Sport psychology is much more important than physical training
For winning the game, athletes need performance skills and fitness like physical abilities. It is a matter of course for them to have. That is why athletes exercise and build up their bodies. However, there is another requirement to win the match. It is psychology.
Recently, athletes and coaches are interested in sport psychology, for example, there are special psychological expert teams in sports powerhouses such as Europe or North America. The special teams deal with psychological problems professionally. They check out athletes' mental states and teach them how to control the mentality, consulting them(Chung chung hee, 2006). Anyway the frequency of utilization and awareness of sport psychology are getting higher.
Sport psychology is a study which finds out the reason why athlete can not show real ability in the real game and why this situation sometimes occurs. Also this study researches how to minimize the adverse or bad effects of psychology and sports psychologists produce programs according to the research result and adapt to the field(Kim byeung jun, 2002). The most important thing psychologists research is to develop the psychological skills and its programs(Chung chung hee, 2006). In sports psychology, there have been many researches which suggest the relationship between mental state and athletic performance. In competitive sports, athletes' mental state has much to do with athletic performance and this mental state is not limited by psychology, but a kind of technique like exercise and it is called psychological skill.
I argue that sport psychology is much more important than physical training. A fitness and strength are indispensable factors in playing sports, so is psychology.
Yuna Kim who retired from the figure skating after Sochi Olympic 2014 is called a woman who has the strongest mental among sport experts, because she concentrated on her play and had a composure in suspenseful game. She could have the strongest mental and self-confidence with psychological therapy and counseling. Accordingly, sport psychology is being reviewed. It is a good example that NEST Foundation(NExt generation Sports Talent) founded 'training course of sports mental coach'. Doctor Kim byeong hyun, who has studied sport psychology for thirty years and belongs to KISS(Korea Institute of Sport Science), advised that it is effective for sport teams to have professional psychological coaches.
There is another example. Seung-hoon Lee, who is a speed skater, said 'I was recommended to have psychological therapy, but it was not that popular in Korea. If athletes can have an aid from sport psychology, it may have good influence on their performance ability', during an interview with Cheol won Lee who belongs to NEST Foundation. It means even current athletes realizes that the impact of sport psychology is excellent.
Let me give you more examples, swimmer, Tae hawn Park. To take part in World Championships for Swimming in Rome 2009, he accompanied a psychologist who has helped them in Beijing Olympic 2008 to be mentally stable.
There is an example in the field of soccer, too. Senol Gunes, who is a football manager, scouted a sport psychologist when he belonged to FC Seoul. This is because he was nervous how well Korean athletes understand him and athletes were too young, so that he was mentally anxious. Later, Gunes showed the success of sport psychology, leading semifinal winning in K league, 2009.
According to these examples, I can strongly argue that sport psychology is necessary. I already mentioned the five sources of sport psychology; goal setting,concentration training,imagery training and self-confidence training. To confirm the effectiveness of those, I will state those one more.
First, goal setting is to set a goal with motivation. It motivates athletes to perform well and have confidence. Second, concentration training. To pay attention to the game, strong mind is necessary rather than physical ability. This training prevents them from obstacles and gives them consistency of performance ability. Third, imagery training draws ideal performance and makes athletes try hard to achieve it so that it fosters positiveness and confidence. Last, self-confidence training is similar to goal setting because it stimulates athletes to have confidence to accomplish a goal.
Athletes want to perform well their skills in a game because any athletes who are at peak performance can have high possibility to win. Unfortunately, most players can not display their ability due to anxiety, decreased concentration, lose of confidence and unstable mind(Kim byeong hyun,2007). That is to say, even though their physical ability and skills are at peak, they get the result according to their psychological skills. And it also means that psychological skill is more important than physical skill.
Someone can refute that athletes develop body above all, and it is ambiguous to decide an order of priority between psychology and physical one. Also, they can argue that psychology is one thing and physical ability is another. However, these refutations are not always correct.
First of all, it is not obvious what is more overriding, physical one or psychology. However it is a matter of course for athlete to develop body and nowadays, all the athletes work hard and build up their body. No one gives up to do so because that is fundamental to be an athlete. What I want to argue is that psychology gives benefits and determines the result of match. It has a mutal relation with physical training. It is proved by an essay written by Chung chung hee. Thus it is meaningless to choose the priority.
Second, the opinion that psychology and physical ability are another matters is absurd. According to Chung chung hee, psychological treatment helps athletes to develop confidence and display their performance well in the real game. Therefore those kinds of refutation are illogical and I strongly argue that sport psychology is much more important than physical training.
Most sport experts and psychologist emphasize that the significance of sport psychology is getting stronger and more athletes have psychological therapy now. They also say that psychology is important to have greater result in a game. Even a speed skater Seung-Hoon Lee was recommended to have a treatment.
Sport psychology has various fields and I suggested some field in narration. There are goal setting, concentration training, imagery training and self-confidence training. Goal setting stimulates athletes and cultivates patience. Concentration training improves concentration on game, requiring psychological energies. Imagery training develops positive property and achievement power, and self-confidence training develops the confidence as the name hints.
Recently, there are too many athletes who are physically fit so it is too competitive in the real match. Moreover, physical ability is not everything. Then stable psychological state is necessary to attain honor and goals. It is achieved by psychological therapy. Therefore it is crucial to argue that psychology is much more important than physical ability which belongs to every athlete.
Sport psychology is a study which finds out the reason why athlete can not show real ability in the real game and why this situation sometimes occurs. Also this study researches how to minimize the adverse or bad effects of psychology and sports psychologists produce programs according to the research result and adapt to the field(Kim byeung jun, 2002). The most important thing psychologists research is to develop the psychological skills and its programs(Chung chung hee, 2006). In sports psychology, there have been many researches which suggest the relationship between mental state and athletic performance. In competitive sports, athletes' mental state has much to do with athletic performance and this mental state is not limited by psychology, but a kind of technique like exercise and it is called psychological skill.
I argue that sport psychology is much more important than physical training. A fitness and strength are indispensable factors in playing sports, so is psychology.
To achieve a goal and get honor in the sport, it is necessary to have physical fitness. However, it is not all the thing needed because there have already been many professional athletes who are physically fit. Then, if you don't have psychological fitness, meaning stable mind, it is hard to accomplish what you want among competitive athletes. This is because psychology contributes to determining the result of the match, for example, confidence, stability, and affirmation.
Psychological skill is a strategy or technique which helps to maximize athletic performance and overcome the stress which comes from competitive circumstances by consideration and mental control. Thus, psychological skill training means the training process which helps athletes to show the best performance and acquire the self-regulation skill(Chung chung hee, Kim byeong joon, 1999).
Psychological skill training is effective to increase performance ability and pleasure, and is an educational program to learn psychological skill. These training is necessary to athlete who not only has mental 'problem', but is mentally stable. and plays a role as an aider which helps players to show their best performance in badly competitive matches(Chung chung hee, 2003).
There are five fields in sport psychology. According to Chung chung hee, a professor in a department of Physical Education, Seoul National University, there are goal setting, concentration training, imagery training and self-confidence training in sport psychology.
First of all, goal setting. Goal setting means making deciding a goal with a specific period. For instance, golfer has a goal to hit seven under or make a birdie for every hole. These goal motivates athletes and leads them to try hard to achieve it(Chung chung hee, 2006). If athletes try hard to achieve their goals, they can benefit like these. They can concentrate on their own work, and make persistent efforts. Also, goal setting helps them to cultivate patience while experiencing failure and slump, and to learn new strategy to attain the goal. Moreover, it makes players have self-confidence and increases their concentration, and also contributes to improve performance ability.
Second, concentration training. It is a skill to maintain one's own concentration on the object for certain period. Strong concentration requires lots of psychological energies, so it is necessary to have strong mind when improving concentration skill. Concentration training prevents athletes from distracted environment, gives them confidence and maximizes the consistency of their performance.
Third, imagery training. An imagery means a technique which creates new experience without direct exercise or with experience. That is to say, it means drawing a state of exercise performance. The imagery includes real things that we feel and see directly and experience that we sense. The characteristic of imagery is internalization(re-categorizing events and making it mine), and experiencing performance sense and manipulating reality into imaginary thing(Martens, 1987). The effects of imagery training are that we can go through the motional sense without moving and improve performance ability with spending spare time. Also, it helps foster positiveness and confidence, and is practical to be used as a method to maintain one's achievement power and make good a deficiency(Kirschenbaum, et al. 1982).
Lastly, self-confidence training. In this case, self-confidence is defined as a belief that 'I' can do and achieve the goal. For instance, a golfer who believes that he or she can do 4m putting has a confidence. A level of confidence and performance is similar to a relation between arousal level and performance. Also, low confidence restricts a motivation to goal and can not awaken athletes(Park dong jin,1994). Therefore it is required to train athletes to instill confidence with these advices. First, performing with confidence even in practice. Second, thinking positively. Third, controlling physical condition. Fourth, learning how to improve confidence. Fifth, Doing positive actions. Last, using appropriate mind(Chung chung hee, 2006).
There are many examples that famous athletes assert that psychological skill is important in sports and its effects are amazing. You can see the significance of sport psychology with the examples, Yuna Kim, Seung Hoon Lee and so on.
Yuna Kim who retired from the figure skating after Sochi Olympic 2014 is called a woman who has the strongest mental among sport experts, because she concentrated on her play and had a composure in suspenseful game. She could have the strongest mental and self-confidence with psychological therapy and counseling. Accordingly, sport psychology is being reviewed. It is a good example that NEST Foundation(NExt generation Sports Talent) founded 'training course of sports mental coach'. Doctor Kim byeong hyun, who has studied sport psychology for thirty years and belongs to KISS(Korea Institute of Sport Science), advised that it is effective for sport teams to have professional psychological coaches.
There is another example. Seung-hoon Lee, who is a speed skater, said 'I was recommended to have psychological therapy, but it was not that popular in Korea. If athletes can have an aid from sport psychology, it may have good influence on their performance ability', during an interview with Cheol won Lee who belongs to NEST Foundation. It means even current athletes realizes that the impact of sport psychology is excellent.
Let me give you more examples, swimmer, Tae hawn Park. To take part in World Championships for Swimming in Rome 2009, he accompanied a psychologist who has helped them in Beijing Olympic 2008 to be mentally stable.
There is an example in the field of soccer, too. Senol Gunes, who is a football manager, scouted a sport psychologist when he belonged to FC Seoul. This is because he was nervous how well Korean athletes understand him and athletes were too young, so that he was mentally anxious. Later, Gunes showed the success of sport psychology, leading semifinal winning in K league, 2009.
According to these examples, I can strongly argue that sport psychology is necessary. I already mentioned the five sources of sport psychology; goal setting,concentration training,imagery training and self-confidence training. To confirm the effectiveness of those, I will state those one more.
First, goal setting is to set a goal with motivation. It motivates athletes to perform well and have confidence. Second, concentration training. To pay attention to the game, strong mind is necessary rather than physical ability. This training prevents them from obstacles and gives them consistency of performance ability. Third, imagery training draws ideal performance and makes athletes try hard to achieve it so that it fosters positiveness and confidence. Last, self-confidence training is similar to goal setting because it stimulates athletes to have confidence to accomplish a goal.
Athletes want to perform well their skills in a game because any athletes who are at peak performance can have high possibility to win. Unfortunately, most players can not display their ability due to anxiety, decreased concentration, lose of confidence and unstable mind(Kim byeong hyun,2007). That is to say, even though their physical ability and skills are at peak, they get the result according to their psychological skills. And it also means that psychological skill is more important than physical skill.
Someone can refute that athletes develop body above all, and it is ambiguous to decide an order of priority between psychology and physical one. Also, they can argue that psychology is one thing and physical ability is another. However, these refutations are not always correct.
First of all, it is not obvious what is more overriding, physical one or psychology. However it is a matter of course for athlete to develop body and nowadays, all the athletes work hard and build up their body. No one gives up to do so because that is fundamental to be an athlete. What I want to argue is that psychology gives benefits and determines the result of match. It has a mutal relation with physical training. It is proved by an essay written by Chung chung hee. Thus it is meaningless to choose the priority.
Second, the opinion that psychology and physical ability are another matters is absurd. According to Chung chung hee, psychological treatment helps athletes to develop confidence and display their performance well in the real game. Therefore those kinds of refutation are illogical and I strongly argue that sport psychology is much more important than physical training.
Most sport experts and psychologist emphasize that the significance of sport psychology is getting stronger and more athletes have psychological therapy now. They also say that psychology is important to have greater result in a game. Even a speed skater Seung-Hoon Lee was recommended to have a treatment.
Sport psychology has various fields and I suggested some field in narration. There are goal setting, concentration training, imagery training and self-confidence training. Goal setting stimulates athletes and cultivates patience. Concentration training improves concentration on game, requiring psychological energies. Imagery training develops positive property and achievement power, and self-confidence training develops the confidence as the name hints.
Recently, there are too many athletes who are physically fit so it is too competitive in the real match. Moreover, physical ability is not everything. Then stable psychological state is necessary to attain honor and goals. It is achieved by psychological therapy. Therefore it is crucial to argue that psychology is much more important than physical ability which belongs to every athlete.
References
Chung chung hee(2006), what is sport psychology(essay, pdf)
Kim byung hyun(2007), the importance of psychology and an application in sport(essay, pdf)
Kim byung joon(2009), psychological skill to improve concentration in sport(essay, pdf)
*Some citations I don't mention here are quoted from the essaies above. You can give me a message if you want those pdf files.
