Sports psychology deals with the mental and emotional aspects of physical performance. It involves describing, explaining and predicting attitudes, feelings and behaviours in an attempt to improve performance. In the film 'Coach Carter,' directed by Thomas Carter, sport psychology is used effectively to enhance the performance of a high school basketball team. However, this improved performance is not limited to the basketball court, it extends into the classroom where the students use goal setting, motivation, concentration and confidence control, ultimately to become accepted into college, avoiding a life of drugs, gangs and prison. In the film, many sport psychology techniques are used to turn the immature teenagers of the Richmond …show more content…
When the athletes turn up to training late, they run. As well as negative motivation, negative reinforcement is present in the scene where Coach Carter is giving statistical feedback to his athletes. "Mr Worm, you were five and four… five turnovers and four missed free throws." As a result of these errors, Coach Carter decides to add an extra practise session every morning at 6am to teach his players the fundamentals of the game. One type of motivation left out of Coach Carters' repertoire is intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the desire to learn and perform well that comes from within an individual. This is a shame because intrinsic motivation has been proven to be the most successful type of motivation when it comes to keeping a commitment. Although intrinsic motivation does come from within an individual, eg; the desire to win a trophy for a grandfather, it can still be inspired by a coach. Behaviour becomes either more or less likely depending on its consequences. The theory is that if you reward behaviours they are more likely to occur again, while punishment is more likely to reduce the chances of that behaviour occurring in the future. Coach Carter successfully uses negative motivation, however, positive motivation is rarely used and sport psychology research overwhelmingly supports the use of a predominantly (80-90%) positive approach. (Peak Performance issue 214) That said, the negative approach works very well in this situation
Furthermore, the entire team is shown to have intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the desire to participate in an interest based on internal benefits (Cherry). Smalls and the rest of the Sandlot team, excluding Benny, have intrinsic motivation for baseball because to them, the game is fun. The boys play the game because they enjoy it. Of course Benny posses intrinsic motivation as well because he loves the game, but Benny also plays baseball because of his desire for
Sports—which involve emotion, competition, cooperation, achievement, and play—provide a rich area for psychological study. People involved in sports attempt to master very difficult skills, often subjecting themselves to intense physical stress as well as social pressure. research has expanded into numerous areas such as imagery training, hypnosis, relaxation training, motivation, socialization, conflict and competition, counseling, and coaching. Specific sports and recreational specialties studied include baseball, basketball, soccer,
Starting from my freshman year in high school I have always been more intrigued by the human mind and how it operates. Thanks to the study of psychology my curiosity only flourished even more as I got older. I find the observations psychology gives about human behavior very interesting, and I have been fascinated by it for as long as I can remember. I’ve been caught in between approaching the journey of being a sports psychologist and an industrial organizational psychologist. I am passionate about sports and studying Psychology. I plan on extending my knowledge in the mixture of the two and contributing it towards my future. I want to examine the various areas of sports psychology and also learn more about the idea of improving quality performance
Coach Carter is a 2005 movie which was based upon a true story. The movie underlines the social structure and stratification of life in the American ghetto. The theme of the movie is the outcome of such societal boundaries on this group of students who play basketball; how it outlines their life, affects their social life and also their life goals. The movie depicts a Structural-functionalist of society
Baseball as you may know, is a mental game. The famous New York Yankee catcher once said, “Baseball is 90 per cent mental. The other half is physical”. The use of sport psychology is vital in a game like baseball which I have an very deep background in playing and coaching. Through learning about sports psychology, it is easy to relate past experiences to different things that have been learned in class. There have been many situations that I can relate to psychology of sport, after playing in such a mental game.
The field of sports psychology is only beginning. A short while ago in 1898 an experiment that was conducted by Norman Triplett successfully discovered a positive correlation between a biker’s performance and a social component or audience. Since then the only major progress has been the sports psychology lab established at the University of Illinois in 1925. The man responsible for the lab Coleman Griffith has also offered courses that teach the nature of sports psychology. Griffith’s research focuses on the factors that effect athletic performance such as “reaction time, mental awareness, muscular tension and relaxation, and personality”. Fortunately, a new study has surfaced the Psychology
At Clear Choice Coaching we are changing our thought process and model from devoting ourselves to winning. We have recognized that this visual is not a long lasting fruitful one to use because there is more to life than the score of the game. We wanted to use a model that provided results and addresses an engaging model for our coaches and athletes to follow. We wanted to address player’s lives in and out of the competitive arena. With this thinking becoming a part of the fabric of our organization we recognized that individuals can choose the way they think and these thoughts can be achieved through the application of specific cognitive strategies and ultimately impact our administrative and athletic performance. With the help of a sport psychology
Few within the realm of competitive athletics would argue with the importance of being mentally prepared prior to an athletic competition as well as the need to maintain that particular mindset during a competitive contest. Nevertheless, recent research has shown that many athletes, coaches, and sporting administrators are still quite reluctant to seek out the services of a qualified sport psychologist, even if they believe it could help. One of the primary reasons for this hesitation appears to be a lack of understanding about the process and the mechanisms by which these mental skills affect performance. Unlike the “harder sciences” of sport physiology and biochemistry where athletes can see the tangible results in themselves or other athletes (e.g., he or she lifted weights, developed larger muscles, and is now stronger/faster as a result) (Gee, Chris J (2010): 386-402.) Using sports phycology has been found to give athletes multiple benefits, such as improvement, and that athlete being able to understand how to develop a growth and or positive mindset. Lastly another way that has been found to improve athletes is taking mental repetitions for their sport. One of the keys to Jeff’s improvement over the years, and certainly a key to him making a roster in the NFL, is his ability to take mental reps. The champion mindset recognizes
The movie Coach Carter was about Richmond high school's basketball team that was very small and did not have a lot of money. Also the high school had needed a new basketball coach and that's when Ken Carter came in. Carter had not only taught them how to play basketball, but had shaped them into being young men and going to colleges they would dream of going to. They had made it all the way to the State Championship, but lost it to a buzzer-beating shot. How can the movie Coach Carter influence an athlete's life.
Myths are commonly taken as fact when it comes to many of these areas of sport psychology. Coaches, teachers, and athletes will never change unless they inspect or are taught the facts and research behind these various theories and behaviors. This can be a large problem for those athletes who are instructed incorrectly, and it could potentially damage their futures in athletic competitions.
It has been identified that through sports psychology one can improve their physical ability and performance. Sports psychology is the study of how the mind, mental states and behaviour effect sporting performance. There are several sport psychology techniques, which have helped me become a better volleyball player. These techniques include planning for performance, controlling arousal levels, mental rehearsal and concentration.
While watching this movie, I had identified several factors of how personality can be applied to sport
The connection of the mental game and the athletes for any rank of sports has been extremely underestimated. While some believe that all athletes are “all brawn and no brain,” this disregards how much mental activity is brought into any sport. It connects to the fear and separation of mental health for athletes. If an athletes is showing signs of any type of mental issue or disorders, their spot on the team has been threatened. The coaches and staff sometime cannot simply understand the importance of treatment for an athlete. Depression, anxiety, burnout and other disorders causes athletes to do poorly with their mental game, making them appear that these athletes would not be
The film “Coach Carter” demonstrates many great examples of good communication between coach and athlete. I will point out a few examples of good communication from the film and I will explain why the examples I discuss demonstrate characteristics of effective communication. I will use a few excerpts out of the communication chapter of our text book, Chapter 11. I will use these excerpts from Chapter 11 of our text book to explain why the examples/quotes from the film, that I have pointed out, demonstrate good communication skills. The film “Coach Carter” is a great film about a high school basketball team that is located in a bad area of town. The
Children who participate in sports are developing rapidly in sports skills, sportsmanship, and psychologically, but does this come from organized sports are just nature’s process. Children develop emotional and social benefits from participating in sports. Children experience character and leadership development through peer relations leading to an increase in self-esteem and a decrease in anxiety levels. Children will get opportunities to experience positive and negative emotions throughout their practice and games trials. It is important for the coach to understand the “psychology of youth sports and physical activity participation” (Weinberg & Gould, 2011 p.516).