At the present time I am a Masters student studying Sport and Exercise Psychology and therefore I have had very little experience in delivering sport psychology support to athletes. This is because in the words of one of my lecturers, “as a Sport Psychologist you will be privileged enough to provide support and advice to […]
There are many physical and psychological benefits of exercise, so it might seem paradoxical that there is also a risk that, at really high levels, excessive exercise may produce negative effects, including an unhealthy addiction to it. What is Exercise Dependence? A psychologist called William Glaser was the first to differentiate between a negative addiction […]
Home advantage has been a widely researched subject area, and it is an area in which more and more research is conducted as we aim to investigate what it is about our ‘Home’ stadiums/crowds that seem to have so much influence over a team or individual’s performance, compared to not competing at home. Throughout the […]
A definition of home advantage describes it as a phenomenon in which the home teams in sport win over 50% of games played under a balanced home and away schedule (Courneya & Carron, 1992). The existence of home advantage in team orientated sports has been established in baseball (Adams & Kupper, 1994), American football (Pollard, […]
Last year several newspapers reported the failure of a randomised controlled trial to identify any additional long-term benefit of ‘facilitated exercise’ over and above conventional care (such as counselling and medication) for people with depression (Chalder et al., 2012). These findings were reported with dramatic headlines such as ‘Exercise “of no benefit” in fight against […]
Every athlete is aware that there are risks that are associated with sports. Sprains, strains, fractures, and other general aches and pains can go hand in hand with being an athlete. However, one other common and dangerous injury that is beginning to receive more attention is a concussion. Concussions can be sustained in any area […]
I had never really given much thought to football warm-ups. The process I believed was quite simple. After you have sent the goalkeeper with the goalkeeper coach (or with a substitute depending on the level), you set about preparing your players physically for the game. There was the psychological aspect of course – to “mentally […]
It has often been said that the most important thing children gain from sport is enjoyment. However, youth sport additionally plays a huge role in the personal development of children and provides valuable lessons and life skills. Life skills are defined as “ranges of transferable skills needed for everyday life, by everybody, that help people […]
In sport, aggression is a characteristic that can have many negative as well as positive effects on performance. Aggression is defined as “any form of behaviour directed toward the goal of harming of injuring another live being who is motivated to avoid such treatment” (Baron & Richardson, 1994). Most people view aggression as a negative […]
In my opinion the most important trait for a coach to understand is confidence. This includes both self confidence and the ability to help players find confidence within themselves. When a coach is confident in him/herself and what he/she does that confidence will be transmitted on to others. Think about how often you have seen […]