Tag: sport psychology

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Criticism during the video review – what’s the best way?

Andy Driska

Originally posted on KIN 401:
We had a really challenging question in yesterday’s class, which was posed to our guest Larry Lauer, a sport psychology consultant and one of my colleagues at the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports.  The question was about the video review session for a football team.  The typical procedure is to run through the tape, and for the coach to point out mistakes that have been made.  Occasionally, the coach may also point out what players have done well.  The coach might use emotion to illustrate a point.  For instance, a player might not be hitting… Continue reading Criticism during the video review – what’s the best way?

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Coach expertise development – what prompts accelerated learning?

Andy Driska

I recently commented on an article regarding coach expertise development, written by Richard Bailey (“Talking Education and Sport”).  The big question: do coaches move through “stages” of expertise, or is their development completely linear?  Most researchers speculate that development is generally stage-like.

I am particularly interested in the events that happen right before a rapid increase in coaching expertise.  What are the triggers that cause rapid learning to occur?  Some suggestions…

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ResearchLeave a comment

Go fast, turn left: brain changes result from complex motor skills

Andy Driska

Researchers in South Korea found that short-track speed skaters have sizable differences in the parts of their brains that control high-speed cornering.  Question: are great skaters genetically pre-disposed to having more adaptability of brain size, or does performance literally make this part of the brain grow regardless of genetics? Go fast, turn left: brain changes result from complex motor skills Posted on my course blog for KIN 360 at Michigan State Continue reading Go fast, turn left: brain changes result from complex motor skills

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My Information Diet

Andy Driska

I’ve been prompted to examine my “information diet,” which includes all of my sources of information throughout the day.

I typically wake up around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning, to the sound of the Michigan State University college radio station, Impact 89 FM. I love the awkward first-time DJs, and the station seems to have an early 1990s nostalgia — lots of grunge.

Ever since I got an iPhone, I now read most of my e-mail in the morning while I am lying in bed. There are about 20 minutes where I don’t want to be physically awake and out of bed, but I need to do something to wake my mind up. I get e-mail alerts from ScienceDaily website, which keeps me up to date on a range of topics from Social Psychology to Sensory Perception. Occasionally, I will tweet the findings of the study — I use twitter to catalog and bookmark things that are of interest to me.

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A Brief History of Sport Psychology

Andy Driska

This history of sport psychology was my contribution to the Sport Psychology Wikipedia entry, and a much abbreviated version appears on Wikipedia. In this history, I tried to focus on the modern applied sport psychology movement and the events that have led to the crossroads the field now stands at.

I was urged to write a portion of the new Wikipedia entry by my Michigan State cohort Sam Forlenza, who is battling the stunning lack of clarity in sport psychology knowledge and information on the web. Sam has also revived the sport psychology movie database, a comprehensive list of movies related to sport psychology.

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Early History: Isolated Studies of Motor Behavior and Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity
Look back at the history of sport psychology, and until the mid-1960s, it is hard to find a consistent line of research and applied practice typical of a scientific discipline. From the late 1800s until the middle of the 20th Century, psychologists, physical educators, coaches, and even ornithologists, carried out the “work” of sport psychology.

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Psychological Development in Youth Swimmers

Andy Driska

Here’s a great video on psychological development in youth swimmers. The speaker is Dr. Dan Gould at the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State University. I think the discussion of maintaining consistency after races is something that swimming coaches and researchers need to explore. There is always a reason to celebrate a good performance, and it’s important to acknowledge that a string of good races creates a sense of positive momentum in a swimmer’s mind (it can also contribute positive momentum to others by inspiring teammates). However, each race is a separate entity in a swim … Continue reading Psychological Development in Youth Swimmers

Coaching1 Comment

Coaching with compassion

Andy Driska

Coaching in a positive way allows the person being coached to open up and be more perceptive. Coaching in such a way where the person being coached feels angry or guilty may cause this person to shut down. These findings come from neuro-scientists at Case Western have examined the brain’s response pathways to different coaching styles. I should point out here that coaching in these cases refers more to the type of coaching you would experience in the business world… arguably, there are many carry-overs to sports coaching. This video would suggest that coaches should give communication in a positive … Continue reading Coaching with compassion

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Great Insights at the 2011 Midwest AASP Conference

Andy Driska

Life skill acquisition. Sport and gender. Mental toughness. The culture of high-performance youth sport. These topics and more were discussed at the 2011 Midwest AASP conference (Feb 18-19), hosted by Miami University in Oxford, OH. The conference was heavily student-driven, and included over twenty presentations of research and research proposals. There was a strong contingent of undergraduate presenters… always good to see undergrads getting involved early. I’ll discuss a few of the presentations that resonated with me in my post below. Eric Martin from Miami University presented an interesting piece on passion and burnout in college sports. He spoke about … Continue reading Great Insights at the 2011 Midwest AASP Conference