You are standing at
the foul line, preparing to shoot for a very important point, when you
find yourself thinking, "It really wasn't fair the way my teacher
treated me in class today."
You find yourself constantly expecting failure or
disaster in your
athletic events. You expect to perform poorly because deep down
you
feel that you're really not very good at the important skills required
by your sport.
You are in the huddle at the end of practice, when
the coach says, "We all have to work harder tomorrow if we hope to be
prepared to defeat this next opponent". You think to yourself, "I
know he really means me. He's never satisfied with my play, no
matter how hard I work."
You feel so tired or bored or distracted at practice
each day that you're no longer sure why you even play this sport
anymore.
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If you are familiar with any of the situations or
feelings above, it doesn't mean that something is
wrong with you, or that you need
your "head shrunk". It simply means that, like all of us, you are
sometimes affected by thoughts and feelings that prevent you from being
fully productive.
I wrote this course because I believe that young
people today are subjected to a tremendous amount of stress connected
to their athletic lives. If we desire to be fully productive
human beings, reaching the fullest limit of our potential on a regular
basis, it is important that we identify those stressors, work out a
plan to handle our stress, and carry out active strategies that allow
us to be our best as often as we can be. I think you truly
want to be at your best
more often, and I'm very hopeful that the information and strategies
presented here can help you do that.
-------------------------------------------
From this location, you will travel to links in the
various areas described below. As you go to each section, you
will be asked to add certain things to your Notebook. The quality
of this notebook and your sincere effort to apply what you have learned
in this course to your own athletic performances will be the primary
basis for your grade. I realize this is highly subjective, but I
believe the level of your dedication will be obvious to both of us,
making your grade self-evident. Read the instructions for each
section, and proceed accordingly.
Complete the sections in
numerical order, so the flow of information will be logical for
you.
Introductory Section
[Before you begin, it would be a good idea to print out this handy
CHECKLIST
to help you keep track of what
you have done, and what you need to do.]
(1)
Outline for this Course
This page describes
the basic requirements and details of this class, and gives you
information about materials, rationale, and procedures that will be
helpful to you. It also includes certain "rules" you are expected
to abide by while a student in the class. Please read this page
carefully, acquire the materials you need, and then move on to the
Overview.
Theory Section
(2)
Overview of Sports Psychology
This page gives you
the basic reasons why Sports Psychology has the potential to be a
significant influence in our society and in your personal
performance. It tells why we have a course in Sports Psychology,
how we expect it to be helpful to you in becoming a better athlete and
person, and discusses some of the issues in Sports Psychology today.
(3)
Vocabulary
Every field of study
has terminology that helps us understand its meaning and purpose.
Psychology has a relatively short history, but because of its
complexity, there are numerous words and phrases that have special meaning
in this context. Factor in the applications that are specific to
sports, and you have some very interesting word usage. I've
included many common terms on this page, which will hopefully help you
understand this field better.
There are 4 basic
families of thought about psychological processes that have become the
models around which other theories have been built. The mainpage
for this section gives you an overview of these models, then directs
you to further study that will describe each model in fuller
detail. Pay close attention to the course requirements listed
with each model.
Application Section
(5)
Practical Applications
Now comes your chance
to apply the theories you have learned to your own athletic
performance. In this section, you will encounter a variety of
activities, worksheets, and exercises that are designed to help you
achieve your goals. Some items may require you to see your instructor for a
copy of the worksheet or case-study, but most are right here on the
website. Please try to keep your process in the order it is
presented here.
[A]
|
First,
you will analyze the PROBLEMS or
difficulties in your athletic life that you want to work on.
|
[B]
|
Next,
you need to set your GOALS and prioritize the
Changes you want to make. |
[C]
|
Now,
you need to explore the STRATEGIES that are
available through activities and worksheets.
|
[D]
|
If you need some help with PERSEVERANCE when this process gets a little
difficult, these case studies should help.
|
Evaluation Section
(6)
Evaluation
At the end of the
course (and your current athletic season) you will need to evaluate the
effects of your learning on your performance. Hopefully, it will
demonstrate that the strategies you chose and the effort you gave were
well worth your time. Come see me, and ask for the Evaluation
Report.
Acknowledgements: First, thanks to the students who
expressed an interest in this type of course, without whose enthusiasm
I would not likely have expended so much time and effort; Secondly,
thanks to Mrs. Held for having faith in my "gut feelings" and
confidence in my ability to construct a valuable learning experience;
Third, thanks to Harvey Dorfman, whose fabulous books (The Mental Game of Baseball,
Coaching the Mental Game,
The Mental ABC's of Pitching,
The Mental Keys to Hitting)
reminded me of the importance of a sensible application of psychology
to sports at any
level (one which I had begun to let slip away); Fourth, to Dr. Kay
Porter for her very positive Cognitive/Humanistic guidebook The Mental Athlete, which
helped reinforce and crystallize many of the strategies found here; and
Fifth to Dr. Karen Lee Hill, whose book Frameworks for Sport Psychologists
was very helpful in creating the "models" section of this site. I
strongly encourage any person interested in sports psychology to check
into the above books for more detailed and scientific information than
that presented here. I'd also like to thank in advance those
student-athletes who will soon benefit from this site for being willing
to try something very unique, and to those coaches and parents who may
find themselves bemused at times by the direction these
student-athletes will take, but will ultimately see happier, healthier,
more productive youngsters.
All quotations and examples taken from
the above are copyright to those individuals, and are used here in a
completely non-profit way only for education and the improvement
of the lives of
my students. All original material is copyright to this author,
and may be used with permission.