The Significant Role Of Psychological Resilience In Sports

According to World Health Organization (WHO), "Mental health is a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential ,can cope up with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community". This wholesome health is the definitive goal for every individual that a psychologist would aspire to promote. Literature cites researches wherein sports have been found to play a significant role in promoting health ( Zullig and White, 2010, Cohen, 2013 ). Not only has WHO highlighted that wellbeing is a multidimensional concept, but has also brought out the significant role of resilience in the same. Psychological resilience is defined as an individual's

It plays a major role within sports as it can lend benefits to athletes in their performance. The another field of study in which it is very prominent is the field of positive psychology.

Positive psychology involves various components such a vitality, optimism, self-determination which are directly related to the enhancement of performance of sports person's. According to Gucciardi & Gordon (2009),"Resilience is key notion to mental toughness". Today in the field of positive Psychology, the term resilience covers all the phrases such as snap back, come back etc under it.

According to Mummery, Schofield & Perry( 2004), Resilience has been defined as “a protective mechanism thought to emerge from specific personality features, such as self-esteem, or from aspects of social support and adaptive coping resources and strategies". A study conducted by David Fletcher &Mustafa Sarker (2012) suggests that numerous psychological factors such as positive personality, motivation, confidence, focus etc are the important in order to makes up the world’s best Sports Persons different from other Sports Persons and also, protect them from the potential negative effect of stressors by influencing their challenge appraisal and

A study conducted by (Mohammad Ali Salehi Nezhad, Mohammad Ali Besharat , 2010) suggests that resilience is positively associated to sport achievement and psychological well-being and is inversely associated to psychological stress and stressful situations. Thus, the performance is improved if the individual is resilient and also, it leads to psychological well-being.

The findings from above mentioned study state that resilience is the key to boost up one's performance and plays a major role in maintaining a positive mental state during the adversities.

It leads to psychological well-being and help individuals to function normally in their daily life. It helps in building up malleability in surroundings and in personal life situations. The stressors help in building up what we call as 'mental toughness' .Dr Peter Clough, (2002) defines mental toughness as "the capacity of an individual to deal effectively with stressors, pressures and challenges, and perform to the best of their ability, irrespective of the circumstances in which they find themselves".

Thus, An individual who is resilient will be good at management of stressors and will be having a positive approach towards life situations. Resilience will have a positive relation to mental as well as physical well -being in contrast to an individual who is less resilient.

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