How a team operates and performs has been a major talking point amongst psychologists for years. Putting together a successful team is a great challenge across all sports for coaches, managers and players. Sir Alex Ferguson has put together numerous teams during his time at Manchester United, many of which have been successful, but is […]
Why do expert athletes often appear to have ‘all the time in the world’ to respond in highly time constrained sports, while novices appear challenged by rapid speed of play? This distinction between experts and their less-skilled counterparts has been at the heart of discussion in the sports perception literature in recent years and the […]
There are many types of motivation in sport all of which can play a major role in how we handle the pressures and stresses of competition. One theory of motivation that is extremely relevant to competitive sport and is often seen effecting sporting performances, is the theory of approach and avoidance motivation. Approach and avoidance […]
Introduction Firstly I should state that I’m not a mental health expert. I have however studied sport and exercise psychology, therefore the effects that sport and exercise have on our mental attitude (and vice-versa) is of immense interest to me. As a result I’m going to approach this article from an exercise psychology perspective and outline […]
Reflection on performance plays an important role in athletic development and adherence to training programmes. Therefore our reflection needs to be accurate and informative for athletes, coaches and sport psychologists. Franks and Miller (1991) highlighted that coaches can accurately remember only 40% of performance. This statistic may shock some coaches, and this is not unique to […]
There is a theory (K Anders Ericsson) that it requires 10,000 hours of ‘deliberate practice’ or 10 years (1,000 hours per year, 2.75 hours per day!) to become an expert in a given field. Although there are big holes in this theory (namely individual differences in acquiring skill and the environment that the learner is […]
How it is that an expert footballer can play a perfectly weighted 50 yard pass cutting through the oppositions defence when under immense pressure. Swap them with a considerably less skilled player like myself more often than not I would play a ‘wrong’ pass or get caught in possession. Questions are asked as to what […]