Posts Tagged ‘ health-psychology ’

In the following article from The Malta Independent, Adele Muscat from the Malta Olympic Committee focuses on sports psychology in today’s top-level sport. Most of us remember when our mental state interfered with a good performance. It might have been excessive anxiety in a school exam or meeting a person you wanted to impress....
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The Female Athlete Triad refers to three interrelated health problems seen in females. These problems include: low energy availability, menstrual disorders, and weak bones. In the extreme, these problems may be expressed as eating disorders, amenorrhea (loss of menstrual periods), and osteoporosis (an increased risk of fractures). What are the risk factors for developing...
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There are three main principles of the Inner Game – quieting the mind, non-judgment and trusting the body. The player must first learn to apply them in training. And when he experiences these effects in training he knows what to look for in the match. He then plays the inner game – how to...
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You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals. - Sir Edmund Hillary, first climber to successfully summit Mt. Everest Setting goals is one of the most commonly used training tools. Goals can organize the...
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Sports Psychology is playing an ever-increasing role in influencing soccer performance. At Ajax football club in Holland, their selection policy of 18 year old players depends 80% of the time on the intelligence and personality of the footballer! A Sports Psychologist can identify weaknesses in the psychological make-up of a player and can provide...
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Dear Podium: I’ve got a young athlete I’ve been working with who trains beautifully but just can’t put it together during competition. I believe it is a confidence issue. How can I better coach him so that he doesn’t beat himself before the gun goes off? – Confidence Coach
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“The use of the word “aggression” is somewhat confusing. The term aggression is employed to describe angry violent behavior with intent to hurt a person or cause damage to property. “Aggressive” behavior is also used to depict a strong and somewhat adventurous effort. Thus an aggressive sales person or athlete, for example, may be...
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“The influence of stress on athletic performance is a legitimate concern for most coaches and athletes. Whether we realize it or not, our emotions affect every cell in our body (Tutko & Tosi, 1976). Negative emotional reactions are often caused by stress. One of the ways to deal with this phenomenon is to understand...
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Dear Podium: I've raced at a world class level for a number of years and had significant success. My best performance on the world stage was an 8th place in the Olympic Games and I was just coming off an injury. My problem is that in spite of this level of success, I sometimes...
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“It is common knowledge that Muay Thai training is one of the toughest in the world of sport. Some sports physiologists even feel that it is too stressful for the nervous system to go through two sessions of anaerobic training a day like Muay Thai practitioners do. I believe that it is not the...
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