All-Star Sports Psychology And Cheerleading

[UEAcheerchick]

So I was looking up different sports and exercise sciences fields that I might be interested in going into and I came across sports psychology. Out of curiosity I Googled sports psychology and cheerleading and I came across this. I was wondering what your opinions are about what this article states. Do you think that it would be a good idea for worlds teams to hire a sports psychologist like other professional teams do to maybe help with metal blocks and such? Or maybe even a sports psychologist for the gym as a whole who helps athletes as they need it.. Confident Cheerleading Center - About | Facebook

 

[luv2cheer92]

So I was looking up different sports and exercise sciences fields that I might be interested in going into and I came across sports psychology. Out of curiosity I Googled sports psychology and cheerleading and I came across this. I was wondering what your opinions are about what this article states. Do you think that it would be a good idea for worlds teams to hire a sports psychologist like other professional teams do to maybe help with metal blocks and such? Or maybe even a sports psychologist for the gym as a whole who helps athletes as they need it.. Confident Cheerleading Center - About | Facebook

UGH go to West Virginia University for undergrad, seriously the best experience of my life. I just graduated undergrad with my BS in Sport and Exercise Psychology from there and they have the best faculty ever. I believe there are only a couple undergrad programs in the country and I may be kind of biased, but if you go there you will be pretty much guaranteed to get in to any Masters/Doctorate program you want.
Now on to your actual question, lol. I am currently in a Doctor of Physical Therapy program, but I am planning on going back some time after and get a Masters in SEP because it was so interesting. I was thinking about somehow incorporating the sport psych and PT together and getting a job with a cheer gym. The only problem I see with cheer is that this field is still pretty new and even some pro/college teams are kind of apprehensive to having a "psychologist" working with their athletes, but I think that most people don't understand the significance that this kind of stuff plays in succeeding. I think it would be awesome if cheer would embrace it and some gyms start hiring sport psychology consultants.
If you want any info on the program, feel free to PM me.

 

[ScottyB]

"The Inner Game of Tennis" - Not just a tennis book! I was hesitant but it is a great sports psych book that helps with all sorts of probs mentally and physically in cheer and in life

 

[cheerKT]

A sorority sister of mine just started in the Sports Psych grad program at Florida State. It's definitely pretty interesting stuff.

 

[njallday]

i think i've mentioned her before... but one of my college psych professors' "real job" was a sports psychologist. she specialized in golf (which i never realized was so mental. who knew?) but listening to her talk about the field was so incredibly interesting. definitely an awesome field.

it'd be awesome for someone to specialize in cheer, but unfortunately, not sure how many gyms have it in their budget to just hire a psychologist for the team. the industry just isn't big enough yet to support those kinds of costs, IMO. though, i could see it working if you have another full time job and sort of being hired as a "consult" to work with gyms as needed on the side.

 

[TheTalkedAboutMinor]

It's interesting to run into this thread because this is what I want to do when I grow up. I want to be a performance/exercise psychologist when I'm older. In my opinion, a sport psychologist could definitely contribute to a team or an individual's success. As for gyms hiring psychologists, I think it could be a very good idea, but also a bad idea. It definitely isn't always financially accessible, but in the case of a child who doesn't have it all together mentally, coaches could probably refer a child to a certain psychologist so that she/he could get an appointment; but I think kids should have one-on-one sessions so they can truly open up and find a way to cure any sort of mindset that would slow a cheerleader down. I definitely want to study in this field when I'm older, it seems like a very fascinating thing to study.

 

[cheerKT]

A lot of baseball teams have team psychologists. I guess baseball is a very mental sport. South Carolina baseball has seen much success recently and they have the team psych in the dugout every game.

 

[srt418]

I am currently a graduate student at the University of Central Florida studying exercise science. My ultimate goal is to learn how to train athletes physically and mentally for demanding sports. Sport psychology is a very new field and there are not a lot of programs in it. I would encourage anyone in this field to fully learn the psychological processes AND the physical processes involved in training. That means, train yourself for the exercise aspect as if you were just a coach or trainer in addition to the psychological aspect.

There are not a lot of jobs out there for sport psychologists. Since this is a new field, many graduates essentially end up being the "team mom/dad" for various sports teams at all levels. They're with the athletes for basic counseling needs when the athletes just "need to talk."

Before committing to this field, I would consider exactly what you want to do with it. Do you want to do research, train athletes, run private counseling sessions, or use psychological skills training? All of these require special training and some of these do not need a degree in sport and exercise psychology at all.

Also, it looks like this webpage is no longer being updated and almost all the websites on their "about" section no longer work. Bad sign.

I did a thesis on mental blocks as an undergrad. There is a lot of research that needs to be done in all sports regarding mental blocks. All sports have these!