Assessment in Applied Sport Psychology is a comprehensive resource that will help practitioners gain a deep understanding of assessment in order to build trusting relationships and effective intervention plans that address the needs and goals of their clients.
The aim of Comprehensive Applied Sport Psychology (CASP) is to challenge our field to look beyond its current status and propel applied sport psychology and mental training forward and outward with a broad and multi-layered examination of everything psychological, emotionally, and socially that the athletic community contends with in pursuit of athletic success and that sport psychologists and mental trainers do in their professional capacities. Comprehensive Applied Sport Psychology is the first professional book aimed at offering a truly expansive and deep exploration of just about everything that applied sport psychologists, consultants and mental trainers do in their work. CASP plumbs the depths of the athletic mind including attitudes, psychological and emotional obstacles, mental "muscles" and mental "tools," quality of sport training, the health and well-being of athletes, and other areas that are essential to athletic success. This new volume examines not only the many ways that consultants impact athletes, but also explores their work with coaches, teams, parents, and interdisciplinary groups such as sports medicine team and sports management. The book is grounded in both the latest theory and research, thus making it a valuable part of graduate training in applied sport psychology, as well as a practical resource for consultants who work directly with athletes, coaches, teams, and parents. The goal of CASP, in collaboration with dozens of the leading minds in the field, is to create the definitive guide to what applied sport psychology and mental training are and do.
Will the athlete you're working with put it all together when everything is on the line? What can you do to make sure an athlete performs best when it really counts? Are certain conditions more likely to lead to success (or failure) for her? Will he be able and willing to make the changes required to be more successful? In today's highly competitive environment the answers to these questions often spell the difference between success and failure not only for individuals but also for entire teams and organisations. At the upper levels of performance in situations where competing individuals and teams have all the technical skill and tactical knowledge required to be successful psychological factors become the most important determinants of outcome. The ability to control emotions to communicate effectively and to perform under pressure is what separates winners from losers. Sport psychologists are beginning to uncover the links between thought processes and physiology; as a result today's testing tools have much greater utility and relevance than ever before. Today more than ever before sport psychology professionals must have the skills necessary to bridge the worlds of science and application.
Now available in paperback, the Routledge Handbook of Applied Sport Psychology is a definitive guide to the theory and practice of applied sport psychology. It goes further than any other book in surveying the full variety of issues that practising sport psychologists will confront in their working lives. It introduces the most important tools and skills that psychologists will need to be truly helpful to their clients, and it also adopts a holistic definition of the role of the sport psychologist, explaining how effective counseling, assessment, and therapeutic models can add important extra dimensions to professional practice. The book is divided into seven thematic sections, addressing: counseling; assessment; theoretical and therapeutic models; issues for the individual athlete, from injury and overtraining to depression; issues for teams, from conflict resolution to travel; working with special populations; mental skills, such as imagery, goal setting, and concentration. Moving beyond the traditional tracks of clinical psychology and performance enhancement, the authors in this book argue convincingly that psychologists would benefit from attempting to understand athletes’ social and familial contexts, their health, happiness, and interpersonal dynamics in the broadest sense, if they are to serve their clients’ best interests. With contributions from many of the world’s leading sport psychologists, and with clear descriptions of best practice in each chapter, the Routledge Handbook of Applied Sport Psychology is essential reading for all serious students and practitioners of sport psychology, counseling, applied sport science, health psychology, and related fields.
Successful sport psychology professionals have benefitted from stimulating conversations, challenging questions, support, camaraderie, guidance, and advice offered by their graduate school classmates. Peer relationships are vital and valued aspects of professional development, with many of the relationships formed during school, serving as the closest confidences and strongest friendships throughout careers and lifetimes. Yet, the voices and experiences of fellow graduate students are sparsely reported in the sport psychology literature, and profoundly silent in textbooks. The Peer Guide to Applied Sport Psychology for Consultants in Training provides a platform for the influential voices of peers, with whom graduate students relate and connect on a visceral level. Mimicking the environment of a thriving classroom, each chapter within the Peer Guide is primarily authored by graduate students, or in some cases recent graduates, with an academic mentor serving a secondary role. The chapter topics were selected by the editors—all of whom are experienced graduate instructors and have taught and mentored many young professionals—as areas where graduate students are commonly challenged, and correspondingly, where peer support and guidance are most valued. These topics include developing a theoretical orientation to performance excellence, utilizing science to guide practice, ethics, getting the most from supervision, initial experiences in consultation, working with both individuals and groups, and multicultural considerations. The chapters are written in a personal, relatable tone and provide science and practice, challenge and comfort, humor and vulnerability, and insights and anecdotes that are particularly meaningful and accessible coming from peers. A unique addition to the sport psychology literature, this volume is a key resource for developing and established consultants alike.
Sport psychology is a topic of growing interest. Many professionals read journals such as The International Journal of Sports, Journal of Sport Behavior, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, and The Sport Psychologist. In August 2008, Monitor on Psychology, the monthly publication of the American Psychological Association (APA), featured a special issue on sport psychology. Indeed, Division 47 of APA is devoted to "the scientific, educational, and clinical foundations of exercise and sport psychology." The North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) and the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AAASP) convene conferences each year to present scientific findings and new developments in a rapidly expanding field. The AAASP and other organizations also qualify professionals as certified sport and exercise psychology consultants. Finally, a visit to any bookstore will reveal the lay public’s fascination with sports, as revealed in numerous self-help books and guides to perfecting athletic performance. Behavioral psychologists have studied sport psychology for more than three decades (Martin, Thompson, & Regehr, 2004). Applied behavior analysis (ABA), in particular, has been an instrumental approach to behavioral coaching in many sports, including baseball (Osborne, Rudrud, & Zezoney, 1990), basketball (Pates, Cummings, & Maynard, 2002), figure skating (Ming & Martin, 1996), football (Ward & Carnes, 2002), golf (Pates, Oliver, & Maynard, 2001), ice hockey (Rogerson & Hrycaiko, 2002), soccer (Brobst & Ward, 2002), swimming (Hume & Crossman, 1992), and tennis (Allison & Ayllon, 1980). ABA stresses the application of learning theory principles, objective measurement of athletic skills, controlled outcome evaluation, and socially significant behavior-change. Cognitive behavior therapy, or CBT, also has been a dominant approach to psychological intervention in sports (Meyers, Whelan, & Murphy, 1996; Weinberg & Comar, 1994). CBT addresses athletic performance through cognitive-change methods combined with behavioral practice and environmental modifications. The purpose of the book described in this proposal is to compile the most recent experimental and applied research in behavioral sport psychology. Several journal articles have reviewed critical dimensions of behavioral sport psychology (Martin et al., 2004; Martin, Vause, & Schwartzman, 2005) but no book has covered the topic with an emphasis on ABA and CBT methodology and practice. Accordingly, Behavioral Sport Psychology: Evidence-Based Approaches to Performance Enhancement is a first of its kind volume.
Advances in Applied Sport Psychology aims to bridge the gap between research and practice in contemporary sport psychology. Now available in paperback, the book draws together reviews of cutting edge research in key areas of applied sport psychology, assesses the implications of this research for current practice, and explores future avenues of research within each thematic area. This book surveys the scientific literature underpinning the most important skills and techniques employed in contemporary sport psychology, examining key topics such as: imagery goal setting self-talk stress management team building efficacy management attention control emotion regulation mental toughness. Representing the most up-to-date review of current scientific research, theory and practice in sport psychology, this book is a vital resource for all advanced students, researchers and practitioners working with athletes and sports performers.
Assessment in Applied Sport Psychology is a comprehensive resource that offers both students and professionals the opportunity to hone their skills to help their clients, starting with the initial consultation and lasting through a long-term relationship. In this text, Jim Taylor and a team of sport psychology experts help practitioners gain a deep understanding of assessment in order to build trusting relationships and effective intervention plans that address the needs and goals of their clients. Part I of Assessment in Applied Sport Psychology covers topics such as the importance of assessment, the appropriateness of qualitative and quantitative assessment, ethical issues that can arise from assessment, and the impact of diversity in the use of assessment. Part II introduces readers to six ways that consultants can assess athletes: mental health screening, personality tests, sport-specific objective measures, interviewing, observation, and applied psychophysiology. Chapters in this section explain the strengths and weaknesses of each approach—for example, when traditional pencil-and-paper and observation approaches may be more appropriate than interviewing—and offer consultants a more complete toolbox of assessments to use when working with athletes. Part III addresses special issues, such as career transition, talent identification, and sport injury and rehabilitation. One chapter is devoted to the hot-button issue of sport-related concussions. Tables at the end of most chapters in parts II and III contain invaluable information about each of the assessment tools described, including its purpose, publication details, and how to obtain it. Chapters also contain sidebars that provide sample scenarios, recommended approaches, and exercises to use with clients. Assessment in Applied Sport Psychology works toward two main goals. The first is to help consultants gain a complete understanding of their clients through the use of a broad range of assessment tools. The second is to show consultants how to ethically and effectively use assessments to develop a comprehensive understanding of their clients, thus enabling them to assist their clients in achieving their competitive and personal goals.