Psychological Training Program for Professional Athletes

Abstract

The field of sports psychology has dealt, among others, with the explanation of inter‐individual differences in regard to top performances in various sports. Among the variables taken into consideration, one can highlight the athletes' individual characteristics, the social context in which their professional activity takes place, the variables related to the training (technical, tactical, physical, and psychological), the contextual factors (government policies about the financing of professional sports, economical power of the professional clubs or competition opportunities). This paper is focused on the role played by psychological training in relation to the dynamics of individual top performances that athletes can achieve. The research subjects were 76 professional athletes, divided into groups of a maximum of 8, who were included in a training program of 21 sessions of 50‐ 60 minutes each. The general conclusion was that psychological training can activate important psychological resources that are convergent with each athlete's specific psychomotor skills.