Self-talk and Sport Performance
Self-talk in sport performance is crucial for the individual’s success no matter what sport is being played. This can be said for people that take part in sports and everyone else, if there is no positive sense of self-talk one cannot expect to perform well under any circumstance. This topic is of substance because it relates to my journey throughout college to learn about the aspects of psychology. Sport psychology is the specific discipline that I would like to further expand into. Research on this subject alludes to my future dreams of becoming a sport psychologist and it is also a gateway into how people can use things like self-talk to their advantage. College is no easy path for anyone regardless of the institution involved, there is an uptick in schoolwork as well as trying to balance more adult like activity. What comes with those days or times where we may feel like we are burnt out or bummed. This is where important self-talk really stood out for me. It came with the comforting realization that although I can get to a point of burn out, I am able to recognize it and reconstruct thoughts into more positive affirmations. As stated in a study of self- talk and sports performance, “In the Van Raalte et al. study, students using a positive self-talk cue (“I can do it”) performed better on a dart throwing accuracy task than did students in a control group.” This is clear evidence that something as simple as four words can improve your performance in everyday tasks. When times get tough, and it is getting hard to push forward it would be optimal to have some sort of way to give ourselves that extra boost or push that we need. This is exactly why self-talk is a topic of importance and significance to me as it is so simple yet so powerful. The words that we speak are also directly linked to our thought processes. While it is imperative to understand that we must shape our thoughts in a positive light, it is important to remind yourself that we are also not our thoughts. By this I mean that we should give ourselves positive self-talk, but we must understand that when things do not fall in our favor that our thoughts do not control us or say who we are. The constant reaffirmation of self-talk and inner guidance is the way to successfully navigate through any aspect of life. An article about self-talk and sport performance states, “overall, our findings suggest that self-talk strategies can make a valuable contribution to skill acquisition, learning, and task performance enhancement in sport (Anderson, 1997)”.
Self-talk in sport performance is crucial for the individual’s success no matter what sport is being played. This can be said for people that take part in sports and everyone else, if there is no positive sense of self-talk one cannot expect to perform well under any circumstance. This topic is of substance because it relates to my journey throughout college to learn about the aspects of psychology. Sport psychology is the specific discipline that I would like to further expand into. Research on this subject alludes to my future dreams of becoming a sport psychologist and it is also a gateway into how people can use things like self-talk to their advantage. College is no easy path for anyone regardless of the institution involved, there is an uptick in schoolwork as well as trying to balance more adult like activity. What comes with those days or times where we may feel like we are burnt out or bummed. This is where important self-talk really stood out for me. It came with the comforting realization that although I can get to a point of burn out, I am able to recognize it and reconstruct thoughts into more positive affirmations. As stated in a study of self- talk and sports performance, “In the Van Raalte et al. study, students using a positive self-talk cue (“I can do it”) performed better on a dart throwing accuracy task than did students in a control group.” This is clear evidence that something as simple as four words can improve your performance in everyday tasks. When times get tough, and it is getting hard to push forward it would be optimal to have some sort of way to give ourselves that extra boost or push that we need. This is exactly why self-talk is a topic of importance and significance to me as it is so simple yet so powerful. The words that we speak are also directly linked to our thought processes. While it is imperative to understand that we must shape our thoughts in a positive light, it is important to remind yourself that we are also not our thoughts. By this I mean that we should give ourselves positive self-talk, but we must understand that when things do not fall in our favor that our thoughts do not control us or say who we are. The constant reaffirmation of self-talk and inner guidance is the way to successfully navigate through any aspect of life. An article about self-talk and sport performance states, “overall, our findings suggest that self-talk strategies can make a valuable contribution to skill acquisition, learning, and task performance enhancement in sport (Anderson, 1997)”.
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