In our society today it seems like sports rule the land. Everywhere we look, there is some kind of sporting event going on or being televised. Almost everyone could be considered a fan of at least one sport. Some people follow sports like a religion. With such an increased focus on sports, the athlete's performances are put under a microscope. This puts more pressure on athletes to give a winning performance. No longer do athletes play for fun, they play to win. This isn't happening just on the professional level; it is happening on all levels of sport. From little league to backyard football, the goal is to win at all cost. With this increase pressure, athletes are looking for more and more ways to better their performance. One such way, which is now gaining popularity, is Sports Psychology. Though this isn't a new field, its popularity is just beginning to take off. There is still a lot of skepticism about the validity or worth while of the practices used. The following is a review of a number of articles that outline different studies done that show how athletes can improve their performances. The articles were found using a database search of PsychInfo. Keywords such as

The Holm, Beckwith, Ehde, and Tinius study also looked at the use of cognitive approaches to athletic performance. They we interested in the role of stress and anxiety. College athletes were split into two groups. One group participated in daily two-hour group sessions that introduced them to a variety of cognitive-behavioral interventions. These methods were discussed and practiced. The subjects were also asked to do a homework assignment outside of the group sessions. This went on for seven weeks. At the end of the study, the group who went through the program showed a significant decrease in anxiety, increases in academic performance, and increase in successful athletic performance. (Holm et al., 1995)

After her 4-week study was done, the group that received the positive reinforcement showed more mastery of the skills and greater improvement than their counterparts. (Miserandino, 1998 p. 286)

G. Fitts opened the first lab associated with sport psychology in 1895.(Sloubanov, 1999) Since his experiments on behaviorism and stimulus/response, there has been much progress and many changes. Sport has gone through a great metamorphosis that no one of that time could ever imagine. Today sport psychology has moved from the simple experiments of the early labs to sophisticated trials and tests. Focus is now on subjects as mental health , psychopysiological reactivity, and body image and esteem. (Gauvin, Spence, 1995, p. 436) The world of athletics is now a business, and now like other businesses, is always looking for ways to improve itself.

Over the years there have been many different definitio

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1093
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)