• Description: SP-TCG-II builds on SP-TCG-I, offering further opportunity for guided discussion of shared reading, case and practice development consultation, and networking.  
• Details:
  • Eligibility: Participation in Introductory TCG or permission of instructor.
  • Dates: Meetings will be Wednesdays from 12 noon-1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
    Actual dates are:
    October 26, 2011
    November 16, 2011
    December 14, 2011
    January 11, 2012
    February 8, 2012
    March 7, 2012
    April 4, 2012
    May 2, 2012
  • Length of sessions: 1.5 hours
  • Text: Andersen, M. B. (2005). Sport psychology in practice. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
  • Fee:
    • $455.00 USD for professionals
    • $325.00 USD for advanced graduate students
  • CEU: Eligibility for 12 hours of APA-approved CE credit

by Kate F. Hays
Originally posted on Psychology Today Blogs

The Olympic torch is marching-well, running-inexorably toward Vancouver, Canada. The Winter Olympics are bearing down on us. If you’re an athlete, coach, parent, or sports fan, this countdown is well under way.

Even if you don’t have a natural affinity for sport, you’ll be drawn in by heart-wrenching up close ‘n’ personals or curious about an unfolding dramatic rivalry. You’ll hold your breath in sheer terror as you watch the careening luge sleds or beam with patriotic pride when “our” athletes medal yet again.

The biennial summer and winter Olympic events, though, have broader application than “merely” sport. These extraordinarily skilled and trained athletes provide a template for the issues and mental skills involved in optimal performance of any kind.

Experts in a recent segment of the CBC radio show “Spark” http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2010/01/spark-98-january-10-12-2010/ compared “single-purpose” with “multi-function” digital devices. Some are “purpose-built” to do a specific job very well, like Amazon’s Kindle. Others-our computers, or, more recently, smartphones with multiple apps-bundle many actions into one object.

By analogy, sport-and more specifically, the mental skills in excellent performance-is not just a “single-purpose” activity. Sport performance has relevance to a broader (multi-function) audience.

The field of sport psychology has a long-over 100 years-and interesting history, ranging from detailed attention to perceptual processes to mental skills training and broad investigations of perfectionism, injury, and eating disorders. Because there is a strong research base, hypotheses can be tested and meaningful treatments developed. Performance psychology suggests that what we know from sport psychology can be applied to the ways in which singers prepare for a recital or lawyers argue before a judge.

Over the past few years, I’ve been thinking about the shared specific characteristics of people we call “performers.” Whether “amateur” or professional, performers function in domains that expect extremely high standards. Further, performers need to:
• Excel in high-pressure contexts
• Perform in front of an (actual or implied) audience
• Bring their talents and skills into proficient action at a specific moment-that is, there is a temporal dimension
• Present a public “face” that may be different from their ordinary self
• Meet performance standards
• Respond to high external demands
• Demonstrate appropriate coping skills under pressure
• Handle judgments regarding their proficiency or excellence
• Face performance consequences.

As we watch these Olympics, let’s relish these individuals’ and teams’ skills and accomplishments. Let’s also use the events to reflect on relevant elements of our own performance. Let’s ask ourselves: Which characteristics apply to me and my work? What demands are similar? Are there some nuanced differences in my particular field? What do I want or need to do in order to excel?

by: Kate F. Hays
Originally posted on Psychology Today Blogs

What time is it?

Here!

This simple—even simplistic—9 word “pep cheer” packs a lot of power. Whether you experience it as a philosophical cue to savor each “unrepeatable moment” or recognize it as a pragmatic alert, the essence of performance involves being exquisitely in the present.

True at any time. Perhaps more important at this time of year—right now and right here. Athletes are in the final throes of preparation for the Winter Olympics—or they’re gearing up for winter holiday “camps” or major competitive events. December is multiple performance and high earning time for many musicians. Business executives are facing the end of the year, the final push before the books close.

At the same time, there is the press and stress of holiday cheer. It may be the additional food to cook, present to wrap, long line in a crowded mall, or hearty party when that’s the last thing you want to do.

And then there’s the situation at home. Family? Additional family? Maintaining tradition? Changing tradition?

We who live in northern climes won’t even layer in the complexities and distractions of weather.

How do you “perform” in all these roles, with all these challenges? How do you not only get through it all in one piece, but actually keep yourself present in the moment?

My client, Jan (this is a pseudonym, of course—I am legally bound to protect the identities of my clients), is a ski racer. On the slopes, she uses keywords to concentrate. For this week, she reminds herself “smooth” and “easy.”

John, who is performing his n^th Messiah, brings himself back continuously to the arc of the story line, Handel’s marvelous “word painting”—those onomatopaeic melodies and sounds—and the interweaving of voices.

James, on the other hand, has no difficulty staying focused at work. Responsible for supervising the laying off employees in his large corporation—now, of all times!—he has been preoccupied and irritable at home, tuning out his young kids. Two weeks ago, he made a pledge to himself—one that he has kept: no BlackBerry from 6-9 p.m. Scary at first, but satisfying to enact. And the paradoxical effect, not surprisingly, is that he’s more effective during the work day as well.

What do you do, to focus or re-focus yourself, whether now or at other times? You’re welcome to use the “pep cheer.” You can even bring those 9 words down to 2: Now! Here!

When it comes to achievement in life, sport is easily one of the most visible, globally and socially valued performance domains in society. Martin Seligman’s notion of the Victorious Life, or a life of achievement, conjures up visions of human bodies in motion: Breathless relay swimmers stretching every limb towards a wall of awaiting teammates, gymnasts sticking a landing after a high-flying double front dismount, or Dick Hoyt and his quadriplegic son, Rick, making their way across a finish line after an Ironman competition. For me, few sights are more elevating and inspiring than watching others push their mortal limits to achieve what was previously unachievable.

Excelling in sport takes much more than just physical ability and raw talent. Long before positive psychology was given a proper name, practitioners of sport psychology have been studying the requisite mindset and psychological attributes of athletes with the goal of illuminating how the mind can impact physical performance. Competitive athletics are high-stakes ventures that require time, commitment, and perseverance, which can often come at the cost of well-being. What we often don’t see behind the championship images portrayed in the media are the stories of their struggles and years and years of sacrifice. There is something very telling about the stigma that still surrounds sport psychology, and the mentality that only the weak and frail need the sport psychologists to help them fix what is wrong.
Positive psychology has brought with it an awareness that psychology is about much more than resolving pathology and frailty. Happiness and well-being are not by-products of an absence of illness, but desirable in its own right. Happy people generally experience more success in many different domains in life including marriage, relationships, work, and physical and psychological health, and reap many benefits through life, such as more frequently occupying positions of leadership and stronger interpersonal relationships. (1) It would make sense for this logic to be extended to the world of sport to safeguard athlete well being and enhance performance.

Looking back on my childhood as a competitive figure skater, I can’t help but wish I knew then even just a little bit of what I know now about positive psychology. I wish someone could have taught me about the connection between my explanatory style and my cognitions and emotions. I wish I understood the gravity of negative experiences and their uncanny ability to linger around long after the fleeting high from a success. I wish I learned of my strengths, instead of ruminating only about the weaknesses I had to shore up in order to succeed. I wish I realized that finding happiness was not just about standing at the top of a podium. Although hindsight is 20/20, I feel blessed that these unfulfilled wishes have pulled me toward the fields of positive and applied sport and exercise psychology, and a calling to connect the dots between these two fields. Stay tuned this week for simple tips on using positive psychology in sport!
Come back tomorrow for the first of three tips on applying positive psychology to sports.

For more information:
Lyubomirsky, S., King, L.A., & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803–855.