Sports Psychology Degree Online
What is Sports Psychology?
Sports Psychology is the study of the psychological and mental factors that influence and are influenced by participation and performance in sport, exercise, and physical activity, and the application of the knowledge gained through this study to everyday settings. A person with a sports psychology degree is interested in how participation in sport, exercise, and physical activity may enhance personal development and well-being throughout the life span. Sport psychologists are also involved in assisting coaches in working with athletes as well as helping improve athletes’ motivation.
Why is Sports Psychology Important?
The increased stress of competitions can cause athletes to react both physically and mentally in a manner that can negatively affect their performance abilities. They may become tense, their heart rates race, they break into a cold sweat, they worry about the outcome of the competition, they find it hard to concentrate on the task in hand.
This has led coaches to take an increasing interest in the field of sport psychology and in particular in the area of competitive anxiety. That interest has focused on techniques that athletes can use in the competitive situation to maintain control and optimize their performance. Once learned, these techniques allow the athlete to relax and to focus his/her attention in a positive manner on the task of preparing for and participating in competition. Psychology is another weapon in the athlete’s armory in gaining the winning edge. Getting an online sports psychology degree ensures that you will find employment among elite athletes and fitness trainers.
What Can You Do With A Sport Psychology Degree?
Teaching/research in sport sciences and working with athletes on performance enhancement. Teaching/Research in psychology and also working with athletes. Providing clinical/counseling services to various populations, including athletes. Health promotion and working with athletes, but not necessarily directly in sport psychology. Youth sport organizations may employ a sport psychology professional to educate coaches about how to increase the satisfaction and enjoyment of participants and about coaches’ roles in promoting development of self-esteem.
Sports Psychology Graduate Program: MA, MS, PhD
Sports Psychology online graduate programs involve an understanding of the various psychological/mental factors that affect performance in sports and exercise. Those who earn a masters (MS) or PhD degree in sports psychology can become sports psychologists, prevention specialists, enhanced performance trainers, faculty members and more.
Athletes Can Benefit From Sports Psychology
If you are serious about your mental game it is time to get beyond the hype. The key to improving psychologically is having valid and reliable information about mind-body processes that drive peak performance. Being labeled or told what to do is not a science-based approach to sport psychology. Most coaches, athletes and even sport psychology practitioners have at best limited insight into key neuropsychological factors that underlie performance tendencies, especially during critical moments during competition. Before you can benefit from mental training you need to know about key measures that have been shown to affect performance profoundly. Science-based mental training is predicated on knowing as much about athlete functioning as possible. A sports psychology program will offer a degree in the science of helping athletes achieve their highest goals. Improving mentally takes more than just visualizing or engaging in self-talk, interventions that many athletes are not even capable of engaging in effectively. Your so-called Athlete’s Profile determines to a large extent what mental training method will work best for you. Importantly, you also need to know if an intervention is really working and how. In order to experience evidence-based sport psychology you need to be tested and observed during practice and competition while being monitored. You must go beyond antiquated approaches to mental training, into the realm of sophisticated, cutting-edge sport psychology if you want to know where your mental game stands and how to get to the next level.
Sources:
http://www.wcupa.edu/_Academics/sch_cas.psy/Career_Paths/Sports/Career07.htm
http://www.gradschools.com/Subject/Sports-Psychology/342.html
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/psych.htm
http://www.americanboardofsportpsychology.org/