Download Sport Psychology Screening

Sport Psychology Screening
What is Sports Psychology Screening? This is a screening process that focuses on the athlete’s
mental health and wellness. The goal of the sport psychology screening is educate and help athletes
with their mental preparation for training and competitions. We would encourage the athlete’s
parents/guardians to come this this screening event to help identify any behavioral health issues the
athlete might have.
Why sport psychology screenings? This can play a crucial role in identifying emotional barriers to an
athlete’s motivation, performance, goal setting, and commitment. Often, health professionals focus
on the physical aspects of healthcare and behavioral health and wellness aspects may be overlooked.
Individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) may be overlooked because health professionals have
not had the sufficient exposure and training in working with individuals with intellectual disabilities.
This screening serves to provide externship training for behavioral health professionals. It is hoped
that with accurate screening and psychological skills training, individuals with intellectual disabilities
can learn skills to help them in their performance within their Special Olympics training and
competitions.
Where will it be held? This will be held at Healthy Athletes screenings and will be performed by
clinical psychologists, graduate students in a Clinical Psychology program, and Psychiatrists.
What the screenings will look like?
There will be five stations at Sports Psychology.
1) Registration/ Background info on the athletes: At this station, the athletes will be asked
general information about themselves and contact information for follow up.
2) Psychosocial Assessment: At this station, the athlete’s behavioral health issues, as related to
their performance in their training and competition, will be identified.
3) Psychosocial skills training: At this station, the athletes will be taught psychological skills to
help them manage the emotional aspects of training and competition. The exercises will
include: performance checklist/goal setting, relaxation strategies, guided imagery/positive
visualization, and positive self-talk/cue words.
4) Pet Therapy: At this station athletes will have the opportunity to interact with pet therapy
animals.
5) Check out/ Resources: This will be the ending of the screening process where athletes turn in
their paperwork. There will also be resources to athletes available.
Arizona