Origin and Development of Sports Psychology
Origin and Development of Sports Psychology
Abstract
From the initial essays written by Pierre de Coubertin on development of sport psychology in 1913 that spawned from his early study of the English Education System where he began to create his philosophy of the significance of character building through sport (Kornspan, 2007) to the father of sports psychology, Coleman Griffith’s attempt to build a scientific training program with the Chicago Cubs professional baseball team in 1938 (Green, 2003). Sport’s psychology has continued to grow on an international basis and its fundamentals are expanding into all areas of life in the form of performance psychology.
Keywords: Sports Psychology, Applied Psychology, Performance Enhancement and Zone
In today’s world of sports virtually every professional team, division 1 university teams and many of the top individual professional sports stars all have sports psychologists on staff. Our society in United States is sports crazy. Industry analyst Plunkett Research Ltd. estimates that the U.S. sports market — including ticket sales to professional sporting events, sports related clothing to equipment sold in sporting goods stores — generates $400 billion in revenue in an average year (Voelker, 2014). Our craving for sports, however, means that the athletes we support and follow face increasing burdens to accomplish ever higher peak performances. "Everyone is trying to figure out how to maximize talent," says Scott Goldman, PhD, director of clinical and sport psychology at the University of Arizona.
That means finding an edge that goes beyond being in top physical form. Experts in the field no longer think of peak performance as a natural by-product of practice and physical conditioning, says Brown. Now they take a broader view. Instead of focusing on playing-field victories, they recognize that athletes need the same sharp mental skills used to compete successfully in business, the arts and
Abstract
From the initial essays written by Pierre de Coubertin on development of sport psychology in 1913 that spawned from his early study of the English Education System where he began to create his philosophy of the significance of character building through sport (Kornspan, 2007) to the father of sports psychology, Coleman Griffith’s attempt to build a scientific training program with the Chicago Cubs professional baseball team in 1938 (Green, 2003). Sport’s psychology has continued to grow on an international basis and its fundamentals are expanding into all areas of life in the form of performance psychology.
Keywords: Sports Psychology, Applied Psychology, Performance Enhancement and Zone
In today’s world of sports virtually every professional team, division 1 university teams and many of the top individual professional sports stars all have sports psychologists on staff. Our society in United States is sports crazy. Industry analyst Plunkett Research Ltd. estimates that the U.S. sports market — including ticket sales to professional sporting events, sports related clothing to equipment sold in sporting goods stores — generates $400 billion in revenue in an average year (Voelker, 2014). Our craving for sports, however, means that the athletes we support and follow face increasing burdens to accomplish ever higher peak performances. "Everyone is trying to figure out how to maximize talent," says Scott Goldman, PhD, director of clinical and sport psychology at the University of Arizona.
That means finding an edge that goes beyond being in top physical form. Experts in the field no longer think of peak performance as a natural by-product of practice and physical conditioning, says Brown. Now they take a broader view. Instead of focusing on playing-field victories, they recognize that athletes need the same sharp mental skills used to compete successfully in business, the arts and