Are you intrigued by the impact of sport psychophysiology and biofeedback protocols on athletic performance?
The inception of this field traces back to 1918, when Coleman Griffith, widely recognized as the father of sport psychology, initiated research into the influence of psychological factors on athletes’ performances. This incorporated an emphasis on psychomotor skills, reaction time, and everything in between.
Fast forward to the early 1980s, Dr. Wesley Sime introduced stress management principles into sport psychophysiology, solidifying it as a cornerstone within this discipline. Even in contemporary times, the conversation around optimal sports performance encompasses stress management strategies along with muscle kinesiology, biofeedback, and neurofeedback techniques – all focused on helping athletes become the best they can be.
In other words, sport psychology, performance psychology, and sport psychophysiology have always focused on the connectedness of mind and body (psycho + physiology). Even though there are cases where clinical treatment is needed to alleviate pathology and other problems, it leads to the misunderstanding that optimal athletic performance will be obtained by treating mental disorders in athletes. However, optimal performance comes from utilizing psychophysiological tools to reach cognitive quieting, arousal management, maximizing the gains of physical training, speeding recovery, and monitoring the signs of overtraining.
Most athletes dream of showing their highest potential; unfortunately, many will not have this opportunity because they lack the right tools. Too often, the main concern of athletes looking for my services is not being able to perform their potential during competitions, and they end up showing only a fraction of their well-trained capacities. Those athletes think there is something wrong with them; some types of low confidence or self-esteem drain their physical energy, and athletic performance decreases. In fact, the athlete’s confidence level fluctuates, and occasional low confidence is NOT synonymous with poor performance. In the real world, high levels of arousal and performance anxiety are NORMAL, and it will always be there if the athlete truly cares about the competition. It is even more true that the chemistry inside our body during competitions is different from practice, but when athletes learn the right skills, they channel and use “this extra activation” in their favor and not only show their best when it matters most but also break records and exceed their own performances.
So, I cordially invite you to explore the mental training tools offered by professionals who have training in psychophysiological approaches to sport performance and schedule a free consultation session, which is available every Saturday. Please plan your visit to my office on Bishop Street, and I will provide you with firsthand insight into the field of sports psychophysiology and biofeedback.
