“Sports psychology can help athletes looking to improve their focus and confidence” (Smith and Kays). Needless to say, confidence and focus alone can completely change the outcome of an athlete’s performance. “The mental skills in excellent performance are not just a single purpose activity” (Smith and Kays). Elite athletes recognize the many factors that are involved in sports psychology. “Sports psychology ranges from detailed attention to perceptual processes, to mental skills training, and a broad investigation of perfectionism, injury and eating disorders” (Smith and Kays).
The subfield of Psychology that is best suited for providing psychological insight that will contribute to me liking sports is developmental psychology. Developmental psychology is the study of human development that is important to psychology. Biological factors do have a great influence on the way we are, but other critical contributors which underlay in developmental psychology are anthropology, sociology, education, and history. When we change and grow it is the process of developmental psychology that helps us to better understand this. This study seeks to understand how and why we change throughout our life.
This theory differentiates athletes by the type of goals they have; the task-oriented goals (related to mastery) and ego-oriented goals (related to social comparison). The two theories will be evaluated in terms of strengths and weaknesses. The need achievement theory is a theory that integrally links the wish to achieve with success. McClelland and Atkinson (1961) stated that human motivation is the balance between motivation to succeed and fear of failure. Some athletes are motivated to participate because they want to succeed, but others are motivated to avoid participating in order to avoid failure.
He gives us a specific example saying “If we think an exam or puzzle will be difficult, it often will be” (Jabr). And he also states that “Studies have shown that something similar happens when people exercise and play sports: a large component of physical exhaustion is in our head” (Jabr). He is saying that our mental state is very important in using energy. The strong features of the authors argument is his quantity of evidence that he is using. And the evidence has to also has to be empirical as well.
Sage in 1977 stated motivation as being 'the internal mechanisms and external stimuli which arouse and direct our behaviour'. Similarly, Kent in 1994 defined motivation as: 'the internal state which tends to direct a person's behaviour towards a goal'. Both these definitions state that, in effect, motivation energises us and has a direct influence on our behaviour, not only in sport but in all aspects of life. In the world of sport however, motivation can influence learning, decisions and general performance. There are many different theories concerning motivation, however, it is generally agreed that the subject of motivation is divided into two factors: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Specificity- This is when you improve the range of movement for a specific joint, you have to perform exercises that involve that joint action. Progression- This is when you gradually increase the amount of exercise done to benefit the athlete Overload- Is when an athlete performs a mobility exercise and stretches to the end of their range of movement. The load must be progressively increase as training develops, overload can be progressed by increasing the resistance, number of repetitions, sets of exercise or intensity. Recovery- Rest is required for the body to recover from the training Tedium- When training gets boring this can lead to poor performance, so activities should be interesting. Put the principles into context, by explaining how they would be used in designing a training programme for a named athlete.
Motivation will help induce an individual to think "If I am unable to do something or if I cannot, then I must put forth an effort and try." This in return will make a person do whatsoever it takes to obtain success. Motivation is in every function of one’s life. This paper will describe how personal history and emotion act as sources of motivation, explain the relationship between motivation and behavior, and clarify how motivation is exhibited in behavior. History Personal history in regards to motivation includes the environment and individuals in which a person is raised.
Nature is suggested in the instinct theory where aggression is a characteristic shared by all humans as an innate biological drive which is expressed through sport. As a part of this drive theory is frustration, caused by the prevention of us achieving our desired goals, which in turn contributes to more aggression. Similarly, over arousal can be the cause of aggression, with some people naturally phased by the circumstances of sport they become aggressive as a release for their over arousal. The opposing debate of nurture is demonstrated in the social learning theory by Bandura; this study showed that we learn from others seen as role models (significant others) and replicate the behaviour they show. This would mean that aggressive behaviour displayed at elite level would be observed by supporters (particularly the youth) and the same misconduct would be expressed by them, although they see themselves as being the elite performer they idolise, not as being unsporting.
Unfortunately, in highly-trained individuals, such as the athlete in question, this result may be difficult to obtain. However, studies have shown that strength training, altitude exposure and training in a warm or hot climate are three factors which have the potential to further improve a highly trained endurance athlete’s RE (Saunders, 2004). 1. Strength Training – specifically plyometric or explosive strength training, aims to enhance the muscles ability to generate power. To accomplish this, the stretch-shortening cycle is emphasised – exercises such as bounding, leaping and hopping are utilised.
This will later enable you to participate in harder workouts and exercise in the future. Muscular fitness is required in independent daily activities and unplanned emergencies. Fitness training tones one of the most important muscles, your heart. Both activity and fitness positively impact your physical and psychological well-being. How much activity is needed?