Author(s): Rakesh Chander Rai

Abstract:
Over the past two decades, imagery visualization has become substantially popular in both academic discipline and applied practice, but few within the realm of competitive athletics would argue with the importance of being mentally prepared prior athletic competition and the need that a particular type of mindset is needed before the actual competition or test. However, recent research has shown that many athletes and sporting administrators as well as coaches are still reluctant to seek the services of a qualified and professional sports psychologist even if they believe it could help them. So one of the primary reasons for this hesitation is the lack of proper knowledge and understanding about the mechanisms of how these mental skills can help them improve and boost their performance. Unlike the harder sciences of sports physiology and biochemistry where the athletes can see the change as tangible results in physical form, like in weightlifting, the more, repetition, deadlifts or crunches, you do the faster and stronger muscles we grow, the unfamiliar and often esoteric nature of sports psychology appears to be impending a large number of excess athletes from taking these important services. Therefore this article proposes to provide the reader with a simple framework about how knowledge and practice of these skills can help them boost their competitive performance. This framework is intended to bridge that understanding gap that is currently being there in the athletes and coaches. While it could also help sports psychologists to sell their valuable services to individual athletes and teams.

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