By Staff
Athletic Management, 17.4, June/July 2005, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/am/am1704/wupsyched.htm
How much do high school athletes learn through participation in sports? Not as much as they should, according to some lawmakers in Massachusetts. A bill sitting before that state’s legislature would mandate that all middle and high school interscholastic athletic programs follow an educational curriculum based on the science of sports psychology.
Introduced earlier this year, the bill outlines six mental skills that an athletics-based curriculum should focus on: creating a positive environment; using maximum effort; replacing harmful thoughts with helpful ones; visualization; task orientation; and goal setting. If the bill passes, the Massachusetts Department of Education will adopt a statewide curriculum and an accompanying text, and all athletic departments will be required to use them.
The bill’s supporters point to growing unsportsmanlike and violent behavior among athletes, fans, and coaches, and contend that organized sports offer a unique opportunity for teaching students to reverse that trend. They believe the mental skills involved in sports psychology are applicable to all areas of life, and that many coaches and administrators fail to teach them effectively.
At Cathedral High School in Boston, the athletic department implemented a sports psychology-based curriculum three years ago, and Athletic Director Khari Roulhac has seen only positive results. “Having our students look inward and know that they’re giving 100 percent of themselves and building self worth by participating in sports has made them better students and better people, as well as helping them athletically,” he says. “This law would make the learning experience more consistent at all schools. The underlying principle is for the students to get more from athletics, and that’s something every coach should want.”