Introduction to Sport Psychology

Sport psychology involves the study of the psychological factors associated with participation and performance in sport. Introduction to Sport Psychology provides a fundamental understanding of how the various aspects of psychology can be applied to sport participation. Assessment of personality types will be discussed relating to sport participation. This will be expanded to discuss motivation and leadership contribution to sport participation as well as the relationship between anxiety and arousal with respect to enhancing sporting performance. Psychological skills training will then be demonstrated, including goal setting, team dynamics, imagery, positive self-in relation to achieving peak sporting performance. Introduction to Sport Psychology provides a greater understanding of the psychological processes of individual athletes and team dynamics to enhance sporting performance.

Key Outcomes

1. Demonstrate an ability to collect and interpret sport psychology data
2. Ability to incorporate sport psychology in an athlete development program
3. Critically evaluate current sport psychology research and present this in a meaningful way to coaches

Topics

• Background to sport psychology
• Background to Psychological Skills Training
• Personality and skill acquisition in sport
• Motivation
• Exercise behaviour and adherence
• Stress and anxiety in sport
• Arousal regulation in sport
• Self-confidence and sporting performance
• Imagery and concentration in sport
• Social skills and team dynamics
• Team and individual leadership
• Coaching communication

Resources

• Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. (Eds.). (2007). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology (4th ed.). Champaign, Ill: Human Kinetics.
• Morris, J., & Summers, J. (Eds.). (2004). Sport psychology: Theory, applications and issues (2nd ed.). Brisbane: John Wiley and Sons.
• Williams, J.M. (Ed.). (2006). Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak experience(5th ed.). Sydney: McGraw-Hill.
• Burton, L. J. (2007). An interactive approach to writing essays and research reports in psychology (2nd ed.). Milton, Qld, Australia: John Wiley & Sons.
• Morris, T, Spittle, M & Watt (2005) Imagery In sport. Sydney. Human Kinetics.

Assignments

• Examination of course material
• Research report that presents the results of a sport psychology experiment conducted during the course.

Coordinator

Keane Wheeler