Sport Psychology
Sport Psychology
Sport is an important part of the South African schooling system benefitting the total development of children. While the physical benefits of sport are extremely important, its psychological component is just as important and often neglected. Sport Psychology helps to develop necessary life skills related to enhancing sport performance in conjunction with the physical dimension.
Dr Andrew Lewis is a registered Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) Educational Psychologist with a post-graduate qualification in Sport Psychology. He works with athletes who compete at national and international level and those who compete for pleasure. Institutions he has collaborated with are, amongst others, Stellenbosch University Sport Performance Institute (SUSPI) and Stellenbosch University Centre for Human Performance Sciences (CHPS). He has an extensive sport background and understands the demands and pressure of competitive sport and competes in the Ironman triathlon and has successfully completed two (Western Australia & South Africa).
Sport Psychology services offered include individual and/or group sessions for:
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Psycho-educational programs where the focus is on sport performance enhancement.
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Sport counselling services to explore how personal challenges / issues effect the athlete and their sport performance.
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Assessments to identify and classify performance related challenges and issues.
His approach to Sport Psychology is through the medium of individual consultations; group sessions with athletes and coaches, observing practice sessions/matches/tournaments/races, workshop presentations and talks to athletes/coaches/parents.
Themes covered include:
Developing leadership skills in sport
Mental skills in sport
Goal setting in sport
Time management in sport
Problem-solving, decision making and conflict management in sport
Living a healthy sport life
Intrapersonal and interpersonal skills and sport
Professional behaviour on the sport field
Stress and burnout in sport
Stress management and sport, and
Sport as a career
Themes are tailored to the specific needs of the individual, team and school/institution.