2.  Sports Psychology is defined as a branch of psychology that researches mental factors in attainment of athletic skills and performance (dictionary.com).

3.  When setting goals make sure your goal is challenging but realistic (Voight).

4.  To effectively set goals you can use the SMART method, which stands for specific, measurable, adjustable, realistic, and time-based (Locken).

5.  Alex Rodriguez is a famous athlete who uses sports psychology to help him improve his skills as a baseball player. http://revolutionrumblings.word press.com/2009/02/14/a-rod- and-the-atlantic-league- steroid-quagmire/

6.  A performance goal is especially important for a person playing a team sport because you may improve and perform well but the team might still lose, and you would feel that you’re not meeting the outcome goal (Voight).

7.  Visualization or imagery can be used to improve one’s sports performance (Looney).

8.  By using your imagination you can improve the nerve pathways in your brain that control your muscles (Begley and Begun).

9.  Researchers found in 1992 that if by spending several minutes every day for 4 weeks imagining tensing and relaxing the muscles in your index finger without actually moving your finger the strength of the finger would increase by 20 percent. The muscles didn’t change but the connections in the brain between the nerves and muscles got stronger (Begley and Begun).

10.  Visualization can be used is when an athlete is injured or to prevent overtraining. http://scottcerqueira.com/ist2 _2956279-sports-balls.jpg

11.  By using visualization to mentally practice a skill you can get in many more repetitions but avoid the strain on your body.

12.  Flow is almost a trance-like state where you are completely focused in the execution of a performance (Mind Tools).

13.  People in this flow state are totally focused on relevant cues from the game and their internal thoughts are completely blanked out (Allman).

14.  A certain amount of stress is necessary in sports to motivate an athlete’s performance, but too much stress can take the athlete down. The right amount of stress activates adrenaline and gives the athlete alertness (Mind Tools).

15. Jim Fannin Alex Rodriguez http://blog.nj.com/l edgerupdates_impa ct/2007/12/medium_ alex1213.jpg http://www.theartofprod uctions.com/images/jim Fannin09.jpg