Ask active young athletes who they look up to and good chance you’ll get the name of an Olympian, professional athlete, or perhaps the next rising star in their sport. Many aspire to achieve elite status, or a future collegiate or professional career in a specific sport. This can lead to an excessive amount of pressure by the athlete, coaches, parents, and teammates to pick a sport to specialize in early and put in hours of training year-round. Is this the only way to achieve the skill and experience to make it to the top? What are the downsides of this? This sports science article will provide some background on sports specialization, discuss the risks of early sports specialization, how early versus late influences performance, and, finally, provide some recommendations to coaches, athletes, and parents on training.

This month’s edition of Sport Psychology is for coaches and individual athletes who want to plan for success and set long-term goals with short-term objectives.

Soccer players all over the world cringe at the thought of tearing their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Unfortunately, this season-ending injury is very common amongst soccer players. In the United States alone, there are between 100,000 and 200,000 ACL ruptures per year (Friedberg). The ACL connects the femur (thigh bone) to the tibia (shin bone) and serves as an important stabilizer in the knee to prevent bones from over-extension and over-rotation. However, typical movements in soccer can put an immense amount of stress on a player’s knee causing injury. An ACL rupture is certainly one of the most serious knee injuries in soccer, but after surgery and rehabilitation athletes can return to play within 6-12 months. Additionally, soccer specific training reduces the risk of injury. 

For athletes, there are many difficulties that go along with exercising in hot temperatures. Whether you are a football player, track athletic or a year-round swimmer, it is extremely important to consider the environment in which you train.

This month’s edition of Sports Psychology is a further look into the Perform Phase of the Learn, Plan, Perform Model. This article focuses on imagery for peak performance, though this skill can be used at any time throughout the Learn, Plan, Perform model. Athletes can use this skill to learn how to perform in the present moment with the automatic knowledge stored from it.

Volleyball Psychology: Being mentally ready happens even before you step on the court

With the season in full swing and Junior Nationals upon us it is vital to cover all your bases to give your team the best chance at winning. This is where competition ramps up and each point is vital. The mental aspects and demands upon a player and team quickly accumulate in high pressure moments.

This month’s edition of Sport Psychology focuses on how to coach a team that has made it to the Performance Stage. This is the stage in which the team has come together around a set of goals and norms, allowing them to play as one unit rather than a group of individuals.

It’s getting close to that time of the season when teams have put in the hours building their strength and conditioning, perfecting skills sets, and running offensive and defensive schemes. The goal is to translate all that practice into tournament-winning volleyball that is not compromised by nerves or mental errors. Coaches should incorporate these simple yet effective mental skills and training principles.

This month’s edition of Sport Psychology rounds out the final stage in the Tuckman (1965) model of team development, the Performance Stage. This is the stage in which the team has come together around a set of goals and norms, allowing them to play as one unit rather than a group of individuals.