Sport Psychology Blog

One of the biggest sources of motivation for athletes comes from haters. Athletes love proving people wrong. When an athlete is overlooked, doubted, or disrespected, they often feel angry, and they use this emotion to fuel themselves to work extra hard to succeed. When they succeed, the satisfaction of silencing critics feels great. Whenever you need some motivation, think about times when you were overlooked, doubted, or disrespected. For example, you could think about the time you were cut from a team, or you could think about when someone laughed at your dreams.

However, you need to be careful about using this kind of motivation too much. If the chip on your shoulder is too big, you may become a bitter person. Not only is this not good for your mental health, but it can also hurt your relationships with others. People don't like being around angry people. Also, this type of motivation isn't ideal for performance in games because it can increase nervousness and recklessness. …

Some of the best advice I can give to young athletes is to build a solid foundation for future success. A solid foundation (like with a house), allows you to build an advanced game that is resistant to things that can hurt your athletic career, such as slumps, injuries, burnout, and team drama. A solid foundation raises your ceiling for improvement and helps you have a longer athletic career.

Here are the characteristics of a solid foundation for athletes:
An athletic, healthy, durable body. As an athlete, your body is your tool, so take care of it. Always be working on your fitness. Stay in shape, stay healthy, and focus on injury prevention. Use your body to achieve great athletic feats. Never have your athleticism or durability let you down. This is arguably the most important aspect of a solid foundation for athletes.Great technique. Proper technique is so important for future success. A certain technique may work when you're a kid, but it may not work when you're older. Lea…

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is one of my favorite theories of motivation because it encompasses all the types of motivation as well as tells which ones offer the most happiness and how to reach them.

According to Maslow, higher needs can only be reached when lower needs are first obtained.

The base of the hierarchy consists of basic physiological needs such as food, water, and warmth. Without these you cannot survive, so you should acquire these needs before striving for higher needs.

Above physiological needs lies safety needs such as security and protection. You cannot reach for higher needs if you feel unsafe and afraid of things like murderers, thieves, and natural disasters.

After basic physiological and safety needs are met, you can begin to reach for needs of belongingness. This is the motivation for intimate relationships with friends and family. It is the desire for a sense of love and belonging to a group.

Above belongingness is esteem needs, which is the motivation to feel good …

Here are two attitudes on sleep as it relates to sports:
#1: Sleep is very important for athletes. It helps your body and mind recover, and it is needed for peak performance. Athletes should get 8-10 hours of sleep every night.
#2: Sleep is important but it also takes time away from training. Losing hours of sleep is worth it if this makes you more productive throughout the day. 

Most people I know seem to agree with attitude #1. However, I've recently read about Kobe Bryant's tendency to wake up very early in the morning (usually around 5 am, sometimes earlier) in order to squeeze in another workout into the day. Kobe's attitude was that since he couldn't balance basketball, family, and sleep all together, he choose to sacrifice sleep. Looking at Kobe's career, it looks like this attitude was beneficial for him. But is it beneficial for everyone? Is the extra training worth the decrease in sleep? At what point is it not worth it?

These are questions you need to answer…

I greatly enjoyed reading this book! It is technically a sports science book, but the author, Jeff Bercovici, makes it fun and easy to read and understand. Not only this, but he makes the book applicable to everyone, not just for elite athletes. I learned so much from this book. If you apply the principles taught in this book, you will drastically improve your training, performance, and athletic longevity.

The whole book is about answering one question: how can athletes extend their playing careers? Bercovici answers this question comprehensively in 10 chapters. Here are some basic principles that I’ve learned from the book:

A long athletic career, extending into your late thirties, is all about maintaining health and performance. Athletes are often forced into retirement because either they lose their athleticism, their overall performance decreases, or they begin suffering too many injuries. Everything in this book is meant to help athletes maintain their athleticism and/or performanc…