Sport Psychology: the Ultimate Spring Board of Excellence

© Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology
2015, Vol. 41, No.3 (Special Issue), 50-65.
Invited Article
Sport Psychology: the Ultimate Spring Board of Excellence
Jitendra Mohan
Panjab University, Chandigarh
“MIND CONTROLS EVERYTHING” (Michael Phelps, 2008 Olympics Champion Swimmer)
The human nature has been a major focus of concern for all due to its significance in
its embellishments. Even before the history writing became a serious business, human
beings engaged in playful and sporting activities. Most of the civilizations have oral and
other records about individual differences in sports activities.A serious and scientific study
of sports included psychological analysis also. It has been felt that psychology plays
a major role in human performance. In the last decades research and psychological
dimensions of sporting behavior has become serious concern. In the comparison to
sports medicine and sports physiology, sports psychology takes a smaller role. But it has
been getting more and more attention in the world of Olympics and competitive sports.
The role of attention, motivation, personality and emotions has been well recorded.
This present paper only gives a brief sketch about development of sport psychology.
Keywords: Sport psychology, Sport psychologist.
Since the first Olympic Games performed
in Greece in 776 B.C, sport has become an
essential aspect of nearly every society (Brasch,
1970). On the other hand, psychology, since its
official beginning in 1879 with Wundt’s laboratory
in Leipzig, has occupied a prominent place
globally and has profoundly influenced fields
such as sports and physical activity (Singer,
Hausenblas, & Janelle, 2001)
In the past 50 years, sport psychology
as a science and a profession has grown
tremendously. Sport psychology typically
is considered a sub-discipline of both the
psychological and sport sciences and defined as:
zz Singer (1978) defined it as “the science
of psychology applied to sport”.
zz “a field of study in which the principles
of psychology are applied in a sports
setting” (Cox, 1985)
zz “the branch of sport and exercise
science that seeks to provide answers
to questions about human behavior in
sport” (Gill, 1986)
zz American Psychological Association’s
(APA, 2009) Division 47 (Exercise & Sport
Psychology) website states: “Exercise
and sport psychology is the scientific
study of the psychological factors that
are associated with participation and
performance in sport, exercise, and
other types of physical activity” (What
is Exercise and Sport Psychology?,
para. 1).
zz “Sport psychology is a unified field
of psychological principles and
interventions directly applied to sport”
(Mohan, Kaur & Kaur, 2014).
Several studies have revealed the importance
and acceptance of sport psychology. However,
the crucial question about the real nature of
sport psychology is difficult to answer precisely.
Although many definitions have been suggested,
there is no comprehensive and internationally
accepted definition of sport psychology until
now. There is, therefore, a need for a clear
description and definition for this area of growing
importance.
Although some cultures and languages
use distinct terms for different types of physical
activity, in this statement the term sport is
used as an umbrella term including all kinds of
exercise, sport and physically active pursuits.