Sports Psychology

History and Development of the Field

Like many other areas of psychology, the history of the study of sports psychology has roots both ancient and modern. The Olympics of classical Greece, which began nearly 3,000 years ago and provided the inspiration for our modern Olympics, featured athletes who followed a “tetrad” system of preparation, concentration, moderation, and relaxation to develop mental fortitude . These athletes also followed strict, regimented training phases, similarly to how modern sports teams have different training components such as weightlifting, drilling, and scrimmaging. Many ancient Roman gladiators also trained intensively in schools, called ludi gladitorum , where both muscles and minds were prepared for one of history’s most brutal sports. Yet, just as psychology only emerged as a true science in the 1800s, so too are the roots of true psychological sports study only about a century and a half old.

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