Research Article Open Access Peer-Reviewed

Psychology of sport: fundamentals and techniques

Artemis Bajaziti

Published in JPASE Journal (Volume 5, Issue 1, June 2023)

Received: 21 June 2023
Accepted: 22 June 2023
Published: 23 June 2023
ISSN: 2308-5045
Views: 17 Downloads: 2
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Abstract

The psychology of sport is an ancient discipline, more than you would think. In 1913, De Coubertin organized in Lausanne an international convey dedicated to the psychological and psycho physiological aspects of sport practices. After that, it became an important discipline worldwide. At the Olympic Game of Los Angeles in 1984 for the first time was noticed the presence of a large number of psychologists of sport. Up to 1990, psychology of sport is growing significantly, especially in term of scientific studies, academic field and practice applications.Anyway, there is still a strong discussion about the contribute of psychology inside sports science. Disciplinary competences are growing constantly; also intervention programs with efficacy demonstrated. In the meantime, sport has changed by being articulated in its different underdimensions. At one side, the conception of sport is known as a right of civility, as a vehicle of social integration, health and well being in each phase of life. At other side, the current society considers sport as a competitive activity, emphasizing its agonistic character and looking for programs ‘ad hoc’for the psychological preparation of athletes and high level teams. It’s obvious that these two contrasting conceptions of sport are asking different questions to the science of psychology. Actually, psychology is helping athletes to improve their performance, aiming to be “the psychology of sport in action’’. The scope of this article is to explore the fundamentals of psychology of sport, the role of psychology and psychologist of sport inside sport science and the most well known useful techniques for athletes, in order to improve their performance.

Published in
JPASE Journal (Volume 5, Issue 1, June 2023)
ISSN
2308-5045
Page(s)
93
Keywords
Sport psychology, mental training, psychological abilities, sporting performance.
Creative Commons
This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright
Copyright © 2026 JPASE Journal

Keywords

Sport psychology, mental training, psychological abilities, sporting performance.

Psychology of sport has built its own space inside the scientific contest. According to Cei (1998), the most relevant areas are the following:

  1. Cognitive functions that involve motor control and sport performance.
  2. Psychological abilities implicated in different disciplines.
  3. Motivational processes in favor of sport
  4. Role of the coach to stimulate
  5. Sport programs for children
  6. Program of physical activity for the rehabilitation of subjects who suffered injuries or disease.
  7. Dynamic of group, leadership style and decisional models
  8. Auto regulation processes to face agonistic anxiety and stress.

Referring to the above mentioned areas, the most which produced interest and scientific research refer to motivation, personality studies, attentive processes and group dynamic.

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