SPORTS 'N SPOKES

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Head Games

Being physically prepared is an important key to gaining that competitive edge, but training your brain may be just as vital.

"Chris" uses a wheelchair due to a recent spinal-cord injury. He is 16 and lives in Smalltown, U.S.A. Chris wants to get involved in a sport where he can have fun, participate in healthy activities, and be around people who can share experiences, problems, and their time. Unfortunately, Chris discovers there are no sports programs for people with disabilities in his area, so he and his parents work to organize a group of young people with disabilities.

Chris's mom is a third-grade teacher and begins researching wheelchair sports in order to help this group have a fun and healthy activity. Thus, the "Smalltown Rollers" begin their careers in wheelchair basketball. The newly formed team practices at the local gymnasium with enthusiastic coaches by their side.   

Chris's story is common across the U.S., as parents, therapists, and teachers work to help people with disabilities grow in their experiences and opportunities. Unfortunately, most of these volunteer "coaches" do not have experience in sport instruction/training. They do all they can to help their players learn the game, sending them to camps and clinics, but lack the experience to help their teams rise to the next level.

This article addresses mental training techniques for athletes and coaches at any level of participation. The principles can help individuals not only grow in their experiences but also maximize their sports enjoyment at any skill level.

Sports psychology, according to Wikipedia, is the study of a person's behavior in sport. It is also a specialization within brain psychology and kinesiology that seeks to understand psychological/mental factors that affect performance in sports, physical activity, and exercise and apply these to enhance individual and team performance. It deals with increasing performance by managing emotions and minimizing the psychological effects of injury and poor performance. Some of the most important skills taught are goal-setting, relaxation, visualization, self-talk, awareness and control, concentration, confidence, using  rituals, attribution, training, and periodization.

The first sport psychologist is said to have been Norman Triplett, a North American man from Asia, born in 1861. Triplett's first finding was that cyclists ride faster in pairs or a group, rather than going solo.

Carl Diem, a German, founded the world's first sport psychology laboratory in 1920. Five years later, A.Z. Puni opened a lab at the Institute of Physical Culture in Leningrad, Russia. Also in 1925, Coleman Griffith opened the first sport psychology lab in North America at the University of Illinois. He began his research in factors that affect sport performance in 1918, and in 1923, offered the first-ever sport psychology course.

Anyone Can Benefit

We've seen the slumped shoulders and downcast eyes of players who miss a free throw that would have tied the game or who turn the ball over at a critical juncture. The athletes' negative body language mirrors the negative thoughts and emotions in their minds, which can lead to a further drop in performance.

Sports psychology plays a vital role in the successes and failures of any athlete, and understanding the mental game can contribute to an increased enjoyment of an activity. Learning the fundamentals of sports psychology is not just for athletes who aspire to participate in international events—it's for anyone whose competitive nature drives them to be the best they can be no matter their level of involvement.

Check out the complete article in the May 2010 S'NS.

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