Sports Psychology: a Matter of Magic?

In the world of physical activity and sports, psychology is a discipline that still has a long way to go. There is a lot of confusion about what the role of psychology is and what benefits it brings.

In my opinion, despite the progress that sports psychology has made today, its importance has not yet been understood.

There are people who see psychology as a fundamental part, others believe that it only works on an individual level with athletes, others that it should be dedicated only to high performance or that it is only useful for training phases, there are those who do not “believe” in it, those who think that it only serves to work on motivation, etc.

Sports psychology and its scope

There are different ways of thinking, something logical considering that people’s thinking differs greatly from one another. However, sometimes it is too similar.

Within these views on sports psychology, there seems to be one that, in my opinion, is unfortunately shared by many professionals (or not so many) in the world of sports. I have observed this in comments, questions that people have asked me, requests for help, etc., both from people who value our work in this field as something important, and from others who do not have as much faith in its usefulness.

Whether due to extra confidence or a lack of knowledge, or a reaction caused by frustration derived from a competitive situation many times coaches and athletes come in search of us when “almost all the fish are already sold” to see if we are capable of solving a situation that they have been trying for a long time, or not, in a few hours.

I would like to know what kind of magic psychologists think we can do to think that we can turn their situation 180 degrees, dedicating a tenth of the time that they have dedicated during an entire season, without achieving it. Because a reality is that, many times, Our work is counted on when there is no other option, of “putting out fires”, forgetting preventive tasks. And those times, they usually coincide with situations that are already difficult to salvage.

The worst thing about all this is that in the end, in most cases, the situation does not change enough, reinforcing the idea that the sports psychology professional should not dedicate themselves to sports and should be limited to being in a clinical consultation following the medical model, most popular in our sector.

I dedicate this article to comment on this situation, without wanting to convince people of the importance of my work, with the sole intention of helping to understand that psychologists do not have a miracle pill that will change things overnight.

There are no shortcuts: change requires effort

Like any physical conditioning or technical-tactical training, psychological training requires time, work and dedication. If a runner seeks to increase his endurance, he will not achieve it in two workouts, but will require constant work through which Over time, you will obtain a series of improvements until you reach the desired performance In the same way, if this runner wanted to optimize the management of concentration and relaxation prior to the competition, a day or two of practice would not be enough to acquire that skill.

Just as it happens with training, the same happens with the work of the sports psychologist. Just like a coach who comes new to a team, he needs to earn the trust of the group, get them to believe in his work and follow him in his goals; A sports psychologist needs to know the people with whom he is going to work and, fundamentally, gain their trust so that they can work and develop their proposals, convinced that this will help them achieve their objectives.

All work well done, in the long term, depends on the same factors: time, dedication, perseverance; miracles do not exist. Success in achieving objectives is preceded by the combination of interdisciplinary training that covers the physical, technical-tactical and mental areas; and the training will be of higher quality, to the extent that each of its aspects is carried out by a professional in that field.

Luckily, not everything is so black. Day by day, the importance of our work in the world of sports and physical activity is increasingly recognized and we are acquiring greater relevance as another important figure within the sports field. I look at reality with hope, trusting that with work and perseverance we will be able to make our way, demolishing this and other myths that are created around us and giving way to a reality in which we are valued as just another professional. It takes time.