Sports Pharmacology

SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY
• An athlete’s psychological skill level determines whether tasks

performed effortlessly at training can be reproduced in front of
thousands of fans or under the scrutiny of a coach fi nalizing an
Olympic squad
Control of arousal level for optimal
performance
• Performance—the execution of skills in a competitive environment
before an audience or judges—is facilitated by the athlete being in
the optimum psychological state . Athletes oft en describe the feeling
of being in their optimum arousal zone as ‘feeling in sync’ or ‘being in
the flow’
Mental imagery
• Mental imagery, also called mental rehearsal, is an experience that
resembles sporting experience but occurs without the activity being
performed.
• Downhill skiers provide a good example of the use of mental imagery.
• As well as being used to enhance performance of ‘closed skills’ (when
there are no variables other than the player and the ball, e.g.
gymnastics, golf, serving at tennis), mental imagery can be used for
‘open skills’ where opponents infl uence the situation
• Mental imagery can be used to develop coping strategies for sporting
situations through a process known as ‘stress inoculation’.
WHEN IT SHOULD BE USED
• Mental imagery should be used before practise sessions and,
depending on the sport, before and during competition.
• Mental imagery should be undertaken three to four times a week for
about 10 minutes per day (two 5-minute sessions) progressing to six
to seven times per week during the last two weeks before the major
competition
Progressive muscle relaxation
• There are numerous techniques to obtain muscle relaxation. One
simple, effective method is called progressive muscle relaxation. Th is
involves contracting and relaxing specific muscle groups in turn.
• It teaches awareness of the feeling of relaxation to make the athlete
more body-aware.
CENTERING
• Progressive muscular relaxation requires several minutes to perform
but the psychologically skilled athlete can produce a similar eff ect
with a technique called centering that only requires a few seconds to
perform.
• One method to learn centering is for athletes to practice for 3
minutes at a time for a total of 30 minutes a day and begin by
completing sets of three long deep breaths
ROUTINES
• Routine prepares the athlete mentally and physically for training or
performance. Adopting specifi c pre-event routines improves
consistency of performance
• Th e athlete must have the fl exibility to modify the routine by adding
to, or subtracting from, as competition schedules demand
ROUTINE FOR PERFORMANCE
• One practical and highly successful way of providing such athletes
with feedback and reinforcing the need to re-start their routine is
with the use of transceivers between the coach and athlete
Positive self-talk
• Training for positive self-talk involves eradication of inappropriate
thoughts, such as ‘I can’t get this shot’, ‘I never play well against
Lauren’, and replacing these with positive thoughts and words that
refl ect an appropriate focus on cues.
Goal-setting
• Athletes often have conficting goals that must be prioritized. Because
of time constraints, they need to list specifically what is being
attempted and plan long-, medium- and short-term goals.
Modification of harmful psychological
characteristics
• Athletes have psychological characteristics that may be either benefi
cial or harmful to their sporting endeavors in diff erent situations.
• An example of harmful psychological characteristics can be described
as the syndrome of the ‘overmotivated underachiever’
Mental skills’ training and relaxation
• Water flotation tanks
Music
• Music is widely used by athletes as part of their routine in preparation
for sporting competition.
• Massage
Mental skills’ training aiding physical
preparation for sport
• Facilitating physical training
Psychological training can help an athlete improve physical factors, such
as speed and strength, but this is oft en overlooked. Centering improves
the athlete’s awareness of muscle anatomy and tone
• Enhancing motor skill development
The usefulness of psychological techniques to develop skill levels is
broadly acknowledged but less widely practiced. Skills must be
acquired, maintained and often added together in sequences (e.g. in
gymnastics routines or field events).
Facilitating rehabilitation
• After major injury many sportspeople have a fear of reinjury and,
thus, mental skills may help them to rehabilitate effectively. Injured
players can use cognitive imagery to learn and properly perform the
rehabilitation exercises
The roles of a sports psychologist in a team
• Problems can arise when players are uncertain about their roles or
have, for example, a ‘lesser’ role in their representative team
compared with their club team
• Although the coach will talk to the athlete, it is oft en difficult for the
athlete to be totally frank about his or her feelings to the coach.
• Goal-setting is a way of minimizing the frustration of unrealistic
expectations
OFF FIELD TEAM
• The off -fi eld team will vary from a coach and manager for small
sporting teams to one including coach, assistant coaches, managers,
medical and paramedical staff , sports science personnel and a sports
psychologist for elite teams.
• MEETINGS-As the psychologist is trained to facilitate communication
and organization, he or she can ensure effective cooperation among
the off -fi eld team
• DEFINING ROLES-The off -fi eld team must be clearly aware of
responsibilities and it can be useful to list these formally so that
nothing is overlooked and no tasks duplicated
Sports psychologist’s role with the coach
• Examples of personal development skills that a coach can fi nd useful
include: how to plan meetings; how to communicate with players in
meetings and individually; when to talk to players; how much to say
at a pregame address; as well as how to provide positive and negative
feedback.
SPORTS PHARMACOLOGY
WHY ATHLETS TAKES DRUGS ???
• knowledge or a belief that their competitors are taking drugs

• • a determination to do anything possible to attain success
• • direct or indirect pressure from coaches, parents and peers
• pressure from government and/or authorities themselves (e.g.
Eastern block countries during the 1960s to 1990s)
• • lack of access to legal and natural methods to enhance performance
(e.g. nutrition, psychology, recovery)
• • community attitudes and expectations regarding success and
performance
• • financial rewards
• • influence from the media in facilitating these expectations and
rewards.

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SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

• An athlete’s psychological skill level determines whether tasks

• knowledge or a belief that their competitors are taking drugs

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