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Positive Psychology in Sport – The Psychology of Athletic Excellence

 

Positive psychology  in sport has been defined as the science of happiness and strength (Carr, 2011). While conventional psychology traditionally focuses on human weakness and pathology, positive psychology focusses on those things in life that make life worth living. Rather than attempting to replace conventional psychology, positive psychology compliments it. If has its foundations in the science of human strengths, happiness and wellbeing.

The three pillars of happiness are pleasure, engagement and meaning. The extent to which we experience each of these reflects on the levels of satisfaction we have in our lives. It is a fascinating field, and one that is well worth the effort of spending some time studying, but here we are going to focus on just one aspect of the topic; how it applies to elite sport.

In fact, the aims of positive psychology have been fundamental to sports psychology for many years before the concept of positive psychology were first published by M Seligman and M Csikszentmihalyi (2000). For the last thirty years or so sports psychologists have studied the qualities that make a great athlete and how performance can be improved, and their experience has helped many individuals and teams hit peak performance in both professional and amateur sport. Sports psychologies have even extended the boundaries of this approach beyond sport, applying it to fields such as performance arts, business and military. The approach is often referred to as the “Psychology of Excellence”.

The Psychology of Athletic Excellence

While physical activity is universally acknowledged as being beneficial to our health and wellbeing, in competitive sport the focus is on high levels of achievement and athletic excellence. It is here where sports psychologists focus on the psychological factors that are all so important in achieving peak performance and which also draw on many of the elements pf positive psychology. Some of the basic tenets of positive psychology include: “happiness, hope, optimism, wellbeing, resilience and flow” (Fleming, 2006) and the application of these to optimal functioning. In other words, it is about how people can feel good and thrive applying their natural strengths so as to make the best of themselves. These two aspects of psychology have so converged that the frequently field is now referred to as “positive sports psychology”.

Positive Sports Coaching

Positive sports coaching is simply the application of the science of positive sports psychology to coaching. Much has changed over the years; in the bad old days the approach to coaching tended to be tough and unforgiving; little attention was paid to the emotional processes that went on in the minds of the athletes. We now know that not only was that approach was badly informed, there is clear evidence that it was inefficient, ineffective, and potentially destructive to the long term well-being of the athlete. While resilience is still a huge factor in achieving athletic excellence, so too are happiness, hope, optimism and wellbeing.

Athletes and teams that are coached according to the findings of positive sports psychology perform at a higher level, exhibit greater resilience, optimism and emotional wellbeing. The result is better performance under pressure and an ability to cope far better when faced with setbacks. Not only are they able to deal with failure in sport, they are able to apply the same coping strategies to their daily lives.

A personal pep talk

What athletes tell themselves can also have an impact on their peak performance. Positive self-talk is highly effective, but isn’t always easy. As we have said already, optimism is a fundamental tenet of positive sports psychology, but often our inner voice takes on a pessimistic tone, especially in the face of a recent setback. If you find you are having those negative thoughts, talk to your sports psychologist; there are many well established ways of dealing with them and changing them into positive ones.

Positive psychology for peak performance

Achieving peak performance involves both the body and the mind. For athletes already in peak physical condition the deciding factor in achieving peak performance is their mental condition. Peak performance implies being in a state where everything flows, in other words being in the zone. Often it can be transitory, a moment or period of exceptional functioning. The English bowler Chris Broad was in it when he took eight South African wickets for 15 runs. He described how the ball suddenly felt smaller in his hand, that time slowed down, than he felt supremely confident, invincible; and he was.

Positive sports psychology can make all the difference between sporting success and sporting excellence.

 

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    References

    Carr, A. (2011). Positive psychology: The science of happiness and human strengths. Routledge.

    Fleming, A. W. (2006). Positive Psychology “Three Good Things in Life” and Measuring Happiness, Positive and Negative Affectivity, Optimism/Hope, and Well-Being. Retrieved from The College at Brockport: State University of New York: http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1031&context=edc_theses

    M Seligman and M Csikszentmihalyi (2000). Positive Psychology: An Introduction, Springer

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