or another has said practice hard because you play how you practice. Well this is one hundred percent true, and sport psychology actually works on improving the quality of an athlete’s practice in the long run improving their game work. For instance in hockey if one is conditioning, their legs are shaking, their skates feel like they are about to slide out from under them, everything is starting to go blurry, mental toughness has to kick in and boost them through this gruesome situation.
A long term goal of sport psychology is to nurture persistence and motivation throughout a season or career and develop cohesive teams with effective leaders. Unlike physical training sport psychology mentally trains athletes to step up and unite. If one is a leader, this will help dig up that quality in them, and even if one isn’t a natural leader, it can help an athlete step up to the plate. Most athletes receive injuries throughout their career and that is perfectly normal. One of the thoughts that goes through an athletes head is the fact that they will be unable to continue training and lose everything they have. This is a very stressful situation coming from experience, but a athlete needs to be able to manage the stresses of injuries. This is a point covered in sport psychology. The last role is something that many athletes forget to do because they are worried about working hard and not making mistakes. That is to have fun, because a athlete having fun is a athlete at their best in my opinion, and they make sure that they cover this in sport psychology.
In achieving the mental toughness in sports, there are ways to do so and skills that will aid one along the way. By goal setting an athlete can help their selves in figuring out where they are going or want to go in the future. Productive daydreaming can also help by picturing what it is they plan on doing such as imagining make a big play in a game on a game day. Self talk is necessary for instance if one makes a mistake, they can’t get down on their selves all game long or they will continue to make mistakes. They have to realize everybody makes mistakes and pick themselves up. An athlete needs to figure out relaxation techniques which work with the mind and body. Everybody is different so routines vary from everybody, it is the athletes job to figure out what brings them into their comfort zone.
Sport psychology has been a subject that has had my mind racing for a long time. I never realized how important mental toughness is in sports such as hockey or football, because it would seem that if one is strong and quick there isn’t any other factors that would come into effect in the performance of an athlete. I was sorely mistaken, now in understanding sport psychology it has made me realize what the difference is between a good athlete and a great athlete.