Performance
Sport Psychology is the domain of psychology that studies the behaviour of individuals who are involved in competitive sports and fitness.
The athlete is considered to be a constantly motivated, powerful and highly functioning individual, hence he is involved in activities that are highly demanding. While athletes possess a variety of characteristics that make them high-performing individuals, they are no less human than everyone else. They are equally or not more vulnerable than other individuals, face mental issues from time to time, and need to cope with a demanding pressure environment and extreme emotional and situational changes.
Behind every successful athlete, there is a team of experts. We have found that for an athlete to be successful they should be supported by experts in domains relevant to their sport like a coach, a sports medicine doctor, a physiotherapist, or a psychologist among other professionals.
Performance Psychology is the practice of Sport Psychology to fields related to performance but not necessarily to sport.
Life is a constant alternation of moments of performance and moments of rest. There are moments of performance, where we are called upon to achieve a goal, and moments of rest, where we recover until the next moment of performance arise.
Every important activity for someone in life requires performance. Cooking a meal, cleaning the garden, understanding an interesting book, playing a board game with a friend or participating in a team or individual sport, delivering an assignment to school or work, having a project meeting with a colleague, having a meeting to hire an executive or be recruited into a company, maintaining a healthy partner relationship, raising children. These are all daily processes of varying levels of pressure and demand that require preparation, effort, mental capacity and are all about achieving a specific goal. These are all moments of performance.
Anything one does that matters to them and aims to achieve a desired result contains the element of performance. Professionals who are accompanied by a significant performance element are company directors and executives, musicians or actors, military/police/firefighters/rescuers and generally people in professions who are required to make important decisions, perform under pressure and achieve the best possible outcome for themselves and their teams.
From a different perspective, stress is a condition that is expressed either in terms of simple symptoms or in terms of psychopathology and as the professional demands and the rhythm of modern life are constantly increasing, so is anxiety. It is a condition that affects a large percentage of the population and is translated as burnout, anxiety attacks, panic attacks, generalised anxiety disorder among other manifestations of anxiety.
A Performance Psychologist works with:
The professional
who seeks to increase productivity in their lives so that together they can understand stress and its components, use it to their advantage and manage any negative effects. In addition, the Performance Psychologist applies the principles of Sport Psychology regarding leadership, cognitive skills, goal setting and cognitive-behavioural techniques to help professionals reach their maximum potential.
The athlete
Establishes trust and communication and assist the athlete in resolving mental, communication or organisational issues that might occur during their career. It is the Psychologist’s responsibility to ensure that the athlete has the emotional stability, rational and coping strategies to deal with the demands of their sport.
The organisation
The psychologist works together with the organisation to establish healthy and productive communication between the company, the team, the leaders, the coach and educates on leadership principles that will enhance the quality of the work.
The family
The environment of the family can be the strongest motivator or the heaviest burden. The way that the family (parents, wife, spouse e.t.c.) interacts with the athlete can be either facilitative or debilitative to performance and that depends on the magnitude and the quality of support given. The Sport Psychologist supports the significant others of the athletes in terms of discussing how they can promote the best balance between family and sport that will lead to a happy and productive athlete that sets goals and achieves them not only in sport but also in life.
Contact a Performance Psychologist:
- If you want to learn more about how stress affects your life and performance and how you can manage it.
- If you want to acquire mental skills (mental imagery, self-talk, relaxation techniques) that will improve your performance.
- If you want to develop leadership skills, discipline, emotional stability and mental resilience.
- If you want to develop a mindset that will make you more effective in your life, profession or sport.
