Applied Sport Psychology - Mental Skills Training Cert

Examine how arousal, stress, and anxiety influence sport performance, differentiate trait from state anxiety, and apply regulation strategies like pre-performance routines, CBT, acceptance and reframing.

Explore how anxiety affects performance under high pressure through Gaelic football and golf examples, illustrating crowd pressure, decision making, and skill execution in critical moments.

Explore how pressure affects performance in elite golf, contrasting calm and anxious responses, and highlight mental skills like breathing, tempo, and staying composed to execute shots under pressure.

Explore how over-arousal, stress, and anxiety impair performance by detailing brain roles (hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, amygdala), fight, flight, and freeze responses, and the cusp catastrophe model in sport.

Regulate anxiety and over-arousal in sport using routines, cognitive behavioral techniques, imagery, and deep breathing. Learn to shift from red-hot to blue-head states to execute skills under pressure.

Explore how anxiety impairs attention control and processing efficiency, narrowing focus to threats and clouding decisions under high-stakes pressure; learn how the operating and monitoring processes compete, creating ironic effects.

Explore visualization, imagery, goal setting, arousal regulation, and mindfulness in sport, and compare internal versus external attentional focus, with external focus improving automatic motor performance.

Explore how self-talk strategies, motivational and instructional, shape attention, focus, and confidence to optimize power-based and accuracy-based tasks in sport, with practical cue design and examples from elite athletes.

Explore visualization and imagery as mental rehearsal that strengthens neural connections from brain to muscle and boosts motivation, arousal regulation, and self-confidence for sport performance.

Apply smart goal setting to performance targets, focusing on specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time managed aims. Compare performance versus outcome goals and their role in motivation and coaching practice.

Use performance profiling to identify current strengths and weaknesses, set short- and long-term goals, and track progress through self-reflection, nutrition, hydration, and targeted strength work.

Arousal regulation controls anxiety to improve performance under high stress in clutch moments. Johnny Sexton’s 2013 kick demonstrates staying cool, with deep breathing, progressive muscular relaxation, and self-talk cues.

Arousal regulation 2 teaches deep breathing and progressive muscular relaxation to reduce anxiety through serotonin release, aiding pre-tournament preparation and brief game breaks for lucidity and visualization.

Mindfulness in sport reduces stress by lowering cortisol and focusing on the here and now, using body scans, deep breathing, and external focus cues to support optimal decisions.

Explore resilience as a proactive, process-based approach to withstanding stress and anxiety in sport, highlighting intrinsic motivation, learning from failure, and maintaining functioning under pressure.

Develop resilience and mental toughness by nurturing personal qualities and a facilitative environment, employing transformational leadership, goal setting, social support, and psychological safety to build a resilient team mindset.

Explore factors shaping psychological well-being and motivation in sport, including anxiety, depression, lifestyle, sleep, and neurotransmitters. Learn about serotonin, dopamine, melatonin, cortisol, and the 2017 Cork youth mental health study.

Explore how anxiety and depression are managed in athletes, from medication and cognitive behavioral therapy to exercise, mindfulness, and sleep strategies that boost mood, self-esteem, and social connections.

Investigate how athletic identity and social identity influence psychological well-being and self-efficacy, and emphasize developing education and life beyond sport for long-term health.

Explore burnout and overtraining in sport, identify how high demands and insufficient recovery threaten athletes’ emotional, social, and physical well-being, and apply autonomy and supportive coaching to prevent burnout.

Exit pass 4 guides athletes and coaches to identify health and well-being challenges and signpost support. A poem highlights resilience—get up after fall—and celebrates the journey and relationships in sport.