Assignment

Topic Proposal for Issue Analysis Paper

Cherod Jones

American Military University

2 September 2018

Introduction

Sports psychology is a multifaceted subject which draws from various disciplines including physiology which studies how the involvement in sporting activities and exercise affects psychology and the fitness of people. It is aimed at improving and ensuring optimal performance for individuals who engage in various sports. From dealing with injuries to handling poor performance are just some of the issues addressed by sports psychologists. Like other professionals, athletes and other sports professionals face challenges which require therapy. Therefore, the proposed topic for this analysis paper is how stress and anxiety affect sports performance in men and women.

Summary of Stress and Anxiety in Sports

It is hard to consider that athletes are affected by stress and anxiety. Usually, there are acceptable levels of anxiety beyond which the effects can be adverse which can cost or negatively affect their careers. Failure or even the fear of it heightens these levels and can cause a considerable amount of damage. It is therefore in this light that the importance of sports psychologist is reiterated. Issues in sports psychology are usually anchored around stress and anxiety. Taking, for instance, an issue like goal setting, typically when things do not turn out as expected the result will most likely be stress and anxiety. Additionally, the proposed topic will be strongly supported by the following sources.

Stenling, A. (2017). Fear of failure, psychological stress, and burnout among adolescent athletes competing in high level sport. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 27(12), 2091-2102.

According to Stenling, psychological stress is addressed with the issue of adolescent athletes taking center stage. This directly applies to the selected topic as the issue is more common in teenagers who despite being athletes, for example, they are likely to be grappling with other issues attributed to their age. The research provides a different perspective of addressing the issue by considering a specific group which might be prone to stress.

Belz, J., Heidari, J., Levenig, C., Hasenbring, M., Kellmann, M., & Kleinert, J. (2018). Stress and risk for depression in competitive athletes suffering from back pain–Do age and gender matter?. European journal of sports science, 1-9.

The author, Belz examines the issue on a relatively different dimension whereby the aspect of gender is discussed. The research sees to find out how an athlete’s gender affects levels of stress and anxiety. Blending ideas from this informative journal will considerably enrich the paper by giving it a multidimensional aspect. The journal further explores the possible sources of the condition in question with the aim of exhaustively covering the subject.

Kellmann, M., Pelka, M., Kölling, S., & Heidari, J. (2017). Monitoring the recovery-stress state in athletes. In Sport, Recovery, and Performance (pp. 17-32). Routledge.

In his writing, the author Kellmann notes that for most sports people, stress and anxiety are not very uncommon. Addressing the situation and being able to manage the condition is a recipe for success as far as sports are concerned. The article perfectly fits this paper as part of the remedy to the proposed problem. The article conforms to the research as it will aid in recommendations on the way forward. The data analysis of the article is informative and will help in making valid conclusions.