Psychological factors in developing high performance athletes

Anne-Marie Elbe, Johan Michael Wikman

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Top-level athletes are often said to have extraordinary personalities and special psychological characteristics (Gould, Dieffenbach & Moffett, 2002). This is not surprising when considering the many years of training needed to achieve athletic success. This long-term engagement in intense training calls for great efforts in dealing with competitive pressure and demands mental strength with regard to endurance, self-motivation and willpower. But while it is somewhat straightforward to specify the physical and physiological skills needed for top performance in a specific sport, it becomes less clear with regard to the psychological skills that are needed. Therefore, the main questions to be addressed in this chapter are: (1) which psychological skills are needed to reach top performance? And (2) (how) can these skills be developed in young talents?
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationRoutledge Handbook of Talent Identification and Development in Sport
EditorsJoseph Baker, Stephen Cobley, Jörg Schorer, Nick Wattie
Number of pages12
Place of PublicationAbingdon (UK)
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Publication date1 Jan 2017
Pages169-180
Chapter12
ISBN (Print)978-1-138-95177-8
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-315-668011-7
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2017
SeriesRoutledge International Handbooks

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