The psychology of sport is a branch of psychology. Study our mental processes and behavior during a sporting activity. This applied science seeks to know and optimize the internal conditions of the athlete.
Through the psychology of sport we seek to express the physical, technical and tactical potential acquired in the preparation process. Thus, researchers are studying the different psychological processes that influence the behavior of athletes.
- These processes refer to concepts such as motivation.
- Emotional processes and their influence on the performance of the athlete.
- Various aspects related to the intervention of psychology in performance.
- Initiation and health sport are also studied.
In this way, the sports psychologist helps the competitor manage stress, as stress causes emotional and behavioral disorganization that can affect their performance.
It was from 1995, with the appearance of the Book of Goleman Emotional Intelligence, that the study of emotional intelligence began and developed in various media, both scientific and non-scientific, from there has been growing social and scientific interest in emotional processes. it will not appear in the sporting context until 2001, when the first studies will begin to appear, so it is from 2009 that these studies begin more fully.
Emotional intelligence is another way of understanding intelligence, with it we go beyond cognitive aspects, such as memory and the ability to solve problems.
The concept of emotional intelligence is above all our ability to effectively target others and ourselves, but not only that, it’s also about connecting with our emotions, managing them, motivating us, slowing down certain impulses, overcoming frustrations. Daniel Goleman, the guru of emotional intelligence, explains that in his focus on it, there are four basic dimensions that structure it:
In sport, the demands and demands of the competition are increasing, and the differences are increasingly marked by factors that do not derive directly from physical training itself, such as nutrition or psychology, so the psychology of sport is responsible for analyzing, studying and observing the behaviors, reactions and emotional responses of the individual or team.
For this, is it necessary? Positively control your emotions or redirect them so they don’t negatively influence the sporting gesture and why emotional intelligence?Because in sport we have to make quick and appropriate decisions.
Emotional intelligence is very interesting for the sports collective, intrapersonal and interpersonal elements have a direct application, self-knowledge, self-regulation of emotions, personal motivation, social skills and empathy are tools that each athlete manages to a greater or lesser degree.
Many techniques of relaxation, concentration, visualization, etc. are shared. Increasingly, clubs, federations and coaches are hiring professionals to implement these techniques, with the aim of improving the performance of athletes.
Many tools shared by emotional intelligence and sport have a main feature, an extremely convenient feature, especially for an application in everyday life.
Emotional intelligence in sport is a very interesting area that can bring us countless benefits.
The importance of an athlete being able to control their emotions, in relation to the practice of sport, is evident in several studies. Hanin and Sirja (1995) found that emotions related to sporting success have large individual areas.
However, at the group level, this is not the case, each athlete reacts differently to stress, which requires a degree of positive or negative emotions that give it an optimal performance point in the game situation.
However, the study of emotional intelligence in sport has been limited, which draws attention when you consider the importance that this process has in other areas, such as education or work in other occupations, however, what we are learning from the few but more studies on the subject is that emotional intelligence is very important for athletic performance.
Emotional intelligence in sport can lead to fewer sporting losses, higher athletic performance and fewer abandonments. On the other hand, emotional intelligence is a construction closely related to personality that acts as a determining factor when the athlete is under pressure.
In the face of these pressure situations, the athlete must make decisions in fractions of a second, generating large spikes in stress, so it is necessary for every athlete, especially the elite, to train at this level, in addition to the benefits of emotional intelligence. in sport can be summarized below:
As we see, the benefits of emotional intelligence in sport are numerous, although the research body that supports them is not yet very dense, however, this number is increasing and, as they say in sport, a world where a second or a few centimeters can separate the winner from the loser, the small big factors, such as emotional intelligence , are of great importance.