There are two principle areas of concern in sports psychology 1) performance enhancement, 2) clinical issues.
Performance enhancement involves acquiring psychological skills & methods
for attaining top performance. Arousal or attention control are common, relaxation,
goal setting, and imagery.
Relaxation skills enable one to reduce anxiety and focus attention.
PRM is one of several techniques, involves a systematic focusing of attention on
different muscle groups. This provides a relaxation response that makes good use
of breathing and muscle control.
Self-talk - pertains to what athletes say to themselves around performance.
Analysis here can reveal cognitive distortions, irrational thoughts, as well as positive
thought patterns. Self-confidence can be built or shattered by self-talk.
Albert Ellis promoted rational emotive behavioural therapy (REBT) which works to eliminate irrational thinking such as: absolute thinking (all or none), overgeneralisation, & catastrophisation. He also suggests that those who avoid exercise have low tolerance for frustration and often fear of failing.
Imagery - is used to promote positive states of mind and clean execution in performance.
internal imagery- involves first-person active internal perspective.
The psychoneuromuscular theory suggests that this type of imagery
stimulates the neuromuscular pathways.
external imagery - involves third-person, passive, external perspective.
Goal setting - is an important aspect of sports psychology where different styles of orientation have different goals.
Ego-orientation focuses on success and failure while task orientation
focuses on task mastery and satisfaction arising from a sense of competence.
outcome goals - concerned with the results of a performance
performance goals - relative to one's own goals where success
might be evident in light of relative performance.
process goals - places emphasis on specific aspects of the performance