Resilience and sport go hand in hand. Whether it sinking a crucial putt, penalty, or free throw to managing the highs and lows of a long career in elite sport, dealing with not only the competitive demands but those away from the sport itself. Sport both demands and tests resilience.
Here at Sporting Bounce we have partnered with the Sport Psychology Lab to bring you a series of courses and Masterclasses in sport psychology. Our Resilience Masterclass is will be live by August 2020. Everyone has their own story of resilience in sports and this course will help you better understand resilience in sport psychology. It will explore what resilience is (what some people call mental toughness), provide examples of resilience in sports and draw on quotations from resilient individuals, and also it will touch on how we can build resilience through sports. This course is helpful whether you want to become a better coach, sport-performer or just have a general interest in sports resilience.
If we think about the nature of sport we can see demands are those that are common across many sports and test resilience. Whether you are a high performance athlete, club performer or aspiring sports professional. There is uncertainty about the outcome and the environment. We never quite know the circumstances we will face, how our team-mates will perform or how our opponents will perform. Sport is difficult and so we will have to exert a great deal of effort to succeed. We will often be competing against opponents who are doing their best to stop us succeeding. Finally, there is danger. In many sports there is real physical danger and the potential for harm or injury. However, in all sports there is psychological danger, that is evaluation and judgment of performance. And status matters to people so any situation where our abilities – and qualities - are being judged is stressful. It is this combination of effort, uncertainty and danger in sport that demands and tests resilience.
In this masterclass we will discuss what resilience is – and what it is not. We will also discuss the skills that can help develop resilience by looking at 24 hours in the life of a sports performer. These skills can help you on your personal development. We begin by focusing on preparing for competition in a resilient way. On the day of competition, we focus on three aspects of resilience. First, we discuss why it is important to see competition as a challenge, followed by strategies be focused and confident in competition, then we outline strategies for being physically relaxed under stress. We conclude this masterclass by discussing how to reflect and transition away from competition in a resilient way. And there you have it! 24 hours in the life of a resilient sports performer. While we focus on 24 hours around competition the skills and behaviours that we outlined can be used across life and at any time, and not just over the competition period.
If you are interested in understanding what we mean by the term resilience and how we can help develop a long-term positive adaptation to the demands of sport then this masterclass is for you. Our Resilience Masterclass is will be live by August 2020. As we mentioned it will draw on sport stories, and quotations to illustrate resilience in athletes in from a range of sports, including examples of resilience in Olympic champions. It will explore what resilience is, examples of resilience in sports, illustrations and also it will touch on how we can build resilience through sports. This course is helpful whether you want to become a better coach, sport-performer or just have a general interest in sports resilience.
