Active Health Group - Exercise & Sport Psychology

Exercise & Sport Psychology (online/distance learning)

This interactive distance/online learning course is designed to help you build your knowledge of sport and exercise psychology. You will be able to apply psychological considerations pertaining to sport and exercise in the design of programs and in discussions with athletes and recreational exercisers.

Exercise and Sport Psychology focuses on the following:

Understanding how personality, self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and other psychological characteristics relate to participation and performance in sport and physical activities
Analyzing and understanding motivational bases for sport and exercise participation as well as barriers to participation and special motivational issues in competitive sport
Appreciating the relevance of cognitive styles, attention and concentration in sport and exercise, and practical strategies for assisting people with issues related to these topics
Examining costs and benefits of exercise participation and participation requirements for attaining different outcomes
Exploring core issues and related intervention strategies in working with athletes and recreational exercisers to enhance performance and participation

The course is supplemented by the accompanying student text Exercise and Sport Psychology. This resource should help you understand the objectives in the course and lead you through the discussions.

System Requirements

This course is designed to work best when your computer and Internet browser are configured to the following technical requirements and setup specifications:

Internet Explorer 5.5+ (Windows), Netscape Navigator 7.1+, Mozilla 1.7+, or Firefox 1.0+.
Computer monitor preferences set for 800 X 600 resolution or larger.
Adobe Flash Player version 7+.
Adobe Reader version 7+.
Browser pop-up blockers disabled

Qualification: Level 4 Certificate in Exercise & Sport Psychology

Optional practical training is also available on this course, please ask for details.

Course Content

Understanding the Individual

In your first unit, Gail discusses personality and how it may be affected by situational variables. You will learn to recognize the implications of self-concept and personal identity for participation and performance in sports and recreational exercise. Finally, you will discuss the differences between concepts of self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-efficacy and appreciate their relevance to sport and exercise participation. Gail introduces you to a group of virtual clients. These clients will help you to understand the principles of exercise anatomy.

Motivation in Sport and Exercise

The unit focuses on identifying common motivations and barriers to exercise participation and associates patterns of exercise behavior with stages of the Transtheoretical Model. You should begin to understand the special motivational bases and concerns of athletes and appreciate the relevance of and distinctions between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in sport and exercise behaviors.

Attention, Concentration, and Cognitive Styles

Unit 3 focuses on the significance of attention and concentration in sport and exercise and the ability to identify relevant components. Disucssion also includes the identification of differences in cognitive style, especially as found in associative and dissociative strategies. You will also learn about psychological skills training (PST) and how it is applied to issues of attention and concentration in exercise and sport.

Psychosocial Benefits of Sport and Exercise

This unit will help you understand the major psychosocial benefits of sport and exercise participation, including physical, psychological, cognitive, and social effects, and requisite levels of participation to obtain benefits. You will identify potential negative effects of sport and exercise participation, including overtraining, burnout, and addiction.

Psychological Interventions

Unit 5 discusses the strategies for managing arousal and anxiety in athletic performance. You will learn values and principles of goal setting as applied to physical activity participation and performance, and you will learn the value of imagery training and how it can be applied in sport and exercise settings.

Group Dynamics and Leadership

The final session of the course deals with recognizing critical elements of group dynamics in teams, work groups, sport, and exercise settings. You will learn to identify leadership behaviors in relation to coaching, team behaviors, management of health and fitness centres, and group fitness classes.

Final Assessments

When you finish the course, you will take a final course exam online. This is a timed exam. You will also be required to complete a final written assignment and case study.