Revista PODIUM, September-December 2019; 14(3): 334-336
Translated from the original in spanish
The psychological stability in the sport activity
La estabilidad psicológica en la actividad deportiva
Fernando Emilio Valladares Fuente
Universidad Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca", Facultad de Cultura Física "Nancy Uranga Romagoza", Pinar del Río, Cuba. E-mail: fernando.valladares@upr.edu.cu
Although sometimes disguised by the physical motor skill, by the development of dosed exercises and by the athletic form that our body often adopts, the physical and sporting activity that we carry out is constantly linked to the psychological regulations in the organism. Not only because this activity is controlled by psychic activity, but because this activity in turn modifies the physical behavior of the individual.
Research such as that of Márquez, S. (1995) reveals that physical activity provides human beings with benefits that make them feel more confident, more emotionally stable, independent, with greater intellectual coefficient, with better memory and state of mind. In addition to other advantages, this activity improves academic and work performance (Estrada, P. R.et al., 2016; Hernández, J. G., & Jiménez, A. V. (2016); Olmedilla, A., & Ortega, E. 2017).
This stability, which to integrative vision refers to the permanence or constancy of feelings and attitudes towards different scenes of life, is an aspect that suggests deep debates when analyzing why in individual or collective sports the athlete loses energy and optimism in crucial moments to obtain a medal or an Olympic title.
Everything seems to indicate that the factors: perseverance and decision making have had a lot to do with deciding the champion in a sporting event. However, this psychological relationship is also influenced by indicators such as: gender, level of sport and type of sport. Hernández, J. G., from Los Fayos et al., (2016).
This perseverance is accompanied by endogenous stimuli, referring to the athlete's internal motivations, the desire to win and demonstrate the result of the training and their commitment to the team, the training entity and the family. The exogenous stimuli also fulfill a vital function because if this endogenous conditioning does not arise in the athlete, the trainer, the expert in sports psychology, must be able to sow in the athlete the yearning for victory, for his full realization as an athlete, not from a superlative and eccentric vision, but from a conscious vision that makes the athlete understand that winning is part of a process; in addition, it is necessary to teach the athlete to see victory as a sequential stage of training. This is where many trained skills and competencies come together and are externalized. Winning must be the result of a whole cycle where he has collaborated, for its concretion, from the base trainer to the trainer who takes the athlete to the ceremony to discuss the title.
Teaching to lose should be as necessary as teaching to win. Losing should not be seen as punishment or fatalism. The fact of losing, as the classics of ancient philosophy have rightly put it, should be alluded to battles, but not to war. Sometimes it is very difficult for us to accept it because of the beautiful human instinct to conquer, but it is important, it is necessary to teach to see the action of losing as part of learning, as part of the study towards what should not be incurred in the next challenges. No one learns well, but on the basis of having tried before and not all attempts, as is well known, are always successful. This is demonstrated by all the improvements in the technology and methodology of sports training.
It is paradoxical to think that the training of an athlete or a team depends on many people, however, in most decisive moments, the action to be performed depends only on the athlete and no one else. That is why it is inevitable to foster in the athlete the culture of self-regulation and self-determination. This, in general terms, is sometimes translated in a very complex way for coaches in any latitude where they are. That is why, from here, it is very good to take advantage of these spaces to communicate that there are researchers who have dealt with these psychological studies contextualized to sport.
Riera, J., et al., (2017), is an example of these researchers who are dedicated to improving the psychological situation of athletes. He has been in charge of monitoring the skills "with himself" in the athlete. In order to do so, he has relied on variables such as self-knowledge, interception, proprioception, the bonding of affections, the valuation of his environment and self-reflection. After classifying these skills, specifically not described before with this level of depth, they demonstrate, after an intervention plan and using techniques that encourage the development of these skills, that the athlete becomes a more motivated individual, activated, concentrated, confident, competitive, emoregulated and cohesive.
This theoretical representation provided by Riera is very useful for the study of sports psychology in current times, but it is not the only one that is suggested to consultPalmi, I. Guerrero, J., and Solé, S. (2016), with their full attention or "mindfulness" propose an advanced theory that recommends training the athlete on the basis of the perception of the phenomena that surround him.
his focuses on the attention and underestimates the interaction or capacity of response towards those perceptions immediately, that is to say, it is necessary to observe purely the incidence of these phenomena in order to later analyze better and react strategically. This theory, with antecedents that come from oriental culture, seeks to reorient sports psychology towards meditation and is not only applied in competitive sport, but as an efficient resource for physical rehabilitation.
To close this section of reflection on this psychological stability, which is aspired to or should be taken into account for sustainable favorable results in the sporting sphere, it is suggested that these and other contributions made by prestigious researchers be reviewed. It is necessary to guarantee that these works are not deceived or that they remain as a simple quotation of a textual quotation.
The generality of research that has a positive impact on sports performance is fundamentally designed to be generalizable and transferable, whenever possible with its corresponding adjustments and adaptations. We cannot afford to accumulate defeats arbitrarily without a process of consequent analysis, especially if they are caused by the psychological factor. It is indispensable to strengthen exogenous stimuli if endogenous stimuli are not sufficient, in athletes, to obtain victory. It is necessary to humanize these processes more so that communication flows better and that training, as a pedagogical process of excellence, combines the teaching of technique with the transmission of the best human values for its development, that of the community, and for the full enjoyment of our abilities, capacities and rights.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
Estrada, P. R.; Vázquez, E. I. A.; Gáleas, Á. M. V.; Ortega, I. M. J.; Serrano, M. D. L. P., & Acosta, J. J. M. (2016). Beneficios psicológicos de la actividad física en el trabajo de un centro educativo. Retos: nuevas tendencias en educación física, deporte y recreación, (30), 203-206.
Hernández, J. G., & Jiménez, A. V. (2016). Personalidad y respuesta psicológica en deportistas. Representación temporal y adaptativa del proceso persona-deporte. Retos: nuevas tendencias en educación física, deporte y recreación, (30), 211-215.
Hernández, J. G.; de Los Fayos, E. J. G.; Mora, C. L., & Zapata, J. (2016). Personalidad y estilos de toma de decisiones en la práctica deportiva. Revista Iberoamericana de Psicología del Ejercicio y el deporte, 11(1), 107-112.
Márquez, S. (1995). Beneficios psicológicos de la actividad física. Revista Psicología General y Aplicaciones, 48, 1, 85-206.
Olmedilla, A., & Ortega, E. (2017). Deporte, rendimiento y salud: una aproximación desde la psicología. Contribución de los autores españoles en Web of Science. Acción Psicológica, 14(1), 1-6.
Palmi, I. Guerrero, J., & Solé, S. (2016). Intervenciones basadas en mindfulness (atención plena) en psicología del deporte. Revista de Psicología del Deporte, 25(1), 0147-155.
Riera, J.; Caracuel, J. C.; Palmi, J., & Daza, G. (2017). Psicología y deporte: habilidades del deportista consigo mismo. Apunts. Educación física y deportes, 1(127), 82-93.
