Sport and Performance Psychology

Welcome to our Sport and Performance Psychology Page. Whether you are a professional, college, or high school athlete, executive, or other professional who wants to improve your psychological health to boost your performance, one of our psychologists or psychotherapists can help. We typically help people manage competition nerves, interpersonal challenges with teammates, coaches and coworkers, panic attacks, staying in the zone, controlling their thoughts, thinking on your feet, and thus tweaking performance.

Sport psychology is a psychological specialty that applies psychological science, principals and skills to improve athletic performance and well-being, developmental and social aspects of sports participation, and systemic issues associated with sport environments and organizations. Performance psychology is similar but applies to high performance work setting.

If you work with one of our sports psychologists or psychotherapists at D’Arienzo Psychology, they will assist you with the following Foundational Skills as well as with Preparatory Skills, Performance Skills, and Post-Performance Skills.

 PSYCHOLOGICAL FITNESS: Performance Psychology

Performance Psychology Foundational Skills

1. General psychological functioning is primary. Enhancing performance is secondary.
2. One must understand and actively embrace the link between mental skills and performance: Thoughts, emotions and behaviors impact performance.
3. Acquire the skills to move from reaction to response.
4. Maintain Adequate Self-Care: Balanced diet, exercise routine, and sleep (8 hours).
5. Possessing the Right Attitude:
   1. Attitude is a choice.
   2. There are no guarantees you will win, but you will perform better if your attitude is right. That is a guarantee.
   3. Maintain an internal locus of control. Performance is your responsibility.
   4. View competition as an opportunity.
   5. Pursue excellence.
   6. Possess respect for the institution.
6. Motivation and Commitment:
   1. Possess a realistic awareness of the rewards, benefits, and costs.
   2. Persist through difficult times/Grit.
   3. Appreciate benefits of participation over outcome.
   4. Find greater purpose.
7. Short and Long-Term Goals:
   1. Incremental and massive.
   2. Write goals down daily.
8. Interpersonal Skills:
   1. Emotional Intelligence.
   2. Employ conflict and relationship management with team, staff, opponents, community, and media.
9. Self-Awareness and Opportunity Radar:
   1. Narrow the difference between real self and idealized self.
   2. Minimize blind-spots.
   3. Develop true assessment of strengths and weaknesses and potential opportunities.
10. Stable Home Life:
    1. Choose supportive relationships and maintain and honor them.
    2. Resolve problems at home and in personal life so focus can be on performance.