For people who are unfamiliar with sports psychology but interested in working in the sports industry, finding out what a typical day is like for a sports psychologist might help make the decision for what career path to pursue. With an interest in all aspects of athletics combined with an interest in health and well-being, an individual might consider the field of sports psychology.
Supporting Athletes
In a typical day, most sports psychologists will spend a significant amount of time working in an office setting directly with athletes and coaches at both the amateur and professional levels. Sessions might also take place during a practice or on the court or field of the sport to best diagnose and identify issues.
One aspect of care that sports psychologist focus on is supporting the emotional well-being of players and coaching staff. A lot of pressure can be placed on athletes and teams to win, and this pressure can cause stress-related responses in everyone associated with a sport or sports organization. Sports psychologists assist in the care and counseling for this stress. Aggression, confidence, anger, and lack of an ability to operate in a team-oriented position are also issues that might be targeted in these sessions.
Sports psychologists also help athletes through the support needed during physical injury or rehabilitation. It can be difficult to face the potential effects of a long-term or career-ending injury, and sports psychologists are integral in helping athletes face these possibilities with health responses. For additional information on the issues related to athlete injury, review the report on injured collegiate athletes athttp://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=srhonorsprog.
Reports and Paperwork
In addition to the connection and interaction with sports organization members, sports psychologists are also likely to spend a significant portion of their day at work completing reports, writing recommendations, and discussing findings of sessions. Additionally, sports psychologists might deal with operations of business such as billing, insurance claims, and scheduling.
The majority of this type of work is done in a private office setting. This particular area of the sports psychologist career description also involves working with computers and other technology, a skill that can also be utilized in research activities and projects.
Research and Analysis
The field of sports psychology has been beneficial for not just helping athletes and other athletic professionals through a career, but it has also been a vital part of developing theory, practice methods, and training techniques to improve performance. Research has been particularly helpful for identifying ways in which to help athletes improve performance through coaching and training methods. When dealing with research, sports psychologists will spend a majority of time focused on observation, report writing, analysis, assessment, and developing conclusions.
Additional information on the tasks involved in a sports psychologist career can be found at the American Psychological Association at http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sport-psychologists.aspx.
Whether interested in working directly with athletes or in researching new techniques for coaching, sports psychology can be a rewarding and satisfying career. Depending on the area of interest, a future sports psychologist could spend a work day performing a number of different tasks.
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