Sport Psychology: What is it?

Sport Psychologist...Mental Strength Coach...Performance Coach...What the heck do these even mean?

At the end of the day, these are just titles and they all pretty much mean the same thing. A sport psychologist is a coach or trainer who specializes in the mental aspect of sport and performance. Sport psychologists help train you just like a personal trainer. The big difference is that we work with your thoughts, emotions, routines, etc. instead of your physical skills. Sport psychologists get your mind in the right state in order to perform at the best of your ability.

So what do sport psychologists do with athletes?

That's a phenomenal question that has a pretty complex answer because it is different every time. The order of the information we cover is going to change, and the specifics of their sport will change, but at the end of the day we cover a lot of the same topics with all our athletes. Some of these include:

Focus, motivation, visualization, pre-game routines, goal-setting, confidence, and resiliency.

We spend more time on certain subjects depending on what the athlete needs the most at the time. Every single athlete takes a different path when it comes to improving their mental performance. Some people pick up on certain skills quicker than others, but at the end of the day all that matters is that you learn and apply these skills to help you perform at a new level.

Sport psychology is a very unique field, but research is showing how vital it is and how beneficial it can be in leading an athlete toward elite level performance.

In the simplest terms... When someone asks me 'What is a sport psychologist?' I like to explain that I am a personal trainer for your mind. We teach you new skills and tricks that you can use in practice and competition to help you perform at the best of your abilities regardless of outside factors.

Here at Strecker Sport Psychology our goal is to help YOU perform at YOUR best and become the best version of yourself.

#sportpsychology #eliteperformance