Sport psychology facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Sport psychology is all about using ideas from psychology to help athletes and people who play sports. One big goal for sports psychologists is to help athletes reach their best. They mostly work with professional athletes, but they can help anyone who plays sports.

These experts often focus on challenges athletes face during games. But they can also help with problems outside of sports. Sport psychology has only recently become a recognized field of study. However, people have used its ideas for a long time.

How Sport Psychology Started
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How Sport Psychology Started

Early Ideas in Europe

Sport psychology began in Europe in the late 19th century. During the 1880s, sports and physical activity became more popular. But the words "sport" and "psychology" weren't linked until the late 1890s.

In 1899 and 1900, the phrase "psychology of sport" appeared in journal articles. Balduin Groller wrote the first one in 1899. It suggested that parts of psychology could be connected to sports. Then, in May 1900, Pierre de Coubertin, who started the modern Olympic movement, wrote an essay called "The Psychology of Sport."

In 1875, Pyotr Francevich Lesgaft, a Russian scientist, created a system for physical education. He wanted to connect the body and mind. Lesgaft believed people could learn to control their bodies with their thoughts.

Later, in 1884-1885, Karoly Budinsky wrote about how self-control and willpower could make the nervous system stronger through exercise.

Two important scientists in early European sport psychology were Angelo Mosso and Philippe Tissie. Angelo Mosso was an Italian scientist. He studied how mental work made muscles tired. He also found that physical work could make thinking harder.

In 1894, Mosso did an experiment with soldiers climbing a mountain. He found two interesting things:

Pioneer effect: The person leading a mountain climb gets more tired than others.
Rivaling effect: Soldiers would compete in weightlifting when they were bored.

Philippe Tissie thought sports could help treat mental problems. He wrote many articles between 1894 and 1909. He believed that sports, gymnastics, and psychology together could help people. But he also warned that too much sport could cause mental or behavior issues.

In 1896, a French doctor, Charles du Pasquier, wrote about sports helping with depression. In 1900, Eduard Bertz said sports helped keep a healthy body and mind. Later, in 1913, Toby Cohn believed sports built self-confidence and helped people set goals.

In 1914, Bernhard Berliner did the first study on how sports affected the mind. He studied children at a camp. He found that kids who played sports and exercised could concentrate better.

The first sport psychology laboratory opened in 1920 in Berlin, Germany. Carl Diem started it. That same year, Robert Werner Schulte opened a lab near Berlin. It studied people's natural talent for sports. Schulte also taught sport psychology to students. He wrote many books on the topic, starting with "Body and Mind in Sport" in 1921.

In 1926, Helene Deutsch studied why people wanted to play sports. She found that sports could help with depression, anxiety, and overcoming fears.

Major steps also happened in Russia. In 1925, Petr Antonovic Rudik researched skill development and reaction times. A reaction time is how fast someone responds. In 1926, Alexander Netchayev studied how sports affected perception, memory, and attention.

Sport Psychology in North America

Sport psychology in North America began in the 1890s. E. W. Scripture at Yale studied how fast runners reacted. He also looked at how experimental psychology could help athletes. He wrote that prisoners who played sports had better attitudes.

George Wells Fitz also worked in this field. He created the first physical education lab in North America. In 1895, Fitz studied reaction times. He found that people with quicker reactions were better at sports.

Another big idea was "transfer of training." This means if you make one arm stronger, the other arm might also get stronger without exercise. Walter Wells Davis studied this in the late 1800s. He had people lift weights with one arm. His results showed that the other arm also got stronger. William G. Anderson also found similar results.

Norman Tripplett made the next big steps. He was a psychologist at the University of Indiana. He studied how competition affected performance. In 1897, Tripplett began looking at how other people nearby influenced a person's effort.

In 1898, he wrote about his findings. He believed cyclists rode faster when someone else was nearby, like a pacemaker or competitor. This was because the presence of others made them try harder. He confirmed this in a lab experiment where people wound fishing line.

In 1903, G.T.W Patrick studied why people loved American football. In 1912, Howard wanted to know why people got so emotional watching sports. Then in 1915, Karl S. Lashley and John B. Watson studied how people learn sports skills, focusing on archery. They found that people worked harder on harder tasks.

Sportswriter Hugh S. Fullerton helped with the next step. He took New York Yankees player Babe Ruth to a psychology lab at Columbia University. Fullerton wanted to know why Ruth hit so many home runs. He also wanted to see if other players like Ruth existed.

The study measured Ruth's swing power, reaction time, attention, memory, and motor skills. The results showed Ruth's motor skills and reflexes were above average. This helped explain his home run success.

At Stanford University, B.C. Graves, Walter Miles, and football coach Glenn “Pop” Warner studied reaction time. They wanted to find the fastest way for a football offense to move together. This showed how psychology could give teams an advantage.

Coleman Griffith: A Pioneer

Many things happened before, but Coleman Griffith made the most important contributions. Griffith was a professor at the University of Illinois. He is called the "father of sports psychology" in North America.

Griffith started a special section in his psychology class just for athletes. In 1921, he gave the first public talk about psychology and sports. In 1923, he started a course called "Psychology and Athletics." His book, "Psychology of Coaching," was used for the class. In 1924, Griffith met with football coach Knute Rockne to discuss how psychology affected coaching.

In 1925, Griffith opened the first sport psychology lab in North America. It stayed open for six years. After it closed, Philip Wrigley, owner of the Major League Baseball team the Chicago Cubs, hired Griffith in 1937.

Griffith studied how psychological factors affected player performance. He suggested things like psychological clinics for players and skill tests. Wrigley didn't follow all the advice but was impressed. In 1939, Wrigley offered Griffith a full-time job. Griffith turned it down to stay with his family. He didn't do much more research after that.

Griffith was very important because he was the first sport psychologist and opened the first lab in America to study sports and psychology.

Sport Psychology After Griffith

In the 1920s and 1930s, psychology was taught in coaching schools. Some coaches used these ideas. Paul Brown, head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, used psychological tests with his players. His tests were similar to those used in the National Football League today.

During the 1940s, psychology helped athletes improve. Psychology professor Dorothy Hazeltine Yates helped a boxer, who then had his best fights. Also, hypnosis was used to help athletes relax. In the 1950s, David F. Tracy used psychological methods to help players on the St. Louis Browns baseball team, now the Baltimore Orioles.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, sports became more important. Sport psychology became more accepted because it helped athletes. Four things helped the field grow: textbooks, college programs, groups (associations), and journals.

A main area of study was how stress affected athletes. In 1960, Warren R. Johnson wrote the first textbook on this topic. In 1961, Maxwell Howell started the first graduate program in physical education in Canada.

Then, associations and journals began. In 1967, the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) was formed. They started publishing the "Sport Psychology Bulletin." In 1970, the "International Journal of Sport Psychology" began. Many more groups and journals started in the 1970s and 1980s.

The United States Olympic Committee also got involved. In 1978, they created a Sports Medicine Council that included sport psychologists. In 1985, they made the first list of sports psychologists.

Modern Sport Psychology

Today, there are two main types of sport psychology:

Academic sport psychology: This type does research.
Applied sport psychology: This type uses the research to teach coaches and trainers.

Applied sport psychology needs to improve in three main areas:

What certifications or licenses are needed to practice it.
How to properly train students studying it.
Developing new ways to help athletes.

More and more athletes are using sport psychologists today. In fact, so many athletes get help that some organizations are limiting how many coaches can be on the field. Many athletes now use sport psychology as part of their daily training.

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