The game of mind and body

Understanding the role of a sports psychologist

“Sports do not build up a character, they reveal it.” – John Wooden.

In the end, it all comes down to who you are and what you stand for. How many times in our life, do we stop everything. Make our own world come to a halt to understand what we stand for what, and what really matters to us. It is very crucial that we do so. Because it is necessary to try and make our own identity in the world we often get so lost in.

Apart from being lost, there are so many people out there who give up their passions just so that they can have a more structured, mediocre life. I personally find this a waste, because imagine wanting to do this one thing and having to do this other thing you never ever wanted to do. This is why we lose so many good sportsmen.

These decisions are not just made later in life when we cross twenty, they are also made when we are in school. When we leave a sport because our teacher and our parents asked us to focus on our studies. When we let go of our passions for the sake of a few examinations that do not matter.

This is where I feel we lack.

That we should start having a little more faith in us and our guts and where they can lead us.

Because we can be fascinated too by our very own potential.

That is why I think it is necessary that we have a trained specialist guiding us through these decisions in our life.

And when that life decision revolves around sports, then sports psychologist is who we should turn to.

It is important that we understand the role and the job of a sports psychologist so that we can identify our problems and get the proper guidance for them.

Apart from this, if you do pursue any sort of a sport, you encounter different kinds of problems that require special attention, special need.

Something even as minor as feeling nervous before a game can be a big issue later, but you can always approach a sports psychologist for something like that and you can have professional help for the problem.

Let us understand the job of a sports psychologist better so that we have a better overlook of sports psychology.

“Sports psychology is a hybrid field in which scientific theories about human perception, memory and motivation are applied in physiological contexts including biomechanics and kinesiology. As with other psychological fields of study, extensive education and training is required, usually including a doctoral degree and several years of postgraduate training.” – Dr Sari Shepphird. With that, we understand what is the meaning of sports psychology. It is a simple game of analyzing the mind and the body and how their connection works. The job of a sports psychologist is definitely not an easy task. They come across various difficult tasks in their day to day life. Let us see what are some of these tasks.

Dealing with mental health issues: It is very obvious, that being a psychologist, in the end, mental health is your forte. And you have to help others overcome it and understand it. When I talk about mental health-related issues, we all understand that it is way bigger than we think of it to be.

One of the many specific types we see in sports psychology is the feeling of incompetency and self-doubt. Many players are not confident and they mess up even before the match begins. Another thing is feeling nervous. It is natural to feel nervous before a match begins.

But feeling it in an extremity is not natural. Some people have a nervous breakdown right before the match and they are never able to do what they set out to do because of these feelings. That is why it is necessary to have a sports psychologist look after these things and help these people overcome such issues.

Performance-related issues: Another hard task of a sports psychologist is to help players overcome their fears of their performance.

Some feel too much of the jitters before going up on the field, and some feel after. Because of the way they had been on the field. Many players do one wrong thing during a match and then assume that that is the end of the line for them.

They become very unfaithful with themselves and they often even leave the sport or something. That is when a sports psychologist comes and makes them understand what is better and what isn’t.

Visualization Techniques: Sports psychologist also have to help players visualize the match and foresee how the match is going to play out in their head.

This is done because the player then knows what to expect and when and does not freak out on the field because he has already anticipated it.

Counselling: Sports psychologist also have to provide counsel to the players who are not playing because of some physical injury and have been made to sit on the bench.

These players need a lot of attention because they go through an internal battle within themselves and thus require help and assistance to overcome it.

Pressure: Another important task of a sports psychologist is to help the players overcome the pressure they feel. Not just before a match but overall. With all the tension and pressure that builds up, it can be hard to go through it alone.

Sports psychologist help in such cases as well. They give you various techniques and provide counsel so that you can overcome this and go ahead and do your job well.