The term ‘muscle dysmorphia’ was coined in 1997 (Pope, Gruber, Choi, Olivardia, & Phillips, 1997) to describe this new form of disorder, commonly referred to as ‘reverse anorexia’, and now more commonly ‘bigorexia’. The causes are not known but two key ideas revolve around bigorexia as a form of obsessive compulsive behaviour and secondly, the […]
Margins between success and failure in elite sport become smaller every year (UK Sport 2014). Consequently, performing under pressure can be extremely demanding for certain athletes (Hanton et.al. 2005 cited by Thelwell et al. 2010), as they understand the difficulty to ascertain success over rivals. Despite having the ability to perform skills effectively, and having […]
As an avid football fan myself, I often wonder if all the effort I put into supporting my team from the stand really does help them to win the game. Therefore, I thought that I’d take a look at the phenomenon of the ‘home advantage’ (HA) and crowd support in professional football. The most common […]
Millions of young children participate in sports across the world, from joining a football team or training camp, finding a love for running or a natural ability to stand and move on a surface other than normal walking ground. At a grassroots level the focus is on the “FUNdamentals of learning” (Sports Coach UK, 2015), […]
Every range and level of sport demands correct and functional management in order to achieve a positive success rate. All athlete’s strive for excellence, where they will face stressors such as difficult relationships between coaches-athletes, injuries, difficult opponents and the scrutiny of media along the way (Nicholls A. R., Polman, R., Levy A. R., Taylor, […]
We would be naive to think that stress does not exists in most of our daily lives as well as in our athletes’ lives. The naive part of this aspect is that we throw our athletes into highly pressurized situations without the tools to develop their coping and resiliency. We spend countless hours on technical, […]
Introduction The 4th October saw over 23,000 runners take to the streets of Cardiff for the annual half marathon. Although the final figures for this event aren’t published, the 2014 statistics show that of the 21,124 runners, 52% were over 35 years of age and 48% were aged 35 years or younger. The role of […]
THEORY: Pressure is something that we handle in two ways. One is positive, the other is negative. Performers who handle pressure in a positive fashion are more likely to enjoy success. Performers who handle pressure in a negative fashion will not succeed. Pressure is something that we should enjoy. PRACTICE: Identify different ways in which […]
THEORY: Positive self-talk relates to the ability to overcome negative thinking. Those who practice positive self-talk are more likely not to suffer from negative thoughts. Positive self-talk allows performers to be more relaxed and focused. Negative thoughts will increase anxiety levels. In reverse, positive self-talk creates happiness and excitement that lead to successful performance. PRACTICE: […]
Psychology is undoubtably a fascinating area that has many characteristics which can enpower people in both thought and emotion. Examples of extreme psychology can emanate from happiness, excitement and joy to fear, sadness and depression. Therefore, positive and negative aspects of psychology are world’s apart in extremity. Aruably, these extreme emotions occur less often than […]