Sport Psychology
Nowadays most coaches agree that being mentally prepared for a competition is just as important as your technical and physical skills. Many elite athletes, coaches, and sport teams recognize the importance of Sport Psychology. However, some athletes and coaches still wonder about Sport Psychology and the role of the consultant.
In this section, we try to answer these questions and clarify how the consultant can help an individual athlete, a sport team, or a coach.
What is Sport Psychology?
Sport psychology is a field of sport science concerned with the psychological and mental processes that affect participation and performance in sport and exercise. It focuses on increasing performance by teaching athletes or practitioners how to manage emotions related to performance. Consultants study motivation, personality, aggression, leadership, group dynamics, ideal thoughts and feelings of athletes, etc.
What is the role of the Consultant?
The goal of the consultant is to help individuals find the mental climate that allows them to perform at their best. Consultants then teach their clients mental skills to help them achieve this mental climate (get in the ‘zone’). Some of the most important skills taught are goal setting, imagery, relaxation techniques, self-talk, attention control (focus), confidence, and pre-competition preparation.
Athletes interested in improving their mental skills in order to perform better can benefit from Sport Psychology.
An individual consulting session can help athletes or practitioners improve their focus, their motivation, their communication skills, and their leadership skills. It can also help athletes or practitioners control their anxiety and aggression in sport or exercise, develop a pre-competition preparation routine, and even improve their reaction time. Sport Psychology can also assist individuals recovering from sport-related injuries.
A consultant with whom you have a good rapport can help you deal with issues many are not comfortable sharing with coaches or trainers. An individual consulting session is a welcoming and confidential environment where you can share the mental processes that may be hindering your performance.
Sport Psychology deals exclusively with the mental skills associated to performance in sport or exercise. Sessions are 50 minutes long and the full consulting period varies according to the issues brought forward. Most issues are resolved in 4-5 sessions. The purpose of the first session is to assess the nature of the matter and discover whether you feel comfortable working with the consultant.
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in scheduling an individual consulting session or if you have any questions regarding my consulting practice.
Teams interested in improving the interaction between athletes in order to enhance the team’s performance can benefit from Sport Psychology.
Having a consultant in your team can help improve team cohesion and communication. It can help increase athletes’ awareness of their strengths and weaknesses, and help them assimilate the tactical orientations given by the coach. A consultant can also help identify the leaders and captains in a team, and the preferred feedback styles of individual athletes.
Team sessions are 1 hour long group sessions in which the consultant involves the athletes in debates about specific topic related to the team’s performance (for example, team goals, team work, communication, and motivation). Some presentations may entail a practical part which simulates mental skills the team must improve during competition. Sport Psychology team sessions can help a team set their season goals, teach athletes how to collaborate in achieving their goals, and help them understand their role in the team – on and off the sport surface. A team can also benefit from pre-competition session. Having a professional in the locker room can help athletes get in ‘the zone’ before a game. A consultant can motivate and relax each athlete according to their personal needs.
For a more comprehensive consultation, you may want the consultant to observe the team in practices and games. Team consulting can be as short as a few days (for very specific interventions), up to a full-time position for a continuous regulation of the team’s mental preparation along the season.
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in scheduling a team consulting session or if you have any questions regarding my consulting practice.
Coaches interested in ensuring their practices endorse the mental preparation of athletes can benefit from Sport Psychology. A consultant can help coaches adjust to their athletes’ preferred feedback style and, if necessary, improve their communications skills.
Coach consulting sessions are individual sessions where the consultant and the coach collaborate to optimize the effectiveness of practices in the mental preparation of athletes. Sessions may also be held with small groups of coaches from the same team. The sessions are 50 minutes long and a full consultation varies according to the needs of the coaches. It may be as short as a single meeting or up to several meetings, according to the coaches’ desire. For a more comprehensive consultation, you may want the consultant to observe the team in practices and games, which could extend the consultation period to a couple of weeks.
Feel free to contact me if you are a coach interested in scheduling a consulting session or if you have any questions regarding my consulting practice.
