Sport And Exercise Psychology: A Critical Introduction

and false assumptions about the discipline can arise. At a more practical level, coaches
and managers are usually eager to obtain advice from psychologists about practical
strategies for forging team spirit in their players (see also Chapter 7). Finally, there is an
increasing demand for the services of sport and exercise psychologists in translating
certain mental skills displayed by top athletes (e.g., goal-setting, coping with pressure)
into practical life skills for business people.

Research

Research in sport psychology is extremely important because it can provide evidence-
based answers to a number of practical questions. For example, is there a link between
the way in which athletes prepare mentally for a competition and how they perform in it
subsequently? What are the greatest mental challenges of a particular sport? Do
relaxation tapes really work for athletes? What is the most effective way of promoting the
benefits of physical activity among a sample of sedentary young people?
So far, we have seen that the work of sport and exercise psychologists falls into three
main categories. Nevertheless, as I explained earlier, these categories overlap
considerably in practice. To illustrate, consider the types of professional services which
sport psychologists provide at the Olympic Games. In a fascinating paper on this issue,
Terry, Hardy, Jones and Rodgers (1997) summarised their experiences as psychology
consultants to the British team that competed in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. As
you can see from Box 1.5, these services represented a mixture of performance-
enhancement and educational activities.

Box 1.5 What do sport psychologists do at the Olympics? The British

experience in 1996

Four sport psychologists accompanied the British team to the 1996 Olympic Games in
Atlanta (Terry et al., 1997). These people performed two roles—namely, team
psychologists (who worked exclusively with athletes from a specific sport) and “HQ
psychologists” (who worked in the Olympic team

headquarters). In general, the former role was proactive and involved the provision of
direct advice to athletes on performance enhancement The latter role was mainly reactive
and involved helping people to adjustment effectively to prevailing circumstances.
Within these roles, certain critical junctures were identified as being important for the
delivery of psychological services.

• Before departure
  Team psychologists helped athletes and coaches to prepare for the competitive
  environment by refining their pre-performance routines and by working on such
  issues as relaxation, concentration and effective teamwork. “What if?” training, or
  simulated preparation for various types of adversity, was used regularly.


• Psychological work at the holding camp (HQ)
  Most of the British team’s athletes were based in a holding camp in Tallahassee

Sport and exercise psychology: A critical introduction 20