Importance of psychology
  • DorothyG December 2010
    There is alot of mind moulding going on in sport these days - does it make much difference and if so how??? because i dont see the benifit to be honest - either u have it in your mind or you dont - Any taughts on this???
  • Flynner January 2011
    Either you have it or you don't.... So what if you don't have it? And your from a traditionally weaker county and your minor teams can compete quite well physically and in terms of skill in challenge matches and in training but then go out in championship against perceived gaelic football strongholds and fold without a challenge.
    E.g. Last year Kilkenny's minors beat Longford in the leinster league and lost 6:29 to 0:0 to Meath in the championship.
    What do you do then? Accept that you don't have it and give up?
    Surely you can see that sports psychologists has a role to play when a individual or team have a challenge to face that isn't down to pure ability.
  • macsport1 February 2011
    I've read a bit about sport psychology and the profession. It is a respected profession in golf. But from what I hear there are only a few registered sport psychologists in Ireland. One of them is a professor in the psychology department in UCD. I think you need to be registered before you can practice properly. I can't imagine anyone could do a good job without a PhD in psychology and all the training. When I think of my club team, they'd have a heck of job but it would help the coaches at least
  • dudly May 2011
    Waterford I.T. has a very good Sport psychology masters course. sport psychology can be a massive asset to a team and their coach if they buy into it. the biggest issue is the fact that many people see it as a quick fix, "will you come in and motivate the lads? (the night before the county final) it does not work that way. it takes a long time to understand players and sometimes even longer to "fix" it. studies have shown up to six weeks for real change. but a good sport psychologist can be very helpful in helping achieve repeatable, consistent performances.
  • google80 May 2011
    our club got a sports performance coach in a few years ago

    we had reached 6 semi finals in the county in 9 years but never got to the final. he did 4/5 sessions with us about visualisation, positive thinking, trigger word meditation, . I feel it was a big help to us winning the semi and getting into the final.
    now, we didn't perform in the final (due to injuries, lack of time to prepare between semi and final) but we got over a huge hurdle that year in just getting to the final.

    in any game, if both teams/players are 100% physically fit then the main thing that will seperate them is their mental fitness/strength
  • sportbilly November 2011
    I think I am willing to be open to anything that can improve my performance as a coach or my players performance on the pitch. A lot of the techniques thought by mental fitness coaches are scientifically backed up so I will always us them. You don't really need to be a qualified sport psychologist. We recently used a guy with a sport science degree and qualifications in NLP and it was brilliant. Not all the players respond to it but it is worth doing. In terms of you have it or don't is like saying your either fast or your not. You may not have the genetics to be the fastest on the pitch but with proper training you can certainly improve!

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