Week 1 Discussion Response

Reply Post

Your reply post should read approximately 250 to 350 words in length and should reference at least one citation from the article the other student read for their initial post. To receive the maximum points, your post should include a reference from the textbook, an article other students read, and one of this week’s ancillary readings. 

Prompt

Analyze another student's initial post. Examine their application of an article to the text chapter and compare it to your own application.

Parameters

· Analyze one student’s post. What are one or two major questions you have after reading their post?

· Reread the section of the textbook they reference, as well as the article they cited; then use these sources to address your question(s)

· Follow APA guidelines

1.2 Discussion: History of Sports Psychology 

Something I found very surprising about the history of sports psychology is that it is relatively new. As noted, "Most of the scientific foundation of modern sports psychology has developed since the 1970’s." (Williams, J. M., & Krane, V., 2021), which means that there are very few professionals out there with the proper training to assist athletes as needed, and they are in high demand as this is a country with several different sports. Additionally, it was interesting to learn that the psychologist with training in psychotherapy was working with athletes that were seeking sports psychology services. However, they are frequently dissatisfied when they learn that the professional they hired specializes primarily in mental health therapy and doesn’t have the proper training to understand performance.

Another interesting factor in sports psychology history is the participation of women in the development of this field. I was pleased to learn that "women have assumed influential leadership roles in developing the field of sport psychology through their research, leadership in professional organizations, editing major journals, and mentoring graduate students and novice professionals" (Krane, V., & Whaley, D., 2010). The paper "Writing Women into the History of U.S. Sport and Exercise Psychology" shares some important contributions that were made by several women and their opinions about the field of sport psychology. For example, Joan Duda, believes that the field could improve at a multicultural level, Maureen Weiss encourages more developmental research, and lastly, Carole Oglesby seeks more attention to diversity among specialized institutes.

Furthermore, sport and performance psychology has grown significantly, and according to the article "A Growing Demand for Sport Psychologists" published by the American Psychological Association, Sari Fine Shepphird, PhD states that "There’s increased demand for sport psychologists to address sports performance as well as mental health concerns, which is fantastic not just for the field of sport psychology but for athletes and for the general population." (Weir, 2018). I am excited as I will be able to learn more about sports psychology in this class since I see its importance and the ways I could apply the new knowledge in the future.

Reference

· Williams, J. M., & Krane, V. (Eds.). (2021). Applied sports psychology: Personal growth to peak performance(8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

· Krane, V., & Whaley, D. (2010). Quiet competence: Writing women into the history of sport and exercise psychology. The Sport Psychologist,18, 349-372.

· (2018, November).A growing demand for sport psychologists. www.apa.org. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2018/11/cover-sports-psychologists