You may, or may not, have heard of Sport Psychology before. It’s a field that has certainly been growing in recent decades, and it was present for the teams in the recent Super Bowl, and is present at the ongoing 2026 Winter Olympic Games. But what is Sport Psychology exactly? The American Psychological Association has a useful definition to start with - “Sport Psychology is a proficiency that uses psychological knowledge and skills to address optimal performance and well-being of athletes, developmental and social aspects of sports participation, and systemic issues associated with sports settings and organizations.”
Essentially, it’s about applying psychological principles towards sport-specific contexts. Yet, spot psychology involves its own set of scientific theory and research, its own assessment and operational techniques/tools, and incorporates from other avenues of research - including exercise sciences. It also doesn’t have to be towards just sports. The psychological principles have been implemented successfully towards other types of performance - performing arts - such as dancing or acting, academics, with chefs, first responders, surgeons, corporate environments, and more.
The psychological principles above are often referred to as mental skills, and here is a menu of
what some of them are:
- Confidence and Self-Esteem
- Focus/Attention/Concentration
- Motivation
- Goal-Setting
- Learning/Skill Attainment
- Work Ethic
- Communication and Connection (with teammates/fellow performers, coaches, etc.)
- Increased Mindfulness
- Time Management
- Reducing Burnout
- Managing Performance Anxiety
- Improvement of Sleep and Mood
- Recovery from an injury
- Adjusting to different roles/levels
- Improving/Enhancing Performance overall
Do any of these aspects sound like something you could use in your job or hobby? Or in your everyday life? We wouldn’t be surprised! Especially, for both Dr. Olivia Kimmel and myself, Dr. Dylan Vas. An example of how this might play out: sometimes, our thoughts can become distracting - whether we are thinking about what will happen next, or about something going on in our lives outside of sport/work. With mindfulness skills and tools, we can learn to let go of these distracting thoughts, and turn our attention back to the task at hand and increase our focus.
This displays the core goals of Sport Psychology, which are to enhance not only performance, but overall wellbeing. We, as others in this field, believe that improvements to these mental skills can make a difference for anyone’s life. Not just Olympians/Paralympians and athletes, or just performers, but truly anyone. So, it is not surprising that both Olivia and I draw on our Sport Psychology expertise in working with all of our clients - whether it is a main focus, or within working with aspects of mental health. Feel free to check out our page on Sport and Performance Psychology to learn more.
