Sports activity has been characteristic of people throughout history. The area of human endeavor called sports involves great numbers of people, both participants and spectators, in almost all the nations and civilizations of the world. Sport psychology is an area which attempts to apply psychological facts and principles to learning, performance, and associated human behavior in the whole field of sports (Lawther, 1972, p. 1).
The motivations and emotional reactions of people involved in sports, both as participants and as spectators, form a part of the study of sports psychology. The psychosocial or group behavior of people concerned with sports performances and competitions form another unit of interest in sports psychology. The basic psychological aspects of the early stages of sports-skill learning, and the later, somewhat different aspects of high-level skill learning and performance form a part of this subject, too.
The whole area of sport-teaching methods is an attempt to apply educational psychology to the learning of sport skills. Length and distribution of practice and of rest periods, retention of acquired levels, size of units most appropriate for teaching at each stage, part versus whole emphasis, precision and promptness of performance results, and even the degree of value of knowledge of mechanical principles are included as a part of the application of educational psychology to sports. The generalization of a skill so that it will fit the varying conditions of performance is another aspect; so is the most effective direction of the learner's and performer's attention (Lawther, 1972, p. 2).
Levels of learning at which self-analysis may be used with profit to the learner, efficient form and work methods and essential individual variations are concerns of study. Other aspects include the place of verbalization in teaching and learning, and values of mental practice at various levels of learning (Lawther...