An Introduction for Athletes | Center for Sport Psychology and Athlete Mental Health

An Introduction for Athletes

Athletes at all competitive levels, from Olympians to professionals to collegians to high school and select players, use sport psychology strategies and principles to become mentally tough, improve their training, and ultimately reach their goals in sports competition. In fact, Olympic athletes and coaches have identified the KEY mental skills and strategies involved they associated with their success and enjoyment:

  • Regulating emotions
  • Learning to relax before and during competition
  • Setting effective goals
  • Building confidence through positive thinking
  • Visualizing success prior to performance
  • Learning to focus attention
  • Developing pre-performance routines

Our sport consultants can help you learn and effectively apply these and other sport psychology skills so you can maximize your training and performances. We also can work with teams to help them improve their communication, leadership, cohesion, and overall performances.

We also understand, though, that you are not just sport performers - you are students, sons/daughters, friends, workers…etc. who will experience a wide range of stressors and interpersonal concerns (e.g., relationships, anger) that can be detrimental. You also may experience more severe problems, such as depression, anxiety, drug/alcohol abuse, and eating disorders, which can affect you on and off the field. Our sport consultants can help with these types of concerns as well, and help you reclaim success, fun, and satisfaction in your sport.

For more information on our sport psychology services, visit our services page. In addition to our direct services, we offer a variety of free resources, including access to all of our Sport Psychology Newsletters and our Performance Notes.