Psychology of Sports

Increasing numbers of professional teams and athletes look for assistance with the psychological factors of their performance, and there exists a growing body of professional sport psychologists ready to provide support. Despite this, it seems at times there remains a significant gap between the real needs of sport performers and what is delivered by traditional sport psychology. The existential approach described by Mark Nesti offers a radical alternative to the cognitive and cognitive-behavioural approaches that have dominated sport psychology, and represents the first systematic attempt to apply existential psychological theory and phenomenological method to sport psychology. This much-needed alternative framework for the discipline of applied sport psychology connects to many of the real and most significant challenges faced by sports performers during their careers and beyond. Existential Psychology and Sport outlines an approach that can be used to add something of depth, substance and academic rigour to sport psychology in applied settings beyond the confines of MST and good listening skills.

Rethinking Aggression and Violence in Sport explores the psychological aspects of aggression and violence -nbsp;two intrinsic elements of competitive sport. Some people think there is no place for aggression and violence in sport. Such a view is misguided. Those who understand the real nature of contact sports know that sanctioned aggression and violence are a primary source of players' excitement, pleasure and satisfaction and thus a major factor in their motivation for participation. Others claim that soccer hooligans and other sports rioters are 'yobs' involved in a mindless activity, while the truth is that the motivation behind this behaviour is not so straightforward. This book critically examines the important issues associated with aggression and violence in sport, including: *nbsp;a review of current theory in the psychology of aggression * exploration of how players become acclimatised to physical violence *nbsp;discussion of the psychological benefits of sanctioned and unsanctioned sport violence * examination of the moral and ethical dimensions of the debate * the psychological basis of spectator aggression * case studies from a wide variety of sports. This text is a must read for researchers and students within sport studies, psychology and sociology with an interest in human violence and aggressive behaviour.