anxiety

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Sport psychology is a young field within the psychology community today. The field came to existence in recent years because “sport specialists in all areas of sports discovered that two equally skilled athletes did not achieve the same results in performance.” At a high level of competition, what makes the difference is the athlete’s mental readiness to perform. Sports specialists then realized that “the mental preparation of athletes was as important as the physical preparation. Bellon (2006) stated that, “Athletes have to mentally train to maximize their potential” (p. 1). Based on past and recent studies, the field of sport psychology has proven its effectiveness on athletes and artists alike. Today, sports psychology is continuing to grow “based on the principles of psychology which focus on the enhancement of social, mental, artistic and athletic performance, as well as on general psychological benefits and human enrichment” (Olevsky, 2012, p. 1).
Sometime within every child’s life, they most likely have dreamed of becoming a famous basketball player or concert pianist and wanting to be the center of attention within the spotlight. However, we all develop into individuals that become aware of our own environment and self; not only judging from the internal perceptive, but from how the external world views us as well. These universal fears and anxieties have been known to make dreams either come true or destroying them. When it comes to most research, it usually does not lack possible flaws and for the hope of future implications. According to Humara (1999), “the main problem that research on the relationship between anxiety and performance has encountered is that researchers have not adequately operationally defined the cons...

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...a at Greensboro). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 112. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304964024?accountid=7374. (304964024).
Suinn, R. M. (2005). Behavioral intervention for stress management in sports. International Journal Of Stress Management, 12(4), 343-362. doi:10.1037/1072-5245.12.4.343
Tenenbaum, G., Edmonds, W. A., & Eccles, D. W. (2008). Emotions, Coping Strategies, and Performance: A Conceptual Framework for Defining Affect-Related Performance Zones. Military Psychology (Taylor & Francis Ltd), 2011-37. doi:10.1080/08995600701804772
Wilson, M., Smith, N. C., & Holmes, P. S. (2007). The role of effort in influencing the effect of anxiety on performance: Testing the conflicting predictions of processing efficiency theory and the conscious processing hypothesis. British Journal Of Psychology, 98(3), 411-428. doi:10.1348/000712606X133047

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