Top 5 Benefits of Using Sport Psychology

[written by Amelia Potter, MSc, Sports Performance Psychologist]

Although sport psychology is an extremely young discipline (established circa 1920), a lot of athletes haven’t been educated and therefore don’t fully understand what it involves and why it is as important as it is. 

So, what is it?

Sport Psychology, the study of how psychology influences sport, athletic performance, exercise, motivation, physical activity and much more (as this article will show). However, outside of sport, athletes use the same disciplines to improve their well-being and balance in their lives. 

So, why use it?

This article will explore five of the top benefits to having a sport psych professional on board/using Sport Psychology as an athlete. 

1: Confidence 

Often, doubt is the killer of success in powerlifting. You know those sessions: you’re just not mentally there and a lift that should have flown felt like a 10kg PB. If you maintain many doubts before or during your performance, this can indicate a lack of confidence, or at least, the confidence you had at the start of training/competing has begun to drain. Confidence is a core mental game skill, because of its importance, as well as, relationship it has with most other mental skills.

2: Cope with pressures/Emotional Control

Emotional control is a prerequisite to getting into ‘the zone’. Athletes often hold very high and strict expectations of themselves, and often think others hold these expectations also; this usually comes hand in hand with trouble dealing with both minor and major errors that are a natural part of progression in sport. It is important to address these expectations and help athletes stay composed under pressure when committing errors or are nervous that they may commit errors. 

3: Focus

Athletes can get themselves to concentrate, but their focus is often displaced. What's the difference? Where concentrating is thinking about the task at hand, focussing is honing in to the right place at the right intensity. For example, an athlete may get under a new weight and yes, be concentrating on the lift, but concentrating on the fact that they have never lifted this before. Another example, A lifter may set up ready and think ‘I need to get this’, which is result-oriented with no real focus or direction. Sport Psychology aids athletes to find the correct focus and level of intensity for the skill/drill/lift that they are performing, as well as, to keep focus throughout.

4: Motivation

Improve or balance motivation for optimal performance. It is important for athletes to be able to look at their level of motivation, why they are motivated and where that motivation stems from. Some motivators are better for the short-term and others long-term, these aren’t always the same, but are important to distinguish (extrinsic, intrinsic, goal-oriented, performance-oriented, etc). Especially due to the nature of the world right now, it is a huge (but common) problem many athletes face, questioning their motivation, thinking they are lacking in motivation and not knowing what motivates them any longer. Getting behind the cognitions and behaviors of these is the first step in understanding motivation and moving forwards.

5: Managing ‘getting in the right zone’

In a sport such as powerlifting where the performance and competing aspect of the sport is so time-short and intense, finding the correct level of arousal and being able to turn that on is not easy, but is key. Sport Psychology helps to identify the level of arousal or mental activation, that is necessary for an athlete to perform his or her best. This will vary from person to person, but as the coaching relationship grows, and the sport psych is able to learn about the individual as an athlete, a good fit will be found. Feeling “hyped” and positively charged is crucial, or if calm and collected (depending on the athlete) but not getting overly hyped is also important. There is a fine line between getting hyped to lift and being able to draw in your techniques (physically and mentally) but not getting over-hyped, going ‘past the zone’ and getting ‘sloppy’.

Sport Psychology offers advancements in performance, and has been shown time and time again in research that it has a positive impact on performance in athletes, far more than just physical training alone.