subject: Tasks Performed By A Sports Psychologist [print this page] Psychology is one of the widest fields of study that provides graduates with various avenues for finding fulfilling careers. Sports are one of these career paths that offer challenges as well as opportunities. Athletes, both men and women, are faced with different situations that may affect them either physically or mentally. To tackle some of these problems, a sports psychologist is always on call to help the athletes.
Most of the time, sports men and women are faced with competition. This could lead to stress as a result of pressure and the desire to win. Such conditions could affect the athlete's performance; therefore the services of a sports psychologist come in handy at this stage. His duties involve counseling the athlete and preparing him or her to be focused on the competition and shelve other issues.
In the sporting environment, athletes are prone to injuries that could threaten their careers. In cases where an athlete's career is affected by an injury, it is a sports psychologist's task to assist the injured athlete to adjust to a new situation. This could be by recovery training through physical therapy and coping with being benched for the first time.
Self confidence is one of the most important aspects in sports but not all athletes are born with it. This can therefore be instilled by a professional to bring about performance and perseverance during competitions. Self confident athletes are able to intimidate opponents and achieve their goal which is, winning. A professional will therefore train athletes on various ways of boosting their self confidence during competitions.
All sporting activities are governed by rules and regulations that need to be followed. Athletes are therefore trained to follow these rules lack of which could lead to punishment. Psychologists in the sporting front are therefore assigned the task of instilling self control and discipline. Sometimes, anxiety could also reduce the performance of an athlete. Psychologists usually apply relaxation techniques to train athletes on controlling these emotions.
For these tasks to be performed well, the psychologist salary plays the largest part in determining the effort put into the work.It is therefore clear that, a sports psychologist has other numerous tasks to perform other than dealing with personal problems.
Another task performed by a psychologist in the sporting environment is to ensure that there is commitment on the part of the athletes. Sporting events such as basketball and soccer require team work as well as individual effort to win. Players need to show commitment to work together through training and communication during competitions. It is the job of a psychologist to ensure that these tasks are performed by the athletes.
