Distractions In Sports Psychology

Sports is more mental than physical. Many people would argue against this statement, but in reality, athletes are always thinking about what are they going to do next and how it is going to effect the end result. There are many different factors that can influence the athlete mentally. Athletes perform better with the mental skills they gain from sports psychologists. All athletes need sports psychologists to help them perform to their greatest ability by learning stress reliever methods, focusing on the right things, and building a belief system. Athletes can win with sports psychology when they apply it.
Athletes need sports psychology so they can cope with pressures from the sport. Athletes are under extreme pressure to succeed; they can
Athletes are going to have internal and external distractions. Athletes can’t be swayed by these distractions they need to stay focused or they will fall short. Athletes often focus on the wrong thing when they are playing a sport which causes them to not perform to their greatest ability. When a basketball player steps up to the free throw line and his team is one point away from winning, he will say in his head, “I need to make this free throw or I will fail.” this will result in the wrong place to focus.Focusing on the wrong thing can become a distraction for the athlete and this will make it harder for the athlete to succeed at what they were striving for. The basketball player should instead say, “by making this free throw, I can become better”. Athletes need to focus more on how they are going to succeed instead of what they are doing that will hurt their performance. When a basketball player doesn’t make their free throw when they were striving so hard for, they will get frustrated and find it harder to play well. If athletes learn how to control their thoughts and how to reduce distractions around them so they can enhance their performance. Sports psychologists can help enhance athletes performances by training them on what to focus
Injuries affect athletes not just physically, but mentally too. It can be mentally challenging for an athlete to come back to the game when they know they used to be so good and now they have to gain it back. Injuries can be devastating to their success and can often lead an athlete to have a mental roadblock when they try to come back after an injury. Athletes belief system is often shot down by the discouragement they’ve had because of the injury. Their belief system is made up of thoughts they have about themselves. Sports psychologists can help these athletes to fight through their roadblock by helping them gain back and build up their belief system. In order for athletes to come back to a sport after an injury with confidence, they need to gain back their belief system. Sports psychologists can help build up athletes belief systems by encouraging them and by helping them block out negative thoughts and adding positive thoughts. When there are more positive thoughts than negative thoughts it helps the athlete to believe they can do better and help them with their comeback. The best person to do this job is a sports psychologist because they know exactly what the athlete needs to help them come back to the