Why My Interest in Sport Psychology?

At first glance, sport psychology looks like the analysis of anxieties and fears in sport. If you have ever taken competitive sport seriously, as I have, sport psychology is learning new skills. It then becomes a mind over body thing when doing physiotherapy. But, in the end, sport psychology is about our drive to achieve something and all the questions that come with that. Why am I doing this? Why is it so important? What exactly am I trying to achieve, to prove and so on.

Sport psychology, and practicing competitive sports, is a great tool to help us evaluate ourselves in Life. For those who do not like active involvement, passive involvement, through the sports entertainment industry is huge. It has been a form of entertainment since the beginning of human kind. It's reality TV per say. We reflect on others' experiences to re-evaluate our own. So no matter from what perspective you take it in, it is relevant.

My Research Interests (re-posted from 1998 website)

My research interests are as outlined below. The population of study are elite athletes in individually tasked sports, like swimming and skiing.

My fascination of high-order neurological functioning evolved coincidentally, by virtue of being with many elite athletes, and my strong understanding of computers.

Architecturally, parallel processors (humans) are a series of venoidam machines (regular computers). Architecturally is the operative word here. Although at the grass roots level, both silicon and carbon based systems function with same fundamental principles, regular computers perform tasks differently than humans. Silicon is good at performing algorithms precisely, while organic-ware is good at making quick decisions using generalizations.

Considering the complexities and speed of reaction required in high-end sports, it is impossible to build an algorithm, yet alone an android, to perform these feats. Hence my initial argument explained in the overview and coaching links: you cannot mold a world champion, because this requires a prototype - a theoretical android - which does not exist. Elite talent can be nurtured by developing understanding and control over what the athlete is perceiving and how s/he is reacting in training and competition. The more integrated, or elite, a system is, the more individualized this process becomes.

Unfortunately, because of my strong philosophical direction of proactive nurturing (not molding) elite talent, I do not have an academic mentor in sport psychology. I received my formal education in psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, Canada, and continue my studies as finances and time permit.

Some educational material I have written...

Self Directed Coaching

Self Directed Coaching Manual

• This educational document attempts to structure research into a form that is meaningful for elite athletes. It is in layman's language, hopefully without too much loss in explicit content. Specifically, this manual provides a decision-making model for creating athletes' competitive programs. Scientific data available in motor learning, performance and other aspects of sport psychology is presented, along with suggestions on where to find more information. Overviews of the relevance of each section, and many diagrams and tables are an attempt to make it more user-friendly. (2011 manuscript)

Self Directed Coaching Cyber Site

• Website explaining the the foundational ideas behind "Self Directed Coaching Manual". (1998, parts re-posted 2011)  Self Directed Coaching Site

The best way to sort things out in my mind, is to start writing...

Exploratory Essays

Burnout in Elite Athletes

• Burnout is defined along a continuum of low to high, so burnout is at one end of the continuum while actualization is at the other. Different models of burnout along with retroactive treatments are discussed. Proactive treatments, created by increasing protective factors and decreasing risk factors of burnout are discussed, along with an argument for more weighted use of proactive coaching methods for elite athletes. (1995, revised 1996)

Towards a Unified Coaching Theory

• This paper is an academic explanation of the "Goal Setting Section" in the "Self Directed Coaching Manual." (1998)