Sport Psychology Blog

Peak performance requires confidence , but it also requires the motivation to tolerate effort. It is easier to tolerate effort if you expect that a game is going to be very challenging physically and mentally. If you know that a game will be challenging, then you will be more prepared for the most challenging moments in games. You will be able to better tolerate the hardest moments in games and maintain your best effort compared to if you aren't expecting a challenge and difficult moments come as a surprise to you. This is where overconfidence can hurt you. If you aren't braced properly for challenging moments in games because you were overconfident and thought the game would be easier, then you're more likely to have a bad attitude and give less effort, and therefore your performance will worsen. On the other hand, some athlete know that an upcoming game will be very challenging and that they'll need to give their best effort to have a chance at winning, but they may

One of my biggest pet peeves in sports is when athletes/teams don't "finish the job." Here is what I mean by this. Many times, you'll see a team make a good play, but then they get too excited, overconfident, and satisfied with themselves. This causes them or lose focus and/or motivation, which then causes them to not finish the job. Here are many examples of this happening: A tennis player breaks his opponent's serve, but fails to hold his serve the very next game. A football team causes a turnover, but fails to score on their possession. Or a football team scores a touchdown, but lets the opposing team score on their very next possession. A basketball player makes a three pointer, but lets his opponent score a three pointer on the very next possession. All of these examples show athletes/teams not finishing the job. Their good plays are canceled out by making bad play right afterwards. There's not much benefit to making a good play, if you're goi

You hear a lot about momentum in sports, but what does momentum actually mean? Some people seem to think that momentum is an actual thing that carries teams to victory. These people make it more than it actually is. In reality, momentum is just another word for confidence . More specifically, I see momentum as perceived confidence from an outside perspective.  For example, when a football team ends the 2nd quarter with 14 unanswered points to take a 21-7 lead into halftime, the announcers may say that this team "has all the momentum going into halftime." All this means is that this team should be confident. Their success (14 unanswered points) gives them a reason to be confident going into the second half. It is this confidence, not some magical momentum, that helps teams continue to play well. And for the team with "no momentum," their lack of confidence is what usually causes them to keep losing. The key thing to remember is that momentum is somewhat subje

Hello, I'm here with ballroom dancer, Darla Davies to talk about her journey from hip replacement surgery to athletic victory. Specifically, we're going to talk about how she used sport psychology to help her overcome her hip injury and regain her success as a dancer. Let's get started! Hello Darla, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background and dancing career? Davies : As a young girl, I was horse crazy, and my life was consumed with equestrian competition. When I was 40, I watched a Professional Latin dance competition on TV and I became mesmerized by the energy, the athleticism, and the costumes. I wondered if that was something I could do. I started taking lessons at a local dance studio and eventually met Professional American Smooth Champion Jim Maranto who became my teacher, my dance partner, and eventually my husband. Together we have won many championships over the last 15 years, including two United States Pro Am American Smoo

Moneyball isn’t just a book about baseball statistics. It’s much more than that. It is a book about using reason and science to improve the quality of sports, from the management of teams, the evaluation of players, the use of strategy, to the development of athletes. For much of the history of sports, these questions have been answered by the conventional wisdom of athletes and coaches. Moneyball shows that when you take a deeper look at these questions, and try to answer them more scientifically, you can find better answers. So how does Moneyball use reason and science to find these better answers? Here are some examples. First of all, Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s think deeply and ask “what is the ultimate objective of baseball?” Their conclusion is that simply scoring runs and keeping your opponent from scoring runs is the ultimate objective of baseball and the way to win. From this, they try to study the game scientifically to determine what best leads to scoring runs.