Sports psychology

1. Sports Psychology
& The Psychology
of Athletic fitness
By Qurrat-ul-ain
Sports Psychologist & Therapist
MS, ADCP, Member of APA (American
Psychological Association)
Pakistan Sports Board Islamabad.

2. DEFINING
SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

3. We are focusing on Physical performance …. neglecting Mental health (Emotions and behavioural
regulation)…….. And spiritual health as well (Feeling of Peace, hopeful, comfortable & more
connected to higher power)

4. Sports Psychology is a study of athletes and their
behaviors
• Sport psychologists have two objectives in mind when it comes to
sport psychology.
• First, to understand how psychological factors affect an individual's
physical performance and
• secondly, to understand how participation in sport and exercise
affects a person's psychological development, health, and well-being.
• Sport psychology
(self-confidence, motivation, emotional control, and concentration
(Focusing)

5. Sports psychology
Sport psychology deals with the increase of performance by the
management of emotions and the minimization of psychological
effects of injury and poor performance.

6. Emotions
Emotions are biological states associated with the nervous
system brought on by neurophysiological changes variously
associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioural responses, and a
degree of pleasure or displeasure.

7. Excitement Disgust

8. Feeling of Disgust
Anger

9. Psychological Health?
• Coaches/ Trainers and managers need to understand the value of
mental health and wellbeing Psychological
Health
Satisfactory level
of Emotions
Cope with the
stressors of life
Work productively
Behavioral
Adjustment
individual realize
his/her abilities
Game is 50% Physical and
50% Psychological

10. • Anxiety and Negative Stressors
Anxiety and negative stressors are the most common psychological
issues that accompany athletic injury.
1- Training Issues (Change in setup/coach, training content)
2- Interpersonal conflicts with teammates/coach.
3. Lack of family support.
4. Domestic Problem.
5.Fear of Injury etc

11. • Hajra Khan ( Captain national football team)
As a sportsperson, she shares, it is tough to
cope with pressure ‘with all the nerve-
wrecking routine, as being the best’ comes
with its own share of challenges, mentally and
physically.
• When an athlete experiences physical injury,
there is often a team of medical personnel
including doctors, trainers & physiotherapists
employed to ensure a speedy recovery.
• However, when an athlete experiences a
mental health issue, the treatment process is
not quite as similar.
• She also highlights a number of aspects that
lead to stress, depression, anxiety and other
psychological issues in athletes, that come
from competing on a daily basis.
Player Hajra Khan

12. A number of athletes end up committing suicide
due to severe stress, majority of these cases
remain unreported due to the religious and
societal stigma attached with suicide, few
reported cases include Pakistan’s fastest
woman athlete Mubeen Akhtar who committed
suicide after facing sexual harassment, followed
by the death of Halima Rafique, a cricketer from
Multan, who committed suicide by drinking acid
due to extreme stress. Earlier this year, former
international cricketer Aamer Hanif’s son
committed suicide due to anxiety and
depression after non-selection in an Under-19
cricket team.
Among professional athletes,
data shows that up to 35% of
elite athletes suffer
from a mental health crisis
which may manifest as (game
pressure)stress(Before game),
PTSD (after game),
eating disorders, burnout, or
depression and anxiety.

13. Burnout in athletes
• As the pressure to win increases, athletes and coaches spend more time
training and feel more stress—which sometimes leads to overtraining and
burnout.

14. Difference between Attitude and behavior

15. Player Attitude

17. What to do is to adopt Coping Skill
• Encourage Coping skills that
influence positive behavioral
and emotional outcomes
such as anxiety reduction
and positive outlook.
• Psychological skills may be
used individually (Behavioral
problem, attitude,
emotional problem) or in a
combined session
(Motivation, team building,
team energizing strategies)

18. Be aware of your physiological,
psychological, technical,
strategic, and environmental
conditions.
Understand your strength and
weakness for skill development
Understand your emotional
states for effective emotion
management
Understand your arousal level
for appropriate arousal
management
Examine your goal for enhancing
motivation

19. The power of your mind
Visualization
• Visualization is the mental
rehearsal technique which
involves the
• athletes creating a picture in their
minds. This may be either an
internal or external picture.
• In order for visualization to work
effectively, the person must
firstly, believe that
• the strategy is effective and
secondly that it is a skill which
requires practices, patience and
time.

20. Mental
Techniques
• Parking thoughts
• This exercise is effective
in eliminating negative,
intruding thoughts.
• Use visualization to
identify unwanted
thoughts, write it down
on paper, and place this
paper in some other
place(parking).
• Upon completion of the
performance, the athlete
can go back and deal
with the issue by
“unparking” it.

21. Right and left
brain power

23. Rotation
• Right (Clk) or left brain (Anti)dominant

24. Thank
you
I hope You all understand the
meaning of Psychology in Sports
world.
(Any Question)