Sports Psychology and Commitment

Sports Psychology

Sport psychology is the scientific study of people and their behaviors in sport contexts and the practical application of that knowledge. The psychologists identify principles and guidelines that professionals can use to help adults and children participate in and benefit from sport and exercise activities in both team and individual environments. There are two objectives in investigating: (a) to understand how psychological factors affect an individual's physical performance and (b) to understand how participation in sport and exercise affects a person's psychological development, health and well-being.

The sport psychology deals with increasing performance by managing emotions and minimizing the psychological effects of injury and poor performance. Some of the most important skills taught are goal setting, relaxation, visualization, self-talk, awareness and control, concentration, confidence, using rituals, attribution training, and periodization. Through the study done by the sports psychologist, the sports commitment was discovered in a deeper sense.

Sports Commitment

The sport commitment is the attitude of a person towards the sport that he/she loves. In that sport, the enthusiasts give his full pledge and dedicated most of his time and energy. It can be good if the person is not abusing his body and he only do sports for fun. It can be bad if the person is so much attached on it and it can be turn out to be an addiction.

In the sports commitment, there are issues involved that can really make a person dedicated enough to the sport.

Involvement Alternatives

The strength of alternative activities, e.g. instead of participating in tennis only, the person also explore other things like soccer. The children have high involvement alternatives such as football, basketball, hockey, etc. because they have the more energy and more free time. While the adults generally have less alternative because the lack of time, they don’t want to be tired and they only want to stay at home or preferred to work more often.

In a broad means, this is just a mild factor to affect the sports commitment but it will be remain as a factor on it. This is the stage where the coaches or other people can make a comment or can introduce the person to try other sports.

Personal Investments

Personal Investments means literally. Time, effort, money or ‘personal resources’ put into the sport, which cannot be retrieved if participation ends. The greater the personal resources invested – the greater the Sport Commitment. Starter players are the most fragile under this factor as they are most likely to have low personal investments (they have not put much time, effort or money into the sport).

Social Constraints

This is like an excuse to perceived parental or peer pressure, only way to see friends. The external pressure on an individual can trigger to continue performance - the greater the pressure the higher the Sport Commitment. This factor can be negative to the individual (e.g. parental pressure) or non-harming (e.g. attending to see friends).

Involvement Opportunities (Important)

The opportunities are available only through participation in the sport or coaching program because of mastery, socializing and health benefits - the greater the perceived opportunities by the individual, the higher their sport commitment.

Sport Enjoyment

Sport enjoyment is the biggest determinant of Sport Commitment and continued participation. Those higher in Sport Enjoyment have higher Sport Commitment, and vice-versa. A recent presentation discussed the ‘fundamentals’, and reflected that many lessons could provide the ‘fun’ but not ‘damentals’! An important point is that fun alone may not be sufficient to improve or retain players.

It is important to recognize that enjoyment can be defined as “a positive affective response to the sport experience that reflects generalized feelings such as pleasure, liking, and fun” (Scanlan et al, 1993: 6), it also encompasses feelings of mastery (McCarthy et al, 2007).

Conclusion

Engaging in a sport-oriented activity is good to keep the body healthy, stay fit, firm, and in good condition. There is another version for commitment which is the persistence (Lee, 2003). Determine well the desires, establish an oath for commitment and act at once. The perseverance will not let the commitment die, for as long as there is a will to do the desire possible how hard it may seem, it will happen. For as long as you never give up in reaching your goal, even if you lose many times, the desire and commitment to fulfill it will stay a bond. Just remember, that it is still good to be in focus.

References:

McCarthy, P., & Jones, M., (2007). ‘A Qualitative Study of Sport Enjoyment in the Sampling Years’, The Sport Psychologist, 21, 400-416. [Online] Available at: http://www.tennisplayandstay.com/downloads/seminar-london-2008/ [Accessed 19 Aug 2009].

Scanlan, T., Carpenter, P., Lobel, M., & Simons, J., (1993). ‘Sources of Sport Enjoyment for Youth Sport Athletes’, Pediatric Exercise Science, 5, 275-285. [Online] Available at: http://www.tennisplayandstay.com/downloads/seminar-london-2008/ [Accessed 19 Aug 2009].

Lee, W., (2003). Persistence. Pursuing Excellence in Everyday Life [Online] Available at: http://www.peopleoffaith.com/persistence-and-commitment.htm/ [Accessed 19 Aug 2009].

Other Source:

Wall-E, 2008. [Film] Directed by Andrew Stanton. USA: Walt Disney Pictures.