Sport, performance and exercise psychology can be explored, tackled and taught in a variety of ways. Typically, an individual athlete might book one-to-one private consultations with a sport psychologist, whilst an athlete and their coach might book training session consultations to view and evaluate relationships between coaches and athletes. Teams and groups of athletes might prefer workshops involving both informative and practical/cooperative elements.
Sport psychology can be implemented in any way that a client thinks would be best!
Individual Consultations
The majority of sport psychology sessions will generally be private one-to-one sessions. This usually occurs when an athlete is seeking help and guidance regarding their thoughts and feelings when trying to perform at their best. Common examples of athlete troubles include lack of confidence (Lochbaum et al., 2022), dealing with pressure and stress (Henriksen et al., 2019) as well as burnout (Lin et al., 2022).
Each athlete's situation is unique and a range of factors can inhibit and enhance overall performance. A sport psychologist will try to understand each and every factor, big and small, and then attempt to locate any potential areas for improvement. A sport psychologist should spend a lot of time listening and promoting a client-led conversation. They may ask open questions and use other techniques to further discussion and build rapport with their athlete.
By the end of the first session, an athlete should feel listened to and respected. Although they may not feel as though their issues have been resolved, the initial conversation and relationship building should not be overlooked. Research has found that building rapport with athletes is essential in encouraging athlete self-disclosure (Bissett and Tamminen, 2022). This ability to open up about certain challenges allows the psychologist to further understand and gain a clearer picture of their situation.
It is unlikely that a client will leave the initial consultation with an intervention thoroughly in place, however they should feel as though a weight has been lifted from their shoulders. As the old adage states: 'a problem shared is a problem halved.'
Further consultations would then look at exploring these interventions, planning ways to implement them and then allowing the athlete to evaluate their use during practice or competition. The common denominator across all sessions would be clear and trusted communication as well as time for listening and discussions. The number of sessions required for an athlete is unique, there isn't a perfect number.
Small Group Consultations
Sometimes, an athlete might seek advice regarding their sporting relationships with there coaches, teammates or even parents. Often, the dynamics between an athlete and the people around them might inhibit the athlete's ability to perform.
Coaches and parents might be unconsciously placing stress upon their athletes and sometimes the athlete might not realise this.
It's important to understand the relationships, as autonomy can have a significant effect on a lot of psychological variables.
By working together, each person can understand the athlete's thoughts and feelings. The psychologist can then explore a variety of interventions to improve the relationships and in turn better performance.
One key variable to small group sessions is that all parties involved are prepared to engage and are willing to make positive behaviour changes.
Team Workshops
Often, some sporting and professional teams may seek professional psychological help, with concerns ranging from team cohesion (Loughead and Bloom, 2013), team building and goal setting (Jeong, Healy and McEwan, 2021) as well as leadership (Arthur and Bastardoz, 2020).
Team Sport Psychology can be tackled in different ways such as informative, presentation style sessions or even collaborative, practical workshops. A combination of both session types and also some individual sessions could be most effective in understanding everyone involved but also trying to manage the issue.
A team sport psychologist is becoming more prominant in most elite sports with numerous football, cricket and other sports teams employing them within their back room staff.
Conclusion
Ultimately, sport psychology can be implemented in a variety of ways with there being no right or wrong solution. Each intervention has its own strengths and weaknesses, and every sport psychologist works differently. It is important for a sport psychologist to understand their client's situation and structure sessions accordingly.
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