Services
Helping You Achieve Success
Sport Psychology
Services offered include:
Sport counselling to explore how personal challenges influence the athlete and their sporting performance.
Psycho-educational programs focusing on sport performance enhancement.
Assessments to identify and classify performance-related challenges and issues.
Individual sessions
Individual Sport Psychology sessions typically include: determining current performance and possible areas of development; and strategies to improve these areas. Pre-competition sessions focus in particular on the competition and how to deal with important aspects thereof. Post-competition sessions assess the value of the mental strategies used and in so doing, recognize what was effective or not and thereby look at development areas.
Initially a few sessions are required when the athlete has never previously consulted with a Sport Psychology specialist in order to become familiar with the whole process. Thereafter, between 4-6 sessions will familiarize you with the process and so allow you to engage with mental preparation strategies. Appointments can be made thereafter as so required by the athlete.
Team consultations
There are two instances where teams consult with a Sport Psychology specialist; the first one is to support them with some aspect that is very specific to the team, e.g., team-building, conflict management. The second option is a more ongoing process where the psychologist is in regular and ongoing contact with the coach, athletes and management. Team dynamics and psychological skills are observed and supported.
Sport Psychology workshops
Workshops focus on specific themes (e.g., goal setting, mental strategies, and motivation) or can look at a specific sport event or competition (e.g., helping the team prepare for an upcoming tour or big event or even to assist coaches with the mental preparation of their athletes).
Sports talks
Informal or formal talks are aimed at informing athletes, coaches and parents about Sport Psychology and what it entails. These talks can vary between 1 and 2 hours with the theme of the talk being determined by the audience and the aim and objectives discussed prior to the presentation
Sport Psychology
Why Sport Psychology?
A lot of time is spent developing physical skills in sport. Often it is only these skills that get developed, with little being done about the necessary mental side in sport.
The mental state of the athlete is often what makes the difference between an excellent, mediocre or poor performance.
Sport Psychology helps athletes develop the mental side of their sport skills, and so enhance their sport performance.
What Then Is Sport Psychology?
Sport Psychology is an interdisciplinary science that draws on knowledge from several fields and focuses on how:
- Psychological factors impact on sports performance and participation, and
- Participation in sport and exercise influences psychological and physical factors.
Sport Psychology skills and techniques that can be learned as part of training the mind:
Motivation (internal motivators and external motivators)
Mental skills in sport (e.g., focus and visualization)
Goal-setting in sport and life in general
Ideal state of sport performance arousal
Distracters and control (internal distracters, e.g., negative thinking patterns and how to deal with them; and external distracters such as crowds and how to use it constructively)
Developing teamwork and leadership skills in sport
Time and energy management in sport
Problem-solving, decision making and conflict management in sport
Living a healthy sport life
Intra-personal and inter-personal skills and sport
Dealing with injuries
Professional behaviour on the sport field
Stress, anxiety and burnout in sport and the management thereof, and
Sport as a career
Educational Psychology services include:
Assessments:
Scholastic assessments
Subject choice
Career choice
School readiness
Study Skills
Therapy:
Behaviour challenges
Emotional challenges
Family challenges
Relationship challenges
Is Your Child Ready For School?
Going to formal school is typically one of the most momentous events in a child’s life and it is therefore essential that they are prepared for this journey. A child who is not school-ready enters the formal learning situation with a deficit and can have a far-reaching impact on how the child gives meaning to the learning experience which invariably has a profound influence on their future learning. Although formal schooling may assist in the process, it may not always cater for individual children’s needs and it is therefore necessary to determine a child’s readiness for school beforehand.
School readiness refers to the child’s total readiness to benefit from formal education in a group situation. This concerns the intellectual, social, physical, emotional and normative developmental aspects of a child and it is important that these characteristics are properly developed so that the child functions optimally within such an environment. If a child enters Grade 1 with one or more of these aspects not optimally developed, they may not develop to their full potential.
The involvement of parents, the pre-school teacher and other health professionals such as an Educational Psychologist is important in assisting a pre-school child wanting to enter formal school. It is therefore necessary to assess a child’s readiness for formal schooling, and if needed, timeously build up those areas which are not fully developed. School readiness assessment ensures that a child’s strengths and challenges are identified in time and, if necessary, that areas in need of development are addressed. An Educational Psychologist supports this process of assisting the child, family and school prepare for formal schooling.
The Importance Of Choosing The Right Career
Thinking about your career while still at school is very often a remote and far-removed thought. Upon nearing the end of your school career, this becomes a very real consideration. Knowing what career to follow after completing one’s schooling can be a very daunting prospect for both those leaving school and parents alike. Very often pupils select a direction of study without really knowing if they have the necessary aptitude, personality, values and line of interest suitable for their eventual choice of career. Parents also often do not have a fair idea of what career direction their children should pursue and very often can only give their children limited direction based upon what they believe their children’s aptitudes, personality, values and interests to be.
The importance of having this knowledge is furthermore increased by current career trends. Previously, people would occupy a career for life. The trend now is that people can change their careers several times during their lifetime and do not necessarily hold on to one career. The importance of having knowledge about your interests, aptitude, values and personality can give you guidance for future careers.
As an Educational Psychologist, I recommend the need for school leavers to undergo a comprehensive assessment in order to determine what possible career/s would suit a specific person. This assessment involves a battery of tests which assess aptitude, personality, interests and values and will assist pupils, school leavers and students in giving direction to their future career choices. This assessment not only points one to a possible career direction, but also saves one time and money as it is no longer a “hit-and-miss” exercise which can be expensive in the long run if the incorrect career direction is pursued, but is rather a professional, objective assessment based on recognised tests.