Can sports psychology give you an edge?
Most athletes, particularly at the elite level will go to any legitimate lengths or try any legal technique to give them the edge in training or competition. One of the areas that has increased in popularity in recent years is sports psychology and not only has it become a huge part of modern day sport, but it has also led to a continuous debate in terms of pinpointing what precise benefit – if any – it brings to the athlete. As with everything that involves the mental aspect of sport, the biggest problem is that it is difficult to assess just how effective it is in reality. There are many examples where the work of a sports psychologist has been hailed as being instrumental in both individual and team success. As a result, many are convinced that it has a sound base and will provide athletes with the improvement they crave. On the other hand, others suggest that there is no scientific proof to show that it makes any real difference. Perhaps it is the placebo effect in operation, as athletes who use a sports psychologist improve simply because they believe a particular technique will work, or that it is a reassurance or a way of reducing anxiety. In Sports Psychology & Performance Enhancement Dr. Patrick J. Cohn tells us that:
Sports Psychology is about improving your attitude and mental game skills to help you perform your best by identifying limiting beliefs and embracing a healthier philosophy about your sport
As athletic organizations are realizing that mental health and mindset are as important as an athlete’s physical condition, there is a growing demand for Sports psychologists and they are playing an expanded, and increasingly important, role.
While that performance emphasis remains a cornerstone of sport psychology, it’s only a slice of what sport psychologists are now doing to support athletes. Their expanding roles include helping athletes navigate interpersonal issues and addressing mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders
Value of psychology is impossible to quantify
As in any walk of life there are exponents of a particular technique or approach that go beyond the limits of credibility, and sports psychology had resulted in many rather off-the-wall approaches. However, for many athletes, the discipline has become a huge part of their regime, despite the fact that the value may not be quantifiable. The dilemma is summed up by Daniel Engber in Shrinks in the Dugout; Sports psychology is more popular than ever. But does it really work? when he states:
Despite all the scientific-sounding rhetoric, applied sport psychology remains a qualitative science—more of an art form than a rigorous clinical practice. It’s not clear if mental training improves performance on the field; what evidence we do have relies more on personal anecdotes than hard data
An example of where success is attributed to sports psychology comes from the experience of baseball star, Alex Rodriguez, who has stated many times the value he places on psychology. He has lauded the benefit of therapy in helping improve his game in general and overcoming disappointing performances as well as helping deal with other aspects of his life. There are also high profile cases where the work of a sports psychologist has failed to deliver the anticipated success. In April 2014, Dr Steve Peters had come to prominence for helping Liverpool FC to the brink of Premier League success, and was instrumental in Ronnie O’Sullivan reaching the World Snooker Championship Final. However, both suffered dramatic collapses that saw their hopes of glory crushed. Later that summer he was involved with England at the World Cup in Brazil, where the team failed to deliver on expectations. The difficulty in quantifying the results of a sports psychologist prompt Engber to pose a question that as been asked many times:
The distinction between superstition and sport psychology turns out to be rather narrow. Mental trainers push their clients to develop systematic ‘pre-performance routines’, including relaxation breaths, focusing exercises, and self-talk. But what’s the difference between a psychological routine and a mystical one?
Few studies have been able to measure the effectiveness of psychological intervention so it is worth looking at research conducted by BBC, and presented by sports psychologist, Prof Andy Lane, which illustrates that at least one approach is successful in improving results. The study set out to establish if sports psychology techniques such as ‘self-talk’ and ‘visualization’ could improve performance in high-pressure situations in life. These situations include, job interviews, driving tests, school examinations, business deals, as well as sport.
Study outlines value of intervention
The experiment was conducted in May 2012 when 44,000 people took part in a test on a BBC website, which involved their performance being measured before and after they played a high-pressure online game. The game involved participants being asked to click on numbers 1 to 36 in ascending order as quickly as possible against a computer component. They were measured after being instructed to use one of the techniques of ‘self-talk’, ‘visualization’ and ‘if-then planning’. The results of the experiment were published in March 2016 and these psychological techniques helped in improving performance levels during high-pressure situations. The study indicated that while practice was instrumental in improving performance regardless of intervention, it pointed out that
results indicate that performance improved significantly following each of the three psychological skills (imagery, if-then planning, self-talk)
The authors state that the findings highlight the benefit of psychological interventions in dealing with high-pressure situations, not only in sport, but in all walks of life, as they conclude that:
Results offer support for the utility of online interventions in teaching psychological skills and suggest brief interventions that focus on increasing motivation, increased arousal, effort invested, and pleasant emotions were the most effective
Threat vs Challenge State
When athletes are facing a high pressure situation they usually going into 1 of 2 states – Threat State or Challenge State. Understanding what makes athletes cope or panic at key moments in competition is the million dollar question in sports psychology.
In A Theory of Challenge and Threat States in Athletes by Marc Jones, Carla Meijen, Paul Joseph McCarthy & David Sheffield the authors state that
Increases in epinephrine and cardiac activity, and a decrease in total peripheral vascular resistance (TPR) characterize a challenge state and increases in cortisol, smaller increases in cardiac activity and either no change or an increase in TPR characterize a threat state. Positive and negative emotions can occur in a challenge state while a threat state is associated with negative emotions only. Emotions are perceived as helpful to performance in a challenge state but not in a threat state. Challenge and threat states influence effort, attention, decisionmaking and physical functioning and accordingly sport performance
In a challenge state blood is delivered to the brain more efficiently and is better for concentration and decision making which helps physical movement and enhances your technical skills. In a threat state decision making is more difficult, you are not as in control of you emotions and your physical and technical performances will suffer. Athletes can move across both these states within a competition. Psychological strategies can be developed by athletes to help promote a challenge state and in turn improve performance. Reappraising a situation to turn a negative into a positive can often help promote a challenge state and improve performance. Sports psychologists also often promote the use of visual imagery where athletes replay positive images of past performances to help move from a threat to a challenge state.
In competitive sport, being mentally ready is now considered to be as important as being physically prepared. Sports psychology is not intended to and nor does it replace the physical and technical preparation you need to do to compete at your best but it does help put all that preparation into practice in a way that helps you reach optimum performance.
What is Metrifit?
Metrifit helps coaches get to know their athletes, and helps athletes get ready to perform. It is a simple, intuitive and effective approach to monitoring looking at how the ‘small picture’ of an athlete’s daily habits, shapes the ‘big picture’ of match day performance.
Whether your use of Metrifit is to have a highly accurate reflection of acute to chronic work-load ratios to make training/competition decisions, to empower student-athletes to be reflective and take charge of their Health & Wellness, or as a basis to engage in conversation with your Student-Athletes thereby demonstrating you care about them as individuals, Metrifit simply works. It meets kids where they reside – on their mobile phones and through technology and is quick, easy, and habit-forming to use.
Why not have a look at our Metrifit Ready to Perform product and gain insight on the physical and mental state of your athletes through our daily wellbeing questionnaire? To find out more visit our Metrifit Product Overview page or contact at for a free demo. You can also register your team and use Metrifit for 14 days for free.
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Kevin Schultz
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References
Could sports psychology work for me? | BBC
A growing demand for sport psychologists by Kirsten Weir
Sports Psychology & Performance Enhancement by Dr. Patrick J. Cohn
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