Sports Psyc

            Sports Psychology is "psychological and mental factors that influence and are influenced by participation and performance in sport, exercise, and physical activity."( AAASP online, 2002, "What is sports psychology", para.1) A sports psychologist also uses the knowledge gained through his/her studies of sports psychology and tries to apply it to everyday settings.
             When one thinks of the word psychology, a sport isn't the first thing they associate with it. To better understand what sports psychology is, we first have to understand what exactly a sports psychologist is and what service he or she provide for a patient. And to further understand the topic we have to outline a few of their techniques and methods in treating a patient. .
             A sports psychologist has two main areas of focus. The first one is helping an athlete use psychological factors to optimize his or her own mental health, and to help that person to reach his/her peak performance level. The second is understanding how the participation in sports and exercise effects the psychological development throughout an individuals lifespan. A sports psychologist's job is to try and get an athlete into the zone of optimal functioning (ZOF). To do this they first have to figure out what the mental or physical block that is preventing a person from reaching that zone. Some examples of these mental and physical blocks are, a football player that just recovered from an ankle sprain might be afraid to make a cut-back or plant their feet and block, because they think they could sprain their ankle again. Another is maybe a softball player who is in a serious hitting slump. The sports psychologist might have these people do mental exercises or have them change the way they approach a physical activity.
             To reach the zone of optimal functioning we first have to understand what the "zone" is. When someone says he/she is in the zone they are usually referring to when someone is a step above the competition, and nothing can stop them, that all their movements and techniques are flawless, but what is the "zone" really.