Although Coleman Griffith has been coined the “Father of sports psychology”, there were others before him who experimented with sports psychology but never dedicated the time to get it off the ground. One who took interest before Griffith was Norman Triplett between 1895 and 1919 according to Davis, Huss, and Becker (1995). Triplett’s experiments became a starting point for sports psychology, based on his observations of the sport of cycling. In this experiment he involved the physical task of winding fishing reels. He incorporated the physical task of winding fishing reels, an experiment he named Dynamogenic Factors in Pacemaking and Competition, which was published in 1898 (Cox et al., 1993). Unfortunately, Triplett’s work did not motivate others to follow in his footsteps of similar research and as a result from 1920 - 1930 Coleman Griffith took the reigns. As a result Triplett’s work became the first sports psychology research study in America, while Griffith was the first to do systematic sport psychology analysis (Cox et al., 1993).
The purpose of this paper is to first introduce Coleman Griffith the psychologist, the second purpose is to provide a review of Griffith’s work in sports, and the final purpose is to fast forward almost a decade later to sports psychology after Coleman Griffith.
Who was Coleman Griffith?
Dr.Coleman Griffith was born May 22, 1893 in Guthrie Center, IA. He attended college in Illinois at Greenville College where he played varsity baseball until graduating in 1915. After teaching at his alter malter for a year, Griffith moved on to the University of Illinois where he earned his PhD in 1920. Between 1918 and 1922 Griffith made a “series of informal observations” on “psychological factors involv...
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Athletic trainers are mainly responsible for injury recovery and injury prevention. However, these responsibilities are physical concerns, but what about the mental concerns? There is a movement within the athletic training field to approach sport injuries with a more holistic perspective. Many athletic trainers have had inadequate education in sport psychology to institute any sort of psychological initiative in their rehabilitation programs. This paper will discuss some of the prospective ideas and various methods of rehabilitation tactics that could be used in the field, as well as how to perhaps properly train athletic trainers to administer these mental treatments, along with the physical treatments. These mental treatments will be related back to sport and exercise psychology concepts, such as strategies for setting realistic goals, methods for enc...
Sport and exercise science is a multidisciplinary field that draws on knowledge from the broader parent disciplines, the subareas that make up sport and exercise science also draw on measures, constructs and concepts from each other. In fact, it is suggested that sport psychology should include knowledge from other sub-disciplines within sport and exercise science in order to gain better understanding of situations specific to
Wiese-Bjornstal, D. M., Smith, A. M., & LaMott, E. E. (1995). A model of psychological response to athletic injury and rehabilitation. Athletic training: Sport health care perspectives, 17-30.
Sports psychology can be defined as the study and application of the attitudes and behaviors of athletes (including team athletes) that impact (either positively or negatively) performance in sports or competitive settings. The goal of sports psychology is to help athletes and teams identify unhealthy attitudes and beliefs, apply mental toughness skills and peak performance strategies to perform at optimal levels (Cohn). Sports psychology is not recognized as a traditional field of practice offered by graduate programs; although, it is a recognized field of specific study under Kinesiology and Physical Education Programs. Sports psychology was first founded in 1920 by Carl Diem in Berlin, Germany. Later on, in 1925, sport psychology was brought to the U.S by Cloman Griffith. These early psychologists aimed to observe the effects of mental state on different factors of performance such as reaction time, tension, relaxation, and awareness (Haney). In the 1960’s Griffith’s research interest in sports psychology reemerged after having faded away for a while; however, the field had a...
Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 12.3 (Sept 1990): 217-222. Edwards, Tara and Hardy, Lew. “The Interactive Effects of Intensity and Direction of Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety and Self- Confidence Upon Performance.” Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology18.4 (Sept 1996): 296-312. Ferraro, Tom.
Sports Psychology Today. Mental Edge Athletics, 4 Sept. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. Forde, Pat.
I am a young ambitious student who strives to excel in everything I do. I want to study Sport Psychology as I know I possess the right skills to further and develop myself in the career of sports. I have the ability to understand others in sports as I also play sports myself. I have been in high pressured sporting situations which I have used my psychological skills to help increase my performance. What interests me in Sport Psychology is that I can make a big difference to not just my life but the lives of people in sport such as rehabilitating athletes or boosting athlete performance. I am fascinated by how different athletes perform in the same environment and getting practical with the mind, body and brain. Improving performance, consistency and stability in an athlete’s
Sports are often identified to have positive influences on many individuals. The sports industry is growing worldwide, especially the basketball industry, which is regarded in second place behind football. The global prevalence of basketball is unquestionable, especially among the young. Basketball is a dynamic team sport that involves a pattern of alternating, active, and skilled movement activities. There are compound demands that require a mixture of individual skills, team plays, strategies, and motivational aspects.
Weinberg, R.S. & Gould, D. {1995} Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Ch.15
Sports are an important aspect of society. They help people to strive to reach certain goals and join people together, but they also can divide people and turn a fun game into the main purpose of someone’s life. Taking sports games too seriously can be harmful to both the athlete and the spectator. The attitude of always winning at any cost in sports has managed to distract us from other important parts of our lives, such as health and education. This importance of the value of sports can heavily influence the way that we see ourselves as both the spectator and the athlete by creating a positive self image and distilling confidence and discipline within the player, or by embedding self doubt and inversion.
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).
A lot of times, sports seem like a contest of physical skill― a test to see who is the fastest or strongest, who has the best eye or the most endurance, who can jump the highest or can handle the ball the best. What a lot of people don’t know is that there is so much more to a sport than just the muscle and coordination. In order to excel in a sport, an athlete requires a lot of self-discipline, concentration, and self-confidence. It’s the mental factor that makes a difference. Former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlon runner Bruce Jenner once said, “You have to train your mind like you train your body” (Gregoire 1). Success or failure depends on the mental factors just as much as the physical ones. The training of the mind of an athlete is called sports psychology. The use of sports psychology has a huge impact upon an athlete’s performance. The mental skills of a sport are just as important as the physical skills. All professional athletes use sports psychology. “If they aren’t currently using it, it’s almost guaranteed they’ve used it in the past, even if they are unaware they have” (Davis, Stephens, The Exploratorium 129). It’s hard to find an experienced athlete who hasn’t used sports psychology, because without it, they probably wouldn’t be where they are. The use of sports psychology is a crucial step to becoming a successful athlete.
Sports psychology continues to evolve in order to ensure that comprehensive and evidence-based psychological services are available for athletes and teams. Giving athletes an understanding of their psychological functioning, and building the ability to implement a range of psychological strategies in competition enables athletes to both execute their skills and thrive under pressure as they strive to reach their performance potential.
Sport and exercise psychology is a mandatory aspect of the sport science discipline. This discipline contributes to the various professional practices associated with physical activities such as - teaching of physical education, recreation and health promotion, and kinesiology related professions - because it plays a mental role for the participants. Sport and exercise psychologists view physical activity in several different ways: physical activity as a tool for health, physical activity as a tool for human potential, and physical activity as a tool for social change. This aspect of psychology may be the most important aspect of physical activity, because of the contributions of exercise and sport psychology to health, human potential, and social change.