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Question

I am doing a paper on the affect of psychology on both professional and non-professional sports. If at all possible, I would appreciate it if you could send me information relating to this topic whenever possible. Thank you in advance.

Answer

The answer to your question includes various components that encompass the field of Sport Psychology. If you would like to write your paper providing an overview of sport psychology and its relevance and application to the field of professional and non-professional sport, you can use some of the following books and articles as reference.

Books:

1995- Weinberg, R. & Gould, D.
Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology.
Human Kinetic Publishers, Champaign, Illinois

1984- Silva III, John M. & Weinberg, R.
Psychological Foundations of Sport.
Human Kinetics Publishers, Champaign, Illinois.

1982- Loehr, J.E.
Athletic Excellence: Mental Toghness Training for Sports.
Denver; Forum Publishing Co.

1976- Nideffer, R.M.
The Inner Athlete: Mind plus Muscle for Winning. NY:
Crowell.

Articles:

1996- Mascari-Bott, P.
Sports Psychology Brings Coaches, Players Closer.
The San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan 9, Sports, p.1.San Diego, CA.

1992- Newberg, D.
Performance Enhancement: Toward a Working Definition.
Contemporary Thought on Performance Enhancement, 1:10-25

1991- Sachs, M. L.
Reading List in Applied Sport Psychology: Psychological Skills Training.
The Sport Psychologist, 51:88-91.

1988- McGowan, R.W.
Who Needs Sport Psychology?
Scholastic Coach, May/June 98-99.

In addition to the books and articles listed here, I suggest that you go to the library and do a computer search on the topic, for a complete list. You can also access libraries with Dial-in Access, like UCSD, and conduct your search from home. You can find interesting articles and books on sport psychology and its application to professional and non-professional sports.

Another way of gathering information for your paper is by interviewing experts in the field of sport psychology, coaches and athletes. The sports professionals can talk about their own experience in the field, and tell you how psychology can help them in areas such as performance enhancement, career transition and athletic retirement, team building, stress management, and other areas concerning athletes and teams.

Good luck on your research/paper.

3/12/98

Cristina B. Versari, Ph.D. is a sport psychology and career consultant specializing in performance enhancement, career and life planning, and team building. She counseled professional athletes from 13 NBA teams in the areas of career and education, and was the psychologist for the Brazilian Men's Basketball Team for the 1992 Olympics and 1994 World Championship of Basketball. She is the president of the National Sports Counseling Network and a seminar speaker. Dr Versari has been studying the personality profile of elite athletes and designing training programs for peak performance for over ten years.

For information on training programs or consulting, she can be reached at: phone and fax (619) 658 0204, or P.O. BOX 22961, San Diego, California, 92122.