Sport Psychology

Sports Psychology Scenario one: bottom of the ninth, full count, bases loaded, tied game. Scenario two: eighteenth hole, ten foot put to win the match. Scenario three: championship game, game tied, penalty kick awarded ninety minutes into the game. Three different scenarios all involving game winning situations, athletes, and pressure. Scenarios like these can occur in every sport at every level. Athletic competitions at all levels have reached new heights in almost every aspect of it. With the growing competition and talent, athletes now need both physical and mental strength to achieve their maximum performance level. Sport psychology helps athletes enhance their mental strength needed to perform better in their sport by improving their mental skills. Sport psychology is a relatively new established field in psychology. According to Jarvis, the concept of sport psychology is as old as psychology itself. The first cited sport psychology experiment was performed by Norman Triplett during the nineteenth century (Jarvis). In 1920 the Deutsche Sporthochschule (German Sport University Cologne) was the first sport psychology laboratory established by Carl Diem in Berlin, Germany (Careers in Sport Psychology). Sport psychology was introduced to the United States by Coleman Griffith. Griffith established the first sport psychology laboratory in the United States known as the Athletic Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois. Due to this, Coleman Griffith is often referred to as the “father of sport psychology” (Jarvis). In 1965 the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) was formed. A year later in 1966, sport psychologists in Chicago founded the was created (Careers in Sport Psychology). In 1985 the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AAASP) was formed. The creation of these three sport psychology focused associations sparked interest and expanded the field of sport psychology across the United States and Europe. Sport psychology is