Sport Psychology Blog

There's been a lot of talk about the transfer portal in recent years. Ever since the NCAA made it easier to transfer schools, more and more athletes are transferring. Is this good or bad?

In my opinion, it is both good and bad. On one hand, athletes should have the freedom to go to the school that is best for them. If they have a serious reason for why they want to transfer, then they should be allowed to. No athlete should be forced to stay at a school if they have a legitimate reason to want to leave. However, this freedom has come with a cost. While many athletes have truly good reasons to want to transfer, some athletes are transferring for no good reason. And this is hurting both them and their team. Even worse, some athletes use the threat of transferring as a way to earn more playing time. This should never happen. But more importantly, young adults need to learn the value of commitment and loyalty. When an athlete signs a letter of intent and joins a college team, they are …

Crowd noise can be a big challenge for road teams. Some stadiums and arenas can be very loud, making it hard to hear and communicate with your teammates. It can also be intimidating, which can negatively affect your emotions. As an athlete, you need to know how to deal with crowd noise so you can maintain peak performance.

The first thing you can do to deal with crowd noise better is to simply prepare for it. This is why many teams practice with artificial crowd noise during the week before a big road game. This gets players used to the noise so it doesn't bother them as much on game day. It also gives them the chance to improve their communication skills. This is very important because when the crowd is loud, you need to talk loud so your teammates can hear you clearly. You don't want to waste time repeating yourself, and you especially don't want any miscommunication. If you can do this, then you'll deal with the crowd noise quite well.

However, this isn't all that…

The human mind can be broken down into two components: the mental and the emotional. The mental component of the mind can also be labeled as the cognitive component of the mind. This component consists of abilities such as concentration, rational thinking, decision making, goal-setting, working memory, stored knowledge, and intelligence. All of these abilities are very important for athletes. However, it is not enough just to have good cognitive abilities. There's plenty of athletes with very strong mental/cognitive capabilities that don't succeed very much. This is because the emotional component of their mental game isn't as good.

The emotional component of the mind consists of things such as emotional regulation, motivation, purpose, and love. These things are needed just as much as mental/cognitive skills. For instance, it doesn't matter how intelligent or rational a person is. If they can't regulate their emotions under pressure, or if they have no motivation t…

One of the most important keys to success is the ability to focus or concentrate. Every action requires you to concentrate your attention in a specific way, so it makes sense that the better you can focus, the better you can perform any action. But laser-type focus isn't all that's needed to succeed. It doesn't matter how intensely you focus on something, if this something is irrelevant to your goals, then it won't really matter. You also need a broader form of focus that helps you stay on the correct path to your goals.

To succeed, you need to be constantly thinking of what needs to be done in the present moment to help you reach your goals. You have to resist distractions and stay on task. Before you commit to a task, ask yourself, "What is the purpose of doing this? Will this help me reach my biggest goals in life?" This will help you stay focused and avoid distractions.


Once you commit to a specific task, you need to put all of your energy into it, while al…