Sport Psychology Essentials

Achieve the mindset of a superior athlete with Sport Psychology Essentials! This book is packed with research-based strategies for developing the mental skills necessary to reach your sport performance goals. Coeditor Dave Collins, PhD, is an expert sport psychology practitioner who has been a consultant to more than 80 world-class athletes or Olympic medalists as well as professional teams and performers. Coeditor Andrew Cruickshank, PhD, has also consulted with multiple elite teams and athletes, including world-class athletes and Olympic and Paralympic medalists. The coeditors’ blended approach emphasizes the importance of integrating mental skills training into a holistic training approach to achieve competition-day success. Sport Psychology Essentials will teach you to do the following: Practice your mental skills during physical training so you are prepared to bring an elite athlete mindset to the arena. Assess your athlete’s or team’s mental skills. Use advanced sport psychology techniques that fit your unique personality and lifestyle to improve motivation, confidence, imagery, self-regulation, and concentration. Enhance the performance potential of your team through leadership, team culture, and shared mental models. Implement plans for optimal team and individual performance using program development, motor skills training, talent development, and strategies to persevere through slumps and adversity. Success Story sidebars reveal how real-life teams, athletes, and coaches have succeeded in using proven mental training techniques. Learn foundational sport psychology concepts by exploring the scientific background behind mental strategies in athletic performance. Sport Psychology Essentials will help you unlock your sport performance potential and stay ahead of the competition.

This text provides an introductory look at the opportunities and goals in the field of sport and exercise psychology.

Sport Psychology: The Basics provides an accessible introduction to the fundamental ideas at the heart of Sport Psychology today. It examines the links between sport participants’ behaviours, their personality and their environment to identify the factors which affect performance. Exploring theory and practice, it uses case studies to illustrate how key areas of theory are applied within a sport psychologist’s practice, answering such questions as: What is sport psychology and what do sport psychologists do? What factors affect sporting performance? Which psychological characteristics are associated with achievement in sport? How can performance be improved by using theory? With a glossary of key terms, suggestions for further study and ideas for improving performance, Sport Psychology: The Basics is an ideal introduction for students of sport and coaches who would like to know more about how sport psychologists address questions about human behaviour in sport.

Sport Psychology: A Complete Introduction is designed to give you everything you need to succeed, all in one place. It covers the key areas that students are expected to be confident in, outlining the basics in clear, jargon-free English and providing added-value features like summaries of key experiments and even lists of questions you might be asked in your seminar or exam. The book uses a structure that mirrors the way sports psychology is taught on many university courses, and is split into theory and application. Chapters in the first part include coverage of essential personality traits, including mental toughness, confidence, motivation and character. The chapters on applied sports psychology cover topics such as assessment, working with groups, skills training, coping techniques and working with coaches and children. There is also substantial coverage of measurement questionnaires, skills and routes to practice. Sport Psychology employs the 'Breakthrough Method' to help you advance quickly at any subject, whether you're studing for an exam or just for your own interst. The Breakthrough Method is designed to overcome typical problems you'll face as learn new concepts and skills. - Problem: "I find it difficult to remember what I've read."; Solution: this book includes end-of-chapter summaries and questions to test your understanding. - Problem: "Lots of introductory books turn out to cover totally different topics than my course."; Solution: this book is written by a university lecturer who understands what students are expected to know.

This volume reflects state of the art and controversial discussions on the topic of athletic expertise based on a particular theoretical point of view or empirical research. It exposes the reader to different perspectives and allows the reader to consider a variety of sub-domains within the topic of sport expertise. Thus, this volume contributes updated knowledge, a more holistic perspective on this body of knowledge, and a comprehensive understanding of the topic of athletic expertise.

Understanding and applying psychology within youth sport settings is key to maximising young athletes’ enjoyment, wellbeing, and sporting performance. Written by a team of leading international researcher-practitioners, this book is the first to offer an evidence-based introduction to the theory and practice of sport psychology for children and young athletes. It provides practical strategies and guidance for those working in or researching youth sport, demonstrating how to integrate sport psychology effectively in a variety of youth sport contexts. With real-life case studies that demonstrate psychological theory put into practice, it discusses a wide spectrum of issues faced by young athletes and recommends the best approaches to addressing them. Key topics covered include: the cognitive, social, and physical development of young athletes optimising fun, motivation, and self-confidence enhancing young athletes’ relationships with coaches, parents, and peers managing stress, injuries, and transitions effectively developing talent and long-term engagement in sport encouraging organisational culture change. The most up-to-date and authoritative guide to sport psychology for young people, this is essential reading for anyone working in youth sport.