Sport's Psychology

It's really interesting to learn about the ways athletes attempt to control their brain and emotions before big games/meets. I've heard that mental preparation is often just as important as physical training, if not more. It's incredible to me the impact our involuntary bodily changes--such as a change in adrenaline, for example-- can have on our performance. Thanks for sharing this post; maybe I'll try some of these techniques before my bio exam tomorrow to be best "prepared."

Very cool blog. I definitely agree with your analysis of how one can be over prepared, under prepared or prepared. it truly is amazing how you can picture doing something correctly and our muscles will "remember" this way of doing things, thus making it easier to actually do this task well. The human body is amazing and sports shows us just how complex it is. It is very important to use this strategy in any sporting activity and even like the comment before me said, in things such as tests. A lot of people psych (pun intended...) themselves out and get their heartrate way too high. I admire those who keep calm in pressure situations, and those are the people who usually are most successful. Good blog...I enjoyed reading it and commenting on it!

It's interesting that it is not beneficial to be overprepared. I have never thought about it that way but I do agree that it is more beneficial to be calm and focused rather than too excited and make silly mistakes due to our heightened adrenaline.

Im sure this research was very applicable to your life. Although I do not know whether it has been proven or not, it seems if you believe you will do well in an athletic competition you usually do. I would like to hear more whether believing you do well causes you to do well or if its just a correlation. There is probably not a sport in the world like gymnastics in terms mental preparation. The best gymnasts seem to be able to stay focused after they fall and continue on performing.

I can strongly agree that making mind prepared is very important before competition. From my experience that I was on the swimming team, my coach also told us to calm and concentrate before starting the competition. I am so surprised to know there is a biological reason for it. I feel this technique is important not only for sports competition, but also for taking exams!

I can strongly agree that getting mind prepared before competition is important. From my experience that I was on the swimming team, my coach told us to calm and concentrate before starting competition. I am surprised to know there is a biological reason for it. I think this technique works not only for sports competition but also for taking exams!

I completely agree with what you said, and I find it easy to relate to myself. I was a cheerleader and at some competitions I would be over excited or very nervous. It did not help my performance. I would usually go early for a tumbling pass or something because my adrenaline was so high. This would then cost my team points, unfortunately.

I really like your post and can relate to it. In high school my coach always told us to relax and visualize ourselves making plays when were riding the bus to away games.

That is cool to have your perspective on this blog. Many people do not get to meet with a sports psychologist despite playing sports all of their life. Much of what you said translates into other sports as well. For example, in baseball I have come up to hit in many key situations. Usually I am able to reach that equilibrium like you stated but there are time when I become too nervous and need to settle myself down. Also, I like to visualize how I will hit a certain pitch if it is pitched in a certain location. This helps settle myself down and mentally prepares myself.

It's interesting to hear this from the perspective of a gymnast. I have raced in nordic skiing for the past 5 years and i can say there is truth to your perspective. However, I would say that in an endurance sport like nordic skiing, there are many more factors that effect your performance and that may outweigh your "preparedness." From experience, i can also say that while may "psyche yourself out" and have a bad start, you then have 20 minutes of skiing your brains out and keeping your head in the game. This takes mental strength, but the length gives you an advantage to have more time to adjust.

Yes, it seems that there absolutely is an optimal threshold. I'd be curious to look at comparisons between sports to find what the optimal arousal is for each one. I could imagine that in some sports having a higher set point for arousal would be more beneficial, while in others it could be detrimental. I could imagine that for something requiring a short burst of energy like sprints having a higher level of adrenaline could be better. This was a really interesting write up and it's fascinating to see how people use techniques such as visualization across disciplines/treatments in psychology.
VIsualization really helps me remember combinations in ballet that I would otherwise forget, and I've noticed the more anxious I am, the poorer I perform.

Very interesting post. I find it weird that adrenaline is not useful in these situations, I would think that the extra energy would be helpful but I guess it must have its downsides. Preparation must be different for each sport, requiring different levels of focus and energy.

This is really interesting. I would've never thought that by simply imagining doing something well would actually make a difference when you go out to do whatever it is that you'll do. Is the optimal arousal state the same across all sports or do some sports require a higher/lower arousal state?