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Negative external or internal psychological factors can lead to mental blocks, causing breaks in focus and preparation, poor performance and, at times, injuries to athletes. . If not dealt with, these factors may not only affect the athlete but the team as a whole. To combat these powerful effects, coaches and athletes can focus their efforts on tactics such as goal setting, routines, visualization and confidence. While the article does not specifically target language, readers could extrapolate how effective self-talk might incorporate some of these key tactics.

One of the simplest concepts of sports psychology is developing positive self talk. It's also one of the hardest sports psychology skills to master. Research supports the theory that an athlete who continually practices positive self talk will improve his or her sports performance. Succumbing to negative mental self talk is a sure way to reduce performance and sports success. Over time and with repetition an athlete can develop a new habit of thinking positive statements and thoughts and expect a more positive outcome. It's this connection between the words and the belief that is the ultimate goal of this technique. Another important factor of positive self talk is that it must be possible and believable.

"Mothers and fathers used to bring up children: now they parent. Critics used to review plays: now they critique them. Athletes podium, executives flipchart, and almost everybody Googles. What's the driving force behind it? "Looking for short cuts, especially if you have to say something over and over again, is a common motivator," says Groves."

If you are an athlete, you are very aware of the importance of composing yourself during a game, match, or so on. The way that you carry yourself can either help you or bring you to your own demise. When we are competing, we are supposed to be aware of how we carry ourselves, i.e body language. This article discusses just that. It talks about how we can distinguish the emotional state of an athlete through they body language.

For you athletes out there, an article on sports psychology and how self-talk, either technical or motivational, can enhance performance.

This is someone's PhD dissertation in the field of psychology

describes techniques that memory-athletes use

This article, courtesy the US Tennis Association, summarizes mental skills that coaches should foster, in order to help athletes control their minds efficiently and consistently as they execute sport-related goals. This not only involves developing skills such as concentration and stress control, but it also includes efforts to influence personal characteristics such as self-esteem and sportsmanship.

In many countries outside the US, athletes use calming words to ready themselves before a match or game. They tell themselves phrases like "let's go!" and remind themselves to be present. One of India's highest ranked tennis players silences his inner dialogue so that he is ready to go when the moment comes. Many American athletes, however, get 'pumped up' by calling each other 'sissy' and criticizing themselves so they have more drive to do better. Some sports teams put value in their lives outside the sport by encouraging their team mates that they should "do it for their family's sake." Overall, there is not one pep talk that works best for different sports, different positions, or different players.

"For the past three years, Brendon Ayanbadejo, a backup linebacker and standout special-teams player for the [Baltimore] Ravens, has been advocating for same-sex marriage-writing about it, talking about it, appearing as one of the stars of a video campaign launched by backers of a measure to legalize it in Maryland. It's not his day job, but he's gotten enough attention for it that an anti-gay-marriage Maryland state legislator wrote to the owner of the Ravens and demanded that he shut Ayanbadejo up."

Sports is all about the body, movement and nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication plays a major roll in the success of an athlete. They have to be able to interpret and send nonverbal signals to teammates and competitors incredibly quickly.

In this article, it talks about the psychology behind storytelling. For many of us, when reading over an informational article, we happen to miss a lot of facts and we tend to "glaze over it" without retaining much of what was said. This is very common and psychologists have found that subtly putting information in to a story will increase the reader/listener's chances of learning the material. A prime example of this was done by the University of Washington when hinting at climate change in the form of a story.